DAV, VFW and American Legion not happy with VA claims rule change

VA Hit on Planned Disability Rules Changes
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan
Jan 02, 2014

Some of the country's leading veterans service organizations have rejected changes proposed by the Department of Veterans Affairs that might create disparities between veterans filing for a disability on paper and those filing electronically.

Additionally, some say the new changes are only to slow the VA's receipt of new claims while it tries to eliminate its backlog by 2015. The VA published the proposed changes to the Federal Register on Oct. 31. "VA wants to make it as fast and easy as possible for veterans and their survivors to file for and receive an accurate decision on their claim," the department told Military.com in a statement. "This proposed rule would require the use of standardized forms to help streamline the claims process and modernize the VA system to ensure veterans and their families receive the benefits they deserve more quickly."

But that's now how the Veterans of Foreign Wars, The American Legion, and other groups see it. In official comments to the VA, the groups said the changes would penalize veterans who do not have access to a computer or the internet by relegating paper-initiated claims to a second-class status.

"This proposed regulation separates claimants into two groups," the Legion said in its letter to the VA. "Claimants who can access the internet and claimants who are not able to access the internet. This bifurcated separation of claimants penalizes those claimants not able to access the internet and therefore is not fair."

DAV National Service Director Marszalek, in his comment to the VA, said the change "violates the law and intent of Congress," which directed the VA to provide assistance to veterans expressing an intent to file a claim or who file an incomplete claim, and give them one year from date of notification to submit the application.

"Setting aside special consideration for claimants capable of filing electronically, and excluding those who cannot, will cause a certain portion of the eligible claimant population to be treated differently," Marszalek said.
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