Veteran’s Guardian in the News

All of us have dealt with the military bureaucracy. Sounds like most have dealt with VA, and a good chunk of us have navigated the VA disability section, for better or for worse.  You would think that would be about the worst you could have to deal with – but you would be wrong.

According to “The War Horse” there is a company name of Veteran’s Guardians who “helps” claimants navigate the VA system.  Unlike the VFW, Legion, DAV etc. VG does it for money. And in the 8 years since its founding, LOTS of money.

“We have your back,” the company’s website says. “Together we can uncover all the benefits you deserve.”

The one problem with their success story: Veterans Guardian’s business model runs afoul of the law, say lawmakers and attorneys general from across the country. But nobody has been able to stop them.

With no accreditation, the company is charging veterans thousands of dollars for guidance that veterans service organizations and other nonprofits advise vets on for free.

One of Veterans Guardian’s competitors estimated in a 2021 SEC filing that the VA claims consulting market was worth a staggering $73 billion a year.

The reason that the company went to these lengths, Carico’s lawsuit said, was simple: money. The company charged a one-time fee of five times the amount of a veteran’s monthly disability benefit increase. For a veteran going from a 0 to 100% rating, this could amount to up to $4,500 a month—a payout of more than $22,000 for Veterans Guardian. The company charged nothing to a veteran who received no benefit rating increase—but this was rare. In interviews with The War Horse, three former employees said the company “cherry-picked” who to help, turning away veterans who did not have a strong case.

I’m sensing a barrel-bottom enterprise here. But as the estimable Mr. Popeil said…there’s more. Whistlenblowers’ allegations include:

• Claims strategists with no medical background interviewed veterans and quickly assessed which health issues should be listed on their forms.
• The company referred veterans to the same psychologist for remote exams— sometimes conducted by the psychologist’s family members—and mental health forms were auto-populated with identical checkmarks.
• Employees changed scores on depression self-evaluations if they felt the score was too low, sometimes without the veterans’ knowledge.
• Applicants were coached to look “tired and shabby” for appointments with VA medical examiners. They were advised not to shave, told to use a cane or wheelchair if they had one, and to use buzz words such as “depressed,” “sad,” and “no motivation.”
• Veterans Guardian employees routinely tacked on secondary conditions like erectile dysfunction and headaches to a veteran’s diagnosis if resubmitting an application was necessary.
• Employees were instructed to tell prospective customers that VA “could not be trusted to deal with veterans fairly. Misrepresentations may have to be made.”

A whistleblower lawsuit from one of Veterans Guardian’s former employees claims the firm’s business practices are “permeated with fraud and deceit” and cheating the federal government out of millions of dollars. A lawsuit filed by veterans alleges the company “preys on disabled veterans by unfairly and deceptively taking tens of millions of dollars of their disability benefits in violation of federal law.”

According to one of the company’s two founders, Bill Taylor:

But in an hour-long interview with The War Horse, Taylor passionately defended Veterans Guardian, insisting VA’s beleaguered benefits claims system is the real problem. Veterans are paying the price, he said, and companies like his are offering veterans a choice. He said 70% of Veterans Guardian’s clients have already tried to use a VA-accredited free service, like those provided by Disabled American Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars, to apply for benefits.

“If they know the free services are there and they’ve used them and they’re still coming to me,” he said, “that tells you that there’s something wrong.”

Reread the quoted section above that on their business practices – sounds like many of these claims didn’t go through because, maybe, they were borderline fraudulent?

Lawmakers in nearly 40 states and Congress have moved to crack down on unaccredited companies like Veterans Guardian that are part of an industry that has only grown since the 2022 PACT Act led to the largest expansion of veterans benefits in decades. And the Department of Veterans Affairs warned the firm back in 2019 in a cease and desist letter that it “is prohibited by law from assisting Veterans in the preparation, presentation, or prosecution of their VA benefits.” A congressional oversight panel rebuked Veterans Guardian three years later for denying such a letter even existed.

But instead of backing down, the Pinehurst, North Carolina-based company is spending millions of dollars to fight back—an indication, experts say, of just how much money is at stake in the highly politicized world of veterans benefits.   The War Horse

You really should read the original article. Take your blood pressure meds first, though.

Category: Veteran Health Care