VFW, DAV Joint Legal Fight Against VA Over New Claims System
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan
May 08, 2015
Veterans groups, including the VFW and DAV, told the VA two years ago that any new system that eliminated the informal claims process would be opposed.Two more veterans organizations are going to court against the Veterans Affairs Department over the agency's decision to end its historic informal claims process.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Disabled American Veterans say that a new claims system the VA adopted in March "severely undercuts the non-adversarial, pro-veteran principles upon which the veterans' benefits system was built. In particular, the VA alters decades-long pro-veterans practices under the guise of creating efficiencies within the VA."
The efficiencies include the use of standardized forms that veterans would have to download, fill out and file.
"The VFW doesn't oppose the use of standardized forms," VFW National Veterans Service Director William L. Bradshaw said. "Our opposition is to this all or nothing approach that VA is forcing on veterans -- changes, that if left in place, will guarantee in this year alone that tens of thousands of service-connected wounded, ill and injured veterans will be denied benefits they were entitled to before the change became effective."
The VFW and DAV are only the latest veterans' advocates to sue the VA over the new system. Attorney Douglas J. Rosinski of Veterans Justice Group in Columbia, South Carolina, also filed a suit challenging the new system last November.
In March, The American Legion, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, the National Veterans Legal Services Program, AMVETS, and the Vietnam Veterans of America filed suit.
read more here
These groups are fighting for all generations of veterans. That says something right there considering they have all been doing it for decades!
The VFW and the DAV are very dear to my heart. The VFW fights for all veterans no matter what generation they belong to.
My husband is a lifetime member of the VFW and DAV and I am a lifetime member of the DAV Auxiliary. My Dad (Korean veteran) was a lifetime member of the DAV, so in one way or another, I've known how hard they work all my life. They fight for all veterans to obtain what they are eligible for and compensated appropriately for their disabilities/wounds caused by serving this country.
They have been doing this work since the 40's. Congress on the other hand, did not do the same. The House Veterans Affairs Committee was seated in 1946.
While it may feel warm and fuzzy to think these politicians have the best interest of veterans in mind, the reality is they are like a rusty wheel making a lot of noise going in circles. Every year veterans don't even get excuses from them. They just spin their gears so they can point their fingers at whoever happens to sit in the seat as Secretary of the VA. Don't believe me. Just look up what they are supposed to be responsible for on the link above. Educate yourself so you know exactly what has been going on and why veterans blame congress!
Published on Apr 12, 2015
Saturday fed up veterans got into a dumpster to show how they feel. Congress has failed them and made them feel like they are disposable. Congress blames the VA only because they refuse to blame themselves! They write the rules, pass the budgets and are supposed to be in control over what the VA
The VFW and DAV earned your support and need your voice to fight for all generations of veterans.
How many more times will you end up supporting charities to provide "awareness" of what some veterans are going through when these groups have been fighting for all veterans to make sure they didn't have to go through it?
DAV Who is Eligible?
Any man or woman:
who served in the armed forces during a period of war or under conditions simulating war, and was wounded, disabled to any degree, or left with long-term illness as a result of military service, and was discharged or retired from military service under honorable conditions.
What does DAV do for you?
Helps returning veterans transition back to civilian life by linking them with services that address their physical, emotional, and financial needs.
Provides free, professional assistance to veterans of all generations in obtaining VA and other government benefits earned through service.
Fights for veterans’ rights on Capitol Hill.
Links veterans to job training and job assistance programs.
Funds rehabilitation programs for veterans with severe disabilities, such as blindness or amputation.
UPDATE
Just a reminder of what else is going on:
VFW CALLS NEW VA APPROPRIATIONS BILL ‘BAD FOR VETERANS’
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES IS SET TO PENALIZE DISABLED VETERANS
April 28, 2015
WASHINGTON — The national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States said the U.S. House of Representatives is set to penalize disabled veterans this week if it votes to reduce the Department of Veterans Affairs budget request by more than $1.5 billion.
“The nationwide crisis in care and confidence that erupted in the VA last year was caused in many ways by a lack of adequate resourcing that only Congress is authorized to provide,” said John W. Stroud, who leads the 1.9 million-member VFW and its Auxiliaries. “That’s why the VFW is demanding that the House amend this bill to appropriate a funding level that fully funds VA.”
In its current form, the fiscal year 2016 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill makes across-the-board cuts to all VA discretionary accounts, and drastically underfunds medical care, major construction and Information Technology accounts. Stroud said across-the-board cuts to discretionary spending is what Congress created back in 2011, but by another name, sequestration. Now the House wants to impose its own sequester on a federal department whose sole mission is to care for wounded, ill and injured veterans.
“The VA cannot fulfill its mission without proper funding, but the House for whatever reason now wants to ration care, eliminate infrastructure projects, and stop improving upon the programs and services that the VA was created to provide,” said the VFW national commander. “This bill is bad for veterans and any vote for it is unconscionable, which is why we want veterans and advocates everywhere to get involved by urging their elected officials to fully fund the VA.”
This process is not only veteran unfriendly, but it is disliked by those of us who work the claims. It makes it much more difficult to keep track of the effective date. Unfortunately, this is just more of a systematic attempt to limit claims.
ReplyDeleteThank you for helping them with their claims. They need all the help they can get especially when these folks get elected and no one pays attention to what they are doing afterwards.
ReplyDelete