Benefits and Claims
Shinseki: US will fix broken VA disability system
Feb 22nd
By KIMBERLY HEFLING
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (AP) – Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki said he’s making it a top priority this year to tackle the backlog of disability claims that has veterans waiting months — even years — to get financial compensation for their injuries.
Among those waiting for relief are sick Vietnam and Gulf War veterans to whom the former Army commander feels an allegiance and who have long felt ignored.
“I’m a kid out of the Vietnam era, I just have enough firsthand knowledge of folks walking around with lots of issues. If there’s a generation of veterans that have had a tough row to hoe, it’s the Vietnam generation,” said Shinseki, 67, in an interview with The Associated Press as he traveled through snowcapped mountains in Ohio and West Virginia between meetings with veterans.
Shinseki, a former Army chief of staff who had part of a foot blown off when he was a young officer in Vietnam, was unapologetic about a decision he made in October to make it easier for potentially 200,000 sick Vietnam veterans who were exposed to the Agent Orange herbicide to receive service-connected compensation.
He said it was the right thing to do, even though the claims volume will grow and it will likely take about two years to get the average claim-processing wait time back to where it is today, about five months.
There’s a chance Shinseki could also extend similar benefits to veterans from the 1991 Gulf War. A task force he appointed to look at their health is expected to release a report this week, which could eventually lead to thousands of additional sick Gulf war veterans receiving health care and compensation.
Shinseki said he’s often questioned why 40 years after the Vietnam war and nearly two decades after the Gulf War his agency is still trying to resolve issues related to those veterans’ illnesses.
Vietnam veterans with B-cell leukemias, Parkinson’s diseases and ischemic heart disease no longer have to prove their illness are the result of their military service. Shinseki determined after reviewing a study by the Institute of Medicine that the illnesses should be presumed to have come from the veteran’s war service, making it easier for them to receive financial compensation. The VA currently presumes that twelve other illnesses are linked to Agent Orange are exposure.
Shinseki said he’s looking ahead to make sure Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries don’t have similar problems getting financial compensation.
“I’m also asking the question, how do we ensure that 20 years from now, that future secretary isn’t answering questions about PTSD or TBI, sort of the signature injuries of this war in the same way that I’m having to look back and try to address these issues,” he said.
In recent years, resources have been poured into clearing the backlog, but problems persist. Besides the time it takes to process a claim, there are frequent complaints about lost paperwork and inconsistency in how claims are processed.
To start looking for solutions, Shinseki’s agency instigated pilot projects in Pittsburgh; Little Rock, Ark.; Providence, R.I.; and Baltimore that he says he’s watching closely. His plan is to reduce the backlog by 2015, which means a veteran wouldn’t wait more than four months for a claim to be processed.
The VA and Pentagon are also working together to create a universal electronic system with the goal of solving many of the claims challenges. Some of the collaboration is expected to be rolled out in 2012, although it could take years before the system is fully in place.
Shinseki, who became the Army’s chief of staff in 1999, is no stranger to change. In that role he sought to modernize and better prepare the Army for urban combat. In his current position, he’s highlighted the challenges veterans face, such as unemployment, suicide and homelessness.
In small gatherings in Chillicothe and Charleston, W.Va., he listened to complaints about the red tape veterans face and explained the work he’s doing to fix the claims backlog.
“We’re going to fine-tune each of the pieces and then put that engine back together again and look for better processing by the end of the year,” Shinseki said during a morning meeting with employees at the VA hospital in Chillicothe.
The employees listened quietly, not touching the pastries and juice put out for them, as he told them matter-of-factly that he knew the Agent Orange decision was going to add new claims.
“This backlog I just told you I’m going to knock down, I added to it, I know that,” he said.
Later in the morning, he told veteran advocates he wants vets to see the VA as an ally.
“In time, I’m hopeful this relationship will create a culture of advocacy between VA and veterans so that there is that sense, that trust between veterans that VA is working to their benefit,” he said.
Popularity: 32% [?]
Veteran’s claim files backlog may collapse building
Jan 20th
The problem is literally from floor to ceiling inside Roanoke’s Poff Federal Building. According to a report uncovered by our Lynchburg newsroom the News and Advance, nearly 11,000 folders were found sitting on top of full file cabinets. That was during an inspection between August 25 and September 2.
In the report by the Va’s Inspector General, an engineer states the load on floors 10, 11 and 12 of the 14 story building is double what is considered safe. The load was determined to be 160 pounds per square foot, twice the 80 pounds per square foot recommended limit.
That’s heavy enough to cause a potential collapse. The engineer mentions the possibility of structural damage that would threaten the safety of the building and people inside.
“It’s just outrageous. We’ve got to deal with this backlog.“, says Rep. Tom Perriello. As a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Congressman Perriello demanded this inspection. “We’re certainly upping the inspections.“, says Perriello.
The Inspector General’s office told us on the phone they hope to get the VA regional office inspections on the same timetable as VA hospitals, every three years. A spokeswoman tells us this was not a surprise inspection, but was on very short notice.
The U.S. General Services Administration oversees the upkeep of federal properties including the Poff Building. When we called the administration’s Philadelphia Headquarters to ask for an interview about the structural risk found in Roanoke, we were referred to an office inside the Poff Building. When we called there, we were referred back to Philadelphia. Our request was eventually denied.
Roanoke office director William Nicholas responded to the Inspector General on December 30. Nicholas said 40 to 60 percent of the file cabinets would be moved from the Poff Building to an off-site storage facility, available in 60 days. The Inspector General spokeswoman says that’s likely 60 days from the date of his response. We do not know if that process is underway, as the VA did not return our calls for comment.
Popularity: 21% [?]
Veterans minister plays down compensation figures
Jan 20th
By Online political correspondent Emma Rodgers
Veterans Affairs Minister Alan Griffin says figures which show thousands of troops have been injured or become ill in the past decade in overseas conflicts do not mean that the Defence Force is over-committed.
Around 4,000 military personnel from the East Timor operation and Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts have put in a claim after being injured or developing illnesses and conditions in the course of their deployment.
But Mr Griffin says soldiers are encouraged to make claims on all injuries so they are properly documented in case they develop related conditions further down the track.
“We estimate between 25,000 to 30,000 Australians have been deployed across conflicts [over the past decade],” he said.
“Of those injures, many are in fact minor, although quite a few are in fact very serious.
“What we’re committed to do is make sure that we’re providing those who have injuries and those who have wounds with the support and help that they need.
“That means they’ve got to put the claims in and we’ve got to consider them to make sure they get the health care they deserve.”
The National President of the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia Ron Coxon says the Department of Veterans Affairs has a “fair bit” of bureaucracy.
He has urged those putting in claims to seek help from an ex-service organisation, because an injury or condition they have now may cause other illnesses that will need treatment in the decades to come.
“If the wrong thing is put on a claim, if the wording is wrong or whatever, then it can affect the outcome of a claim,” he said.
Read the rest of this entry »
Popularity: 11% [?]
Gates: injured troops face too much bureaucracy
Oct 27th
By KIMBERLY HEFLING–Associated Press–
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday that troops injured in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to face too many bureaucratic hurdles.
Paperwork alone for them can be “frustrating, adversarial, and unnecessarily complex,” Gates said.
Gates spoke at a mental health summit with Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki. By appearing publicly together, they sought to reinforce their commitment to tackling veterans’ health issues and the stigma associated with seeking mental health care.
Earlier this year, they pledged with President Barack Obama to create a system that would make it easier for the Pentagon and VA to exchange information so there is less of a wait for veterans to get disability benefits. The VA is struggling with a backlogged disability claims system with hundreds of thousands of claims that need to be processed.
Among U.S. troops who have fought in the recent wars, Gates says brain injuries and mental health ailments are “widespread, entrenched and insidious.” He noted that a RAND Corp. study last year estimated that there could be more than 600,000 service members with traumatic brain injuries or mental health issues.
Gates said there have been positive changes such as the doubling of the budget for mental health and traumatic brain injuries to almost $1.2 billion from last year, but other challenges remain such as filling a shortage of therapists in and near military installations.
About 2 million troops have fought in the recent wars. Tens of thousands have been physically injured, while hundreds of thousands have entered the VA’s health care system.
Shinseki said veterans from the recent wars are coming homes with “invisible wounds” that are just as debilitating as physical traumas sustained on the battlefield.
“Who’s vulnerable? Everyone,” Shinseki said. “Warriors suffer emotional injuries as much as they do physical ones.”
Popularity: 12% [?]
Recent veterans are entitled to free health care, but many don’t sign up
Sep 29th
By Body and Mind Staff Pennlive.com–
With a new generation of veterans returning from war, the Veterans Affairs health care system is adapting its outreach tactics to ensure they receive the medical care they’re due.
There are outings at ball games and sites set up through social networking services such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. And every VA Medical Center across the country has a team ready to help the service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as special services for women veterans.
“We are out there all the time meeting with units, doing community education” to ensure veterans enroll for the services, said Gretchen Roberts, manager for the Lebanon VA Medical Center’s Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom Program. “Veterans should not have to navigate the system themselves. That’s why programs like ours are in place.”
The federal VA provides medical care and benefits to all enrolled veterans, with a range of preventive outpatient and inpatient services offered within its health care system. OEF/OIF veterans receive an additional benefit — five years of free health care in the VA system for any issue related to their deployment. As with other veterans, once enrolled in the system, they’re always in, but for issues not related to deployment or after those five free years, they may face co-payments.
Popularity: 17% [?]
VA Health Care for Women Veterans
Jul 15th
By Kayla Williams, U.S. Army Veteran
Kayla Williams testified Tuesday before the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs on VA Health Services for Women Veterans. The following is her testimony.
Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, thank you for hearing me speak today. On behalf of women veterans, I would like to thank you all for your commitment to meeting the changing needs of our nation’s veterans.
My name is Kayla Williams. As a Soldier with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), I took part in the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003, and was there for approximately one year. As an Arabic linguist, I went on combat foot patrols with the Infantry in Baghdad. During the initial invasion, my team came under small arms fire. Later, in Mosul, we were mortared regularly. I served right alongside my male peers: with our flak vests on during missions, we were all truly Soldiers first.
However, it became was clear upon our return that most people did not understand what women in today’s military experience. I was asked whether as a woman I was allowed to carry a gun, and was also asked if I was in the Infantry. This confusion about what role women play in war today extends beyond the general public; even Veterans Affairs (VA) employees are still sometimes unclear on the nature of modern warfare, which presents challenges for women seeking care. For example, being in combat is linked to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but since women are supposedly barred from combat, they may face challenges proving that their PTSD is service-connected. One of my closest friends was told by a VA doctor that she could not possibly have PTSD for just this reason: he did not believe that she as a woman could have been in combat. It is vital that all VA employees, particularly health care providers, fully understand that women do see combat in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom so that they can better serve women veterans.
Many of the other problems that women face when seeking to get health care through the VA are by no means exclusive to women: the transition from DoD to VA remains imperfect, despite efforts to improve the process. Lost records and missing paperwork are frequent complaints. A woman I know who spent over twenty years in the Army Reserves was turned away from her local VA hospital because she never deployed to a combat zone; her paperwork was never even examined to determine if she is indeed eligible for care. Despite a growing number of community clinics and vet centers, many veterans face lengthy travel times to reach a VA facility – a particular burden during tough economic times.
Other barriers may disproportionately affect women. For example, since women are more likely to be the primary caregivers of small children, they may require help getting childcare in order to attend appointments at the VA. Currently, many VA facilities are not prepared to accommodate the presence of children; several friends have described having to change babies’ diapers on the floors of VA hospitals because the restrooms lacked changing facilities. Another friend, whose babysitter cancelled at the last minute, brought her infant and toddler to a VA appointment; the provider told her that was “not appropriate” and that she should not come in if she could not find childcare. Facilities in which to nurse and change babies, as well as childcare assistance or at least patience with the presence of small children, would ease burdens on all veterans with small children.
Women in the military are also far more likely to be married to other servicemembers; throughout the Department of Defense (DoD), 51.3% of married female enlisted active duty personnel reported being in dual-service marriages, compared to only 8.1% of their male counterparts. These women veterans must worry not only about their own readjustments, but also their husbands’ challenges. The VA must consider the dual role women veterans may be balancing as both givers and seekers of care. My husband sustained a penetrating Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in Iraq and was medically retired from the military. This impacted my decision not to reenlist, because he needed assistance that he simply was not getting. In addition, I was so focused on his recovery that I barely considered my own needs. It was years before I realized that as both a caregiver and a veteran I needed to not simply “suck it up and drive on,” as the Army taught, but rather had to reach out for help and support.
When struggling to cope with invisible wounds of war such as PTSD, or when simply facing challenges readjusting post-combat, peer support can be vital. However, there are things about my experience as a woman in a war zone that my male peers do not understand. They cannot truly know what it is like to fear not only the enemy, but also sexual assault from your brothers in arms. They may be aware of, but not be able to fully empathize with, the challenges of facing regular sexual harassment. And they certainly do not understand what it is like to feel invisible as a veteran, as many women veterans do. It is therefore vital that the VA provide times or places where women veterans, especially those who may have experienced military sexual trauma, can feel safe and comfortable seeking help in a community of their peers.
These are all challenges that I am confident every VA hospital can meet and overcome. In 2006, I went to the VA Medical Center in Washington, DC. My visit was uncoordinated, stressful, and confusing. The facility did not smell clean and was crowded with veterans who seemed to have poorly managed mental health concerns. I was not given clear information about what services were available to me. My husband also went to that VA in 2006; he was regularly told that he was in the “wrong clinic” and sent back and forth between multiple offices. Doctors gave him the impression that he and his issues were an inconvenience at best. My husband’s inability to schedule timely appointments that fit in with his schedule eventually made him give up on getting care from the VA at all. We both began relying exclusively on TriCare for all our medical and mental health needs, even though the civilian providers we saw were less familiar with combat injuries and post-traumatic stress.
My visit to the VA medical center in Martinsburg, West Virginia in June 2008, however, was a stark contrast to my own previous experience and the stories I have heard from veterans about some other facilities. There was a women’s restroom clearly visible in the lobby; it had a changing table. I was treated as a veteran at all times, asked about my combat experiences, and sensitively asked if I had experienced sexual harassment or assault in the military. Providers carefully coordinated my visit, ensured that I was aware of all available resources, and followed up both promptly and thoroughly. Their OEF/OIF Integrated Care Clinic and newly-opened Women’s Clinic are models worthy of emulation, and I truly believe that with continued advocacy and oversight, all facilities can provide the same standard of care.
In order to best meet the needs of all veterans, I also urge the development of enhanced relationships not only between the DoD and VA but also with those community organizations that are ready and willing to fill gaps in services. Public-private partnerships can allow all of us to come together to meet the needs of our veterans in innovative and exciting ways.
Popularity: 19% [?]
How can I be a Democrat and U.S. Marine?
Jul 9th
I have been following the content on the Veterans of Foreign Wars Facebook page for a couple of months now and I am seriously frustrated with some of the VFW’s members’ political opinions. I experienced similar frustration with members of my Marine Corp unit when talking politics. I often hear divisive rhetoric which sounds like regurgitations of something they heard from a Rush Limbaugh or Anne Coulter fan.
An Associate Press news feed was posted on the VFW’s Facebook page with a photo of Nancy Pelosi attached. The article described efforts made by Congressional Democrats to use approximately $100 billion of the war funding bill to transfer education benefits from military members who do not utilize the benefits to their children. You would think veterans might be grateful for the legislation which recognizes and rewards service members for their sacrifice.
Their comments are at best ignorant. Their ideas lack critical thought, uniqueness or any quantitative or qualitative data. I could not believe the Facebook responses such as: “This is entirely a political game”, “She is worse than any terrorist plotting to kill Americans”, “Pelosi should be arrested for treason during a time of war” and “Speaker has recently proved that she will say anything if she thinks it will put her in a better light”. These people assume that Speaker Pelosi is the wacky, liberal bitch, the far right political pundits make her out to be. These comments have not only been directed towards the Speaker, but all “liberals”.
I have heard directly from those who have worked with her in congress, that she is a remarkably kind, polite and intelligent individual. After sitting at a veteran’s roundtable with her, I know she is cordial to others and steadfast in her support for veterans. I have data to back up my support for Pelosi. By explaining what the Republican Congress did and Democrats have done in the past two years will be able to answer the question that I am often confronted with: how can I be a Democrat and a U.S. Marine?
The Republicans did little in the previous six years despite the revelation of horrors that the media was reporting about the failures of the Walter Reed Medical Center and the poor planning that took place upon the invasion of Iraq, all resulting in inadequate supplies for our troops. The last Republican Congress adjourned in December of 2006, without passing a VA appropriations bill. It left the department operating under a “continuing resolution” with VA spending frozen at its fiscal ’06 level. It is no wonder why Veteran Service Organizations (VSO’s) were thrilled in 2007 when Democrats took over Congress.
Democrats of the 110th Congress went straight to work on veteran issues lead by the Speaker Pelosi, Senate President Harry Reed and the Chairmen of the House and Senate Veteran Affairs Committees and have not stopped since. The funding level for veterans programs and facilities increased by almost 20 percent than the demoralized Republican leaders left a year before. The $6.9 billion increase allowed the VA to hire 1,800 more claim processors, beef up medical staffs, and modernize long-neglected hospitals and clinics. The only politician who objected was the infamous Republican Senator Larry Craig.
Lead by Virginia Senator Jim Webb, a former Marine and Sec. of Navy, Democrats Championed the Post 9/11 GI Bill. The new GI Bill alone provided veterans with more opportunities than the Republicans did in their entire tenure. Here is a snapshot of the Post 9/11 GI Bill: it will pay all tuition/ fees for any public college, collaborate with private schools to pay for entire tuition, gives a monthly housing allowance, provides an annual book stipend and is transferable to family members under certain circumstances. This sure beats the 350 dollars a month I was awarded for most my education.
Interning for a VSO on Capitol Hill has given me some insight on what veterans have coming to them. The 2009 Supplemental Appropriations includes money for: extending GI benefits, stop loss compensation, defense health and military family support programs, equipment for the troops, wounded warriors support, military hospitals/ Walter Reed and child care facilities. The FY 2010 defense authorization includes appropriations for: military pay raises, caregivers for wounded warriors, mental health, enhancing spousal job opportunities, military housing and education.
I know what response conservatives would pose to my claims. I will quote a VFW member: “I’m in the military, but I’m also a taxpayer. I’d like to see benefits, but I don’t want my country to spend its way into bankruptcy and put us all on the dole”. This is a legitimate concern. But let us learn from history: the WWII GI Bill not only paid for veterans’ entire education but provided money for them to buy a house or stipends if they were unemployed. This created a large educated middle class, spurred a housing growth that created entire subdivisions in California and around America. Do today’s vets not deserve the same opportunity? Can we become great again?
Popularity: 18% [?]
Bill: Have VA pay old claims automatically
Jul 1st
By Rick Maze – Staff writer
Military Times
A North Carolina lawmaker proposes tackling the backlog of veterans’ disability claims by awarding benefits to veterans after 18 months if their claim hasn’t been processed.
Veterans Affairs Department officials have told Congress they are, on average, processing disability compensation claims within 162 days and have a goal of cutting the average to 120 days. But Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., is one of many lawmakers who think there is a limit to how patient veterans could be in waiting for money they are due.
“Backlogs are at the point where veterans must wait an average of six months for a decision on benefits claims and some veterans are waiting as long as four years,” Butterfield said in a statement. “Veterans deserve better than this.”
Butterfield introduced a bill on Friday, HR 3087, that would automatically approve a veteran’s claim if no decision is made by the VA within 18 months. The bill doesn’t say exactly how the VA would do this, but creates a task force to monitor VA to make sure the 18-month deadline isn’t met with an arbitrary denial just before the claim must be paid.
The bill comes as the number of unprocessed veterans claims exceeds 915,000 — a 100,000 jump since the beginning of the year. In testimony two weeks ago before a House committee, VA officials said the current 162 days is 17 days less than one year ago, a sign that they are beginning to make process.
Butterfield’s legislation, though, focuses on the estimated 20 percent of claims that are not easily resolved, usually because the claim involves a veteran claiming multiple disabilities from a variety of causes who is not able to provide documents that show a clear link to military service for all of the disabilities.
A deadline might help force the VA to move faster, Butterfield said. “The decision should be made within 180 days,” Butterfield said. “Providing a deadline gives the VA an added incentive to make a timely decision, and provides our veterans with an assurance against claims languishing for years.”
The bill was referred to the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee for consideration, a panel that has discussed the idea of having claims automatically approved if they languish. The VA and some veterans’ service organizations have opposed the idea, worried that a deadline encourages shortcuts by the VA — like quick denials — and also might lead some veterans to file extremely complicated and not well-documented claims in an effort to make the process drag out beyond the automatic payment deadline.
Popularity: 14% [?]
Simple, simplicity…
Jun 28th
Sometimes all it takes is a simple solution to remedy a complex problem.
Take the VBA’s claims processing system and the backlog of close to a million claims. Some experts assert that more Ratings Specialists are needed; the problem with that is it takes a good two-to-three years to train the person to competently rate claims. Others have argued the VA needs to look strictly to technology improvements to solve the backlog problem. While that indeed would be helpful, technology in and of itself isn’t the entire answer either (it certainly wouldn’t be beneficial if the VA continued to make the same mistakes, they’d simply be making those mistakes utilizing the technology).
While I believe more ratings specialists are needed, and I definitely agree that the VA needs to better utilize technology, I also maintain that the VA can find efficiencies by just “keeping it simple.”
Case in point, Jerry Manar, who is the VFW’s Assistant Director of National Veterans Service, often talks about VA regional office service center managers who encourage veteran service organizations to bring them “ready to rate” cases. While this practice works well in some offices, it is rarely utilized in others. As Jerry explains, this practice actually encourages service officers to bring complete and ready to rate claims to a designated person who ensures that routine development is bypassed and claim adjudication is expedited.
Sounds simple doesn’t it?
The benefit of “ready to rate” cases would be a reduction of the workload on VA staff, ensuring the backlog is not unnecessarily increased. As a matter of fact, to guarantee that the process would work on a larger scale, VA should require that regional office personnel, managers and veteran service officers are adequately trained to recognize a properly developed claim and understand that receipt of such a claim would trigger actions ensuring prompt adjudication.
In the final analysis, this practice alone won’t reduce the VA’s backlog of claims, but I am quite certain there are other simple practices the VA can adopt to make the claims process simpler and more efficient; for the VA and the veterans they serve.
Bob Jackson is the Assistant Director for National Veterans Service for the VFW. He continues to lobby Congress to improve the delivery of VA benefits and compensation to millions of our nation’s veterans.
Popularity: 9% [?]
The VA and brokering claims: Whack-a-Mole at the County Fair
Jun 26th
Have you ever played the game “Whack-a-Mole?”
It’s the game you may happen upon at a county fair or arcade that requires you to whack the head of the mole with a rubber mallet as it sticks its’ head out of the hole. The object is to whack as many moles as you can in a specified time limit. Nobody ever gets all of the moles; all you get are points, which, in the end, are worthless.
I would like to use the “Whack-a-Mole” analogy in explaining a practice the VA uses with its regional offices. It is simply called “brokering,” and it is having a debilitating effect on the VA claims process.
Here is how it works: Currently VBA replaces lost staffing in regional offices according to the office’s ability to process claims. Specifically, the more productive an office is, the more staff they receive. While this policy may encourage management at an underperforming office in the short run, over time it magnifies the deficiencies at the underperforming office, resulting in disproportionate backlogs and extended delays for the veterans served by that office.
This policy has existed for at least the past five years. While VBA attempts to compensate by shifting or “brokering” work to other offices, this does not solve the problems at the underperforming offices. Further, while brokering cases is an excellent temporary measure to deal with workload fluctuations, it has become routine for some offices. Continuous brokering of work takes on the trappings of “Whack-a-Mole”; as soon as you push down the workload at one location, it rises dramatically in another.
The fact is, the policy of starving certain offices is counterproductive, both for employees and for the veterans they serve. If VBA is unable to provide those offices with the leadership, resources and training to make them productive, then it needs to develop the corporate, institutional and political courage to change the mission of those offices to something other than claims processing.
Whacking the mole may get the VBA some points in the short term, but for veterans waiting for their claims to be processed, the long-term result could prove to be worthless.
Bob Jackson is the Assistant Director for National Veterans Service for the VFW. He continues to lobby Congress to improve the delivery of VA benefits and compensation to millions of our nation’s veterans.
Popularity: 15% [?]
