VA criticism in the WSJ
Our buddy, Pete Hegseth of Concerned Veterans for America and Paul Rieckhoff founder and director of OpTruth/IAVA have a column in the Wall Street Journal today in regards to many of the things we’ve discussed here in the recent past about how the Department of Veterans Affairs claims to be doing great and wonderful things to help veterans with the DVA’s backlog of claims, but nothing really seems to be getting done;
The backlog in claims processing represents real men and women with serious needs who aren’t being served, after they have fought and sacrificed on behalf of our nation. Their stories are heartbreaking. For example, the CIR reports on a Marine veteran who suffered three concussions in combat and now experiences short-term memory loss so severe that he gets in the car and forgets where he’s going. He has been waiting for the VA to process his disability claim since November 2010.
Numbers spun by the department to feign change aren’t going to fix the VA’s endemic failures. Only urgent and dynamic transformation will.
Transformation like moving all disability claims to an electronic, customer-service-based model that processes claims quickly, efficiently and accurately. Today’s tech-savvy vets are returning home from combat to a bureaucracy still struggling to get out of the pencil-and-paper age.
Of course, I don’t have to tell most of you how badly they’re doing, since many of you have your cases sitting in a stack of files somewhere for more than two years. But at least Pete and that other guy are getting the problem some national exposure. Maybe enough exposure to get it a mention in the next Presidential debate.
StrikeFO Addition:
Brandon Friedman responds on Twitter. His Twitter bio now reads “former U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs” so I guess he jumped from the sinking ship.
Category: Veterans' Affairs Department
I’ll have ten years TIS this April. I suppose it’s time to start submitting my VA claims for projected needs so there’s a chance they’ll be addressed by 2023…
I think I will file my claim now that way I only have to wait two or three years after retirement to recieve benifits.
@1and 2. What the heck, why not? The Army used to (and probably still does)require trainees to designate a life insurance beneficiary first thing. May as well put your VA claim in at BT too. If it’s not needed, you can withdraw it later.
A good friend of mine, who is a Vietnam Vet, is trying to get into the VA system and he told me this past weekend that he’s been waiting a year to hear anything and complains about the CVSO he’s had to deal with. I told him it’s not just the CVSO, but also the VA and that waiting a year is peanuts compared to others.
Wow, sheesh… the sky is blue, the desert is hot, war is bad, peace is good, an the VA has unacceptable backlog. What else is new? What other low-hanging fruit can these guys go after?
They state the obvious, but where are the solutions?
You gotta love these guys… Pete is so pretty. Paul is, well, not so pretty. The new Dynamic Duo, if you will, of brown-noser and spot-light ranger.
Pete “I think Gen Petraeus deserves a 5th Star” Hegseth and Paul “Where’s the Camera?” Rieckhoff are both political hacks who have superb skill in getting in front of a camera.
Together, this dynamic duo of P & P will cover the the political veteran universe to ensure they draw attention to issues others have already identified without offering a single tangible solution and take credit for those solved by other organizations.
You think that the Va would switch people over to pension claims to get rid of the backlog. Funny thing is when I retired, my final physical was done in conjunction with the VA. I starting drawing a VA pension as soon as I retired. The entire thing was a 4 month process. My current claim, which is cut and dried, has been awaiting since May of 2011. 17 months.
For the nam vet it was denial, denial until you die. For our warriors now,Do one vet a day and cliam the VA is making gains on the huge blacklog of claims. Joe
If anyone thinks that the new-fangled paperless system is the answer — they are wrong. The education claims converted to a new system several months ago and they are not doing well at all. Education claims are one of the easiest that VA has to handle and they can’t get those claim done quickly and correctly. Next, dependent claims are also one of the simplest claims to process and they can’t get those claims done quickly and accurately. To think that the hype currently given to vets, Congress, and others looking at the VA will work, on the most complex claims for disability compensation is just another front to extend timely processing several more years into 2018. When will the VA fix the problem and quit lying to you all.