Bva Annual Chairman

[Berta]

This is the report that I believe Terry Higgins mentioned a few weeks ago-

I forgot to post it.

http://72.14.209.104/custom?q=cache:1Nv6dw...381742111066612

One of my biggest all time gripes to the VA is being addressed in this report :

"Prejudicial Error Analyses:One reason for the high remand rate of 56.8% in Fiscal Year 2004 was the Veterans Claims Assistance Act (VCAA), which among other things, heightened VA’s duty to assist and duty to notify claimants of the type of evidence needed to substantiate their claims. Following the issuance of Pelegrini v. Principi, 18 Vet. App. 112 (2004), in which the Veterans Court held that a VCAA notice letter must be provided to a claimant prior to an initial adverse adjudication, the Board attempted to avoid remands, when possible, by conducting an analysis to determine if any deficiency in the notice provided to the claimant was prejudicial. If prejudice was not found, most Board judges issued final decisions. If the deficiency was prejudicial, judges were required to remand the case to the RO to cure the defect."

I have complained to Senators, COngresman , my Governor and anyone else who would listen- that this is the main problem with remands and Ros create this problem and plenty of our vet reps just sit back and allow it to occur-meaning less work for them-

Remands- mine took about 3 weeks -I thought it took 51 days-I was wrong-

The VA had violated my DTA rights under the VCAA.

I asked for the remand myself and my POA refused to support it.

SInce the remand my claim has been in and out of the rating board and a VSR has checked the claims many times since too-I feel this has been expeditious treatment on VA's part -

however I must add that over 7 months have passed already since the remand.

When one adds that to the potential 2 years a claim could sit at the BVA to be reviewed ----only to be remanded- you are talking years and years-

I told the Task Force I could be dead waiting on the BVA and this is a reality for too many veterans who wait too.

If the well paid RO adjudicators read all of our evidence the first time around and if we have reps who support our claims instead of hoping they go down the tube-(less work for them)-because they might fail to see the potential a good claim has and so they just say the hell with it-(my rep "denied" my AO claim the day I filed it)

then the backlog will peal down and go away.

[spike]

Wow. I can't believe they are blaming the VCAA for this. I think without the VCAA notice, there would be many more errors. A lot of documents are missed or something that needs more verification or more documents or something. I think it is another way to speed up the process and deny that there is a problem at the RO level. Simply put, put more people in working at the VA level that they put in at Recruiting. Things won't need to be remanded as much if the RO adjuticators didn't get overwhelmed with 100's of files on their desk and they just want files to move. Wow.

[Berta]

They ARENT blaming the VCAA- the VCAA was supposed to get better claims work done right at the RO level by specifically telling the vet and their rep what they needed BEFORE any denial of the claim.

BEFORE the denial of the claim----

The Buffalo VARO has 2 stacks of claims.

one stack is the claims that will get a proper legal VCAA letter and election notice- the other stack gets a generic letter that is illegal because it is not specific to the claim.These claimants do not get an election form and none of the RO claimants get the VCAA pamphlet that explains the whole VCAA and their rights.

If the POA does not wuestion this- nor the veteran- those claims are doomed from the git go.Doomed.

I am trying to find out who determines at the RO what claims go into each stack.

The proof of what I am saying is at the BVA web site.

I have taken a stand and continue to put pressure on the State of NY to

see why their vet reps are not questioning claimants who never get a legal VCAA letter.

Some of their reps have sat back since 2000 (VCAA law date)and did not advise the vet what they needed because the VA never told the vet on the legal VCAA letter.

This letter tells the vet exactly what they need to provide to the VA.

Just yesterday I found a 2006 NYSDVA claim at the BVA.

The vet had been denied in 2004-meaning he filed the claim probably in 2003---I think his BVA decision was dated Dec 2006-

The vet had PTSD diagnosis and proof of his stressor.

The BVA immediately award the claim.

Of course they had to send it back to Buffalo to be rated.

The veteran with NYSDVA on the brief- NEVER got a legal-VCAA letter.

On his own he obtained proof of his stressor.

The BVA said the VCAA error was not prejudicial-

but this vet waiting 4 years and now might still be waiting for his claim to be rated and he had everything he needed early on.

Someone at the Buffalo RO determines which claimant gets a legal VCAA letter and election form and who doesnt.

NYSDVA goes along with their decision- and does not appear to ever question the lack of proper notice.

The BVA web site and my own claims prove this point.

I cant fight over every vet orgs involvement in this scam-

I am fighting very hard to get this rectified for vets and widows with NYSDVA on their POA-with claims filed at the Buffalo VARO.

Any NYSDVA claimant who has been adversely affected in this way please post something and I will contact you by email-