March 28, 2013
Last night Jon Stewart of the Daily Show showed how angry he is over what is happening to our veterans coming home from Afghanistan joining the line of Iraq veterans. I like to watch the Daily Show before I finally go to sleep. Last night was not one of the nights when he got my mind off what I do all day long. I was too angry. Not angry about what usually gets my blood boiling. I was angry over Stewart forgetting how bad it has always been for our veterans.
I left the Daily Show this comment
I track all these reports and last night I was glad it was covered but wow are you wrong. The number of VA Service Reps was 1,516 in January of 2003 but in 2007 there were only 1,392. In 2000 the VA had 578,000 claims but went to 838,000 in 2008. That same year the VA was trying to do online claims. It was also later in the year of 879,291 in backlog including 148,000 Vietnam veterans who finally filed claims in 2007. That same year, the a defense contractor was given a contract for $2.7 million to make 555,000 phone calls to veterans to find out why they had not gone to the VA. Obama changed the rules for PTSD claims and Agent Orange Claims but with the mess that was there before, Congress didn't increase funding enough or hire enough staff to even catch up. Suicides are up and there are 900 DOD suicide prevention programs congress finds the money for but they are not working. RAND took a look among other researchers and found why they failed but DOD won't listen.
You should be angry at what is going on, but we've been angry all along.
If you doubt he is telling the truth, then you need to read what happened in 2008.
Veterans Affairs lauds technology, blames predecessors for 2-year claim wait
Jane C. Timm
9:35 AM on 03/27/2013
Veterans Affairs’ Assistant Secretary Tommy Sowers blamed the previous Veterans Affairs administration for the recently revealed 700-day wait that many veterans face when claiming disability.
The crux of the problem, Sowers said, is that they inherited an inefficient, paper-based claims system.
“Why are we still using paper in 2013?” Morning Joe‘s Mike Barnicle asked.
“Why in 2009 were we still using paper?” Sowers fired back. “When we came in, there was no plan to change that; we’ve been operating on a six month wait for over a decade.”
The wait now tops 600 days in many places.
read more here
Buried under backlogs
By GREGG CARLSTROM
February 25, 2008
At the start of the Bush administration in 2001, VA had more than 400,000 pending claims for disability ratings, which determine a service-disabled veteran’s employability and disability benefits. The department made progress reducing that number: By 2003, the backlog was down to around 250,000.
But then the nation went to war.
“VA was kind of cruising right along with a certain volume of claims until the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Then the volume of claims increased,” said Belinda Finn, VA’s assistant inspector general for auditing. “We still had the same processes for handling a lower workload, and the system just hasn’t been able to handle the increase in claims.”
And so the backlog started creeping up. By 2008, VA once again has more than 400,000 pending claims for a disability rating. About 25 percent of those are officially considered backlogged, meaning they have been pending longer than six months.
“The number of claims that we receive each year has been going up pretty steadily,” said Michael Walcoff, VA’s associate deputy undersecretary for field operations. “In 2000, we got 578,000 claims, and last year got 838,000.
Apr 24, 2008 “Since 2006, the number of claims has grown 15 percent. The amount of time it takes to make decisions on disability claims is two to three year. On an average, it takes four years to get an appeals decision.”
Pilot Program to Cut Red Tape for Veterans' Disability Claims
VA Launches Pilot Program to Cut Red Tape for Veterans' Disability Claims
KWTX Channel 10 (Texas)
June 13, 2008 - The Texas Veterans Commission will assist the Department of Veterans Affairs Waco Regional Office in a pilot program aimed at faster processing of disability claims, the state Veterans Commission announced Friday.
The Waco VA Regional Office and the TVC was selected for the pilot program because “they are well known for working together with exceptional effectiveness,” the TVC said in a press release Friday.
Veterans counselors from TVC will use their unique understanding of VA claims processes to assist veterans in more quickly obtaining the evidence needed to support their claims,” said Acting Under Secretary for Benefits Patrick W. Dunne.
June 22, 2008
VA reported 879,291 claims were in backlog
June 22
Increased VA budget to quicken disability claims
BILL SMITH VIEWS ON VETERANS
THE HOUSE OF Representatives and the U.S. Senate approved legislation in March that would increase the VA budget by $3.2 billion, which is more than what the Administration offered in February. According to the June issue of DAV magazine, this move could set the VA’s total budget at $93.6 billion for 2009, indicating a $5.22 billion increase from this year. The two bills, H. Con. Res. 312 in the House and S. Con Res. 70 in the Senate, passed March 13 and 14 respectively.
From comments in the June issue of the VFW magazine: “The $3.2 billion increase is in line with the veterans health care recommendations that were laid out in the Independent Budget,” said Dennis M. Cullinan, director, National Legislative Service, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, when referring to a budget developed by the VFW, Paralyzed Veterans of America, AMVETS and Disabled Veterans. “Both the Senate and House versions reject the proposed co-payment and fee increases, which the VFW strongly opposes.”
July 16, 2008All of this led to this
VA Announces On-Line Claims Applications
Wonder if this has anything to do with Lockheed Martin messing up the claims process? That just made the news yesterday.
VA Announces On-Line Claims Applications
WASHINGTON (July 16, 2008) - The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced today that on-line applications are now accepted from veterans, survivors and other claimants filing initial applications for disability compensation, pension, education, and vocational rehabilitation and employment benefits without the additional requirement to submit a signed paper copy of the application.
Effective immediately, VA will now process applications received through its on-line application website (VONAPP) without the claimant's signature. The electronic application will be sufficient authentication of the claimant's application for benefits. Normal development procedures and rules of evidence will still apply to all VONAPP applications.
House passes 8 veterans’ benefits bills
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jul 30, 2008 17:26:37 EDT
Veterans with disabilities clearly connected to military service, such as amputated limbs as a result of combat wounds, would get speedy approval of claims to receive veterans’ benefits under a bill approved Wednesday by the House.
The Disability Claims Modernization Act, sponsored by Rep. John Hall, D-N.Y., is one of eight veteran-related bills that the House of Representatives rushed to pass before leaving town for a summer break that will stretch into early September and feature a lot of campaigning by lawmakers seeking re-election as well as the Democratic and Republican presidential nominating conventions.
Lockheed Martin mistakes caused $20 million in benefits errors to disabled veterans, Kucinich saysIf you read Wounded Times you get the news like the above without the political bull. You can know the facts. If you subscribe, you get it all first. Remember it is free!
By Stephen Koff, Plain Dealer Washington Bureau Chief
on October 23, 2008
WASHINGTON -- A federal contractor's mistakes have caused $20 million in errors affecting severely disabled military veterans, according to U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich.
It's too early to tell how much of that represents money denied to severely disabled veterans, compared with excessive payments that the government made to veterans who should not have qualified for as much.
But according to Kucinich, citing an audit by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, between 1,782 and 1,985 severely disabled veterans were wrongly denied a payment, while as many as 2,514 such veterans received inaccurate payments. This only includes payments exceeding $2,500, since smaller ones are not part of the DFAS review.
In terms of the number of veterans involved, this means the contractor, Lockheed Martin, "mis-computed and mishandled the VA Retro pay awards of the equivalent of a whole combat brigade," Kucinich said Wednesday.
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