Battling the Veterans Benefits Administration for benefits is almost second nature to many Armed Forces personnel.
This is a story that highlights some of the incredible problems there are for vets who are trying to deal with the Veterans Benefits Administration (VA). It involves a case we heard about where a retired Marine Sergeant was shot in the head in Vietnam, which resulted in spinal-cord surgery that landed him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
The Marine was told by a VA doctor to file to get funding that would allow him to adapt his home and car to handle his wheelchair. Flash forward to 2010, and the Marine is still fighting to get his claims dealt with, since all that has transpired in the last ten years was what appears to be a monumental run around of claim denials, a few rounds with legal interpretations, and dealing with the government bureaucracy. This Marine would get some straightforward information from an Arkansas injury and Arkansas accident lawyer, practicing personal injury law and veteran’s benefits.
Over the last ten years, the Marine took matters into his own hands and went ahead and did his home renovations to the tune of roughly $6,000. He also got his driver’s license suspended; not one of his finer moments, but he noted with some humor that the VA told him he could not drive without special equipment and then told him he couldn’t have that very same equipment for a service related disability. This Marine is definitely not alone in his fight to get his claim honored.
There may be some light on the horizon in the form of VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, who has indicated he wants to clean up the inefficiency and clean out backlogged claims. Sounds good on the surface, but what about the error rate for processing claims? The error rate is actually not the problem in and of itself; the problem is that the whole system needs overhauling (much like the health and immigration systems).
Dealing with the backlog of claims may be nice, but rushing to move them out doesn’t address the underlying problems when it comes to staff making errors. Hustling things along will only mean the claims may be processed faster, but with a higher error rate, because no one is taking the time to make sure they are right the first time.
Overall, Shinseki wants to hit an accuracy rate of 98% by 2015, which also sounds fantastic, but do some math first to figure out what that really means. Let’s say the VA processes 2 million claims; that means a 1% error rate would be 20,000 vets. That’s a whole lot of problems for the vets.
If you find yourself in the revolving door trying to deal with a VA claim and don’t feel like you are getting anywhere, contact a seasoned Arkansas injury and Arkansas accident lawyer, practicing personal injury law and veteran’s benefits. It may be the best thing you have ever done for your health.
Michael G. Smith is anArkansas personal injury lawyer and Arkansas accident lawyer, practicing personal injury law and veteran’s benefits in Arkansas. Learn more by visiting Arkansaslawhelp.com
