VA looks to VSOs to clear backlog of claims
The Baltimore Sun reports that, in hopes of clearing the hundreds of thousands of claims from veterans in the last few years, the VA is turning to the Veterans Service Organizations, like the American Legion and the Disabled Veterans of America, for help;
The groups have agreed to guide wounded and ill veterans through what’s known as a “fully developed claim” process, which means they will submit medical records and other documents along with their initial application rather than waiting until a review is underway to compile that paperwork.
VA officials say the streamlined process can cut average review times in half, to just over 100 days.
Verna Jones, director of the American Legion’s Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation Commission, said the process “creates segmented or express lanes.”
“We’re very hopeful about this particular project,” Jones said.
If you’re waiting on a claim, I hope you have a VSO leading your charge. My claim, although fairly simple because of the complexity of the disease, swept through the claim process in less than two months because I had Paralyzed Veterans of America riding herd on my paperwork. They called me and kept me updated on the processing, and represented me fairly with the VA. If you don’t have a VSO rep helping you, it’s like going to court without a lawyer.
This new program makes VSOs more enticing. As far as I know they don’t require membership in their organization to represent you, but that’s your choice.
Category: Veterans' Affairs Department
VSOs are great. If you’re in Texas, there’s even a state agency to help you help. Those people were a great help to me navigating the VA process.
I have an AMVET VSO, Great guy, talks a good game and 18 months later all they keep telling me is my claim is tracking, what ever that means …
Based what I’ve seen in print, I’m sure you’ll get loads of help from the MD state VA office, too.
Unfortunately, you might end up prosecuted if you’re not careful. One of their former senior employees is awaiting trial for helping people file patently fraudulent claims.
Having said that, I’ve had good luck with both state VA folks (not in MD) and the DAV in the past. Both are worth engaging if they exist in your area. Just remember to be careful and not let someone talk you into doing something fishy to help “speed the process”.
And if you’re in MD – good luck. Best I can tell that state’s VARO has perhaps the worst reputation nationwide. Just another example of how things in the People’s Republic of Maryland (PRMD) are FUBAR.
The DAV sends me notices as to when their mobile VSO office is in the area. The VSO I met last year was very helpful, answering questions I had about the booklet the VA sent me. Considering the backlog, I’d go through them any time.
@3: As a veteran living in MD, I can attest to how incompetent the VA is. Thankfully, not for a medical claim but for GI Bill payments. I was in class for over a year and never received a dime from them until I fired off letters to both Senators, along with documentation on who was called, when they were called and what the result was of said call.
Things like this are the reason my thoughts on improving the system starts with “sweet cleansing fire.”
Good experience with VFW, horrible experience with DAV. That’s my personal opinion though. There are some good agencies out there.
My worries track with Hondo–Doesn’t this open up the opportunities for more fraud?
Soooo. . . . the VA (paid big big bucks) is enlisting the aid of outside VSOs (volunteers paid NO bucks) to aid vets through the claims process.
I know!! Lets save lots’a bucks!! Fire all the VA admin staff and have all the VSOs take over the entire VA claims process. Not only would it save money, but the claims process would go faster & smoother, done by people who care. As a side bennie, it would be done by people who know how to look at a service record to weed out the phonies and SVs fairly quickly.
I am a VSO for the Legion as well as an active duty Officer.
I am amazed (for lack of a better word) with the speed and ease that I can get things done. I literally can get stuff done in a few minutes of work that often a Vet or his family has been trying to accomplish for decades.
Part of the problem is that many older VSOs aren’t computer or tech savvy and many of them don’t know much more about the process than the people they are trying to help.
So any of you “young guys/gals” (by that I mean 50 or below) out there really want to make an impact…become a VSO
You can make a great impact
The problem is that when the person representing you and the VSO have no clue what they’re doing, and either don’t know answers or give you incorrect information. I’ve had this happen to me on two different occasions and ended up doing the research and filing my own paperwork.
Case in point;
In 2007 I was living in Fairfax, Virginia, and was in the middle of purchasing a brand new vehicle, with the intention of having it modified for my wheelchair. At the time I wanted to file for and apply the VA one time vehicle grant towards the purchase of my new vehicle.
The service officer assigned to me told me to just go ahead and purchase the vehicle and file the paperwork with the VA afterwards, that the VA would still pay me that grant and I could just pocket the cash. He also said the biggest reason for this was that waiting for the VA to approve the grant would hold up the purchase of the vehicle for up to six months.
I followed his advice and purchased a 2007 Chevrolet Suburban and had it modified. I then sent the paperwork in to the VA and my claim was promptly denied. The reason … the VA only pays the auto-dealer and there is paperwork the dealer must do to “certify” the vehicle to get their money. The VA never pays out after the fact to the veteran for this grant.
While using a VSO might be a big help to veterans I highly recommend that you research all the applicable laws and VA rules before letting a VSO “assist” you. You have to know when they’re incorrect and be prepared to prove it.