Perhaps the VA needs to bring in Oscar the Grouch’s Sesame Street neighbor, Count von Count, to give themselves a lesson and count how many veterans have waited far too long to receive the health care and benefits they have earned.

The cranky Sesame Street character who lives in a garbage can was used in reference to veterans who will attend town-hall events Wednesday in Philadelphia. The spokeswoman from the Philadelphia VA benefits office – which will host the town halls – said in a statement that the agency regretted any misunderstanding caused by the slide show.

There’s no clear answer as whether this idea came out of the Philadelphia VA or the national office. But so much for improving customer service to our veterans.

What’s more, the slide show contains a “coping with stress” and four-minute relaxation technique for employees if they feel angry or overwhelmed (by the veterans in attendance at the town ha
lls).

Maybe some of the veterans in attendance would love to know about those “coping with stress” techniques as well, especially as they sit on egregiously long wait lists for care.

The bottom-line throughout all this unfortunate news coming out of the VA is this: those who have sacrificed so much for our country do not deserve to be treated like garbage. They are not grouches. Veterans are not “too demanding” or “unreasonable” when they get upset by the current state of their care. Many have lost trust in the VA.

Instead of slideshows depicting Oscar the Grouch and relaxation techniques for employees, perhaps a presentation on best practices, cutting wait times, and real customer service is in order.

Read more on this issue on Stars & Stripes’ website:  http://www.stripes.com/news/philly-va-training-slides-depicted-veterans-as-oscar-the-grouch-1.300205

Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact an attorney about your PTSD, TBI, Mental Health, Sexual Assault, Hearing Loss and Tinnitus, TDIU, Medical Malpractice, or Aid and Attendance claim, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800

The key points in the new package include a $15 billion budget boost to the VA, a “Veterans Choice Card,” and, potentially, leases on 27 new medical centers in fifteen states and Puerto Rico (another $1.27 billion).

The centerpiece of the “Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act” (HR 3230) is a $10 billion Veterans Choice Fund. Over the next three years, VA is to use the fund to buy care from non-VA care providers for veterans if they face long waits longer than 30 days for VA care or if they reside more than 40 miles from a VA medical center.

The goal: to eliminate the egregiously long VA patient wait list, which some VA health administrators and staffed conspired to hide in recent years.

Per the request of some VA leaders and veteran service organizations, HR 3230 also authorizes $5 billion for VA to expand its own capacity to deliver care, by hiring more medical and support staff and also building and leasing more space. This $5 billion will be paid for by cuts elsewhere, including cuts to executive bonuses and deferring planned rate cute for certain VA home loans.

However, the “Veterans Choice Card,” which the legislation mandates, is not the golden ticket that it sounds like for veterans seeking outside care. Veterans not already enrolled in VA health care won’t gain accelerated access to outside care as promised by the legislation, unless they serve in areas of combat operations within five years of enrollment.

The choice card will mostly act as an informational insurance card presented to non-VA health care providers to identify the veteran and to verify eligibility for care that, sometime earlier, were arranged through and approved by a VA coordinator.

Also, not all eligible veterans will get to choose their outside provider, and not every outside provider will opt to treat veterans through the VA coordinated care program – even if the vets are existing patients. The issues for outside physicians include the level and timeliness of VA payments. The new legislation does include language seeking to improve VA payment procedures so that payments are timelier.

VA has existing contracts with individual physicians and with pools of private sector providers, and additional similar arrangements are expected. But, VA cannot pay rates higher than Medicare allows, with exceptions possible if care is delivered in rural areas.

Many question marks remain with this legislation and how it might be implemented. It certainly does not represent a cure-all for the VA’s problems, however it does include some near-term action. You can read more on this story in Stars & Stripes: http://www.stripes.com/news/veterans/how-choice-card-and-15b-will-help-veterans-get-care-1.296110

Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact an attorney about your PTSD, TBI, Mental Health, Sexual Assault, Hearing Loss and Tinnitus, TDIU, Medical Malpractice, or Aid and Attendance claim, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800

Kristina Derro, Esq.

Veterans Disability Lawyer

The government has launched a new process to expedite Social Security disability claims for a special category of veterans, the Social Security Administration announced Tuesday, March 18.

Under the new process, Social Security claims from veterans with a Veterans Affairs Department disability compensation rating of 100 percent Permanent and Total will be treated as high priority, and qualifying veterans will receive expedited decisions.

However, the VA rating does not guarantee an approval for Social Security benefits; it only ensures the process will be expedited for those veterans. The veterans still must meet the strict eligibility requirements for a disability allowance.

Carolyn Colvin, acting Social Security commissioner, said the new process is similar to the way the agency currently handles disability claims from wounded warriors.

“We have reached another milestone for those who have sacrificed so much for our country and this process ensures they will get the benefits they need quickly,” Colvin said in a news release. “While we can never fully repay them for their sacrifices, we can be sure we provide them with the quality of service that they deserve. This initiative is truly a lifeline for those who need it most.”

To receive the expedited service, veterans must tell Social Security they have a VA disability compensation rating of 100 percent Permanent and Total and must show proof of their disability rating with their VA notification letter.

Congressman John Sarbanes (D-Md.), who introduced legislation in Congress to promote the initiative, praised the change.

“No one wants to put America’s veterans through a bureaucratic runaround,” he said in the release. “As the baby boomer generation ages and more veterans of the wars inIraqandAfghanistanneed care, this common sense change will help reduce backlogs and cut through unnecessary red tape so that our most disabled veterans receive the benefits they’ve earned.”

To read further on this issue, check out the Stars & Stripes article: http://www.stripes.com/news/some-veterans-will-now-have-their-social-security-disability-benefits-expedited-1.273397

Kristina Derro, Esq.

The Department of Veterans Affairs’s (VA) “appeals resolution time” shot up to 923 days in fiscal year 2013 – that’s up 37% from 675 in the previous year, according to the department’s annual performance report.

The appeals resolution time is the average time it takes for a denied claim to work through the VA’s appeals process. That means veterans are waiting nearly three years on a decision as to whether they will receive crucial disability benefits.

Disability benefits are awarded to veterans who suffer physical or mental injuries during their military service, ranging from $131 a month to $2,858 a month for a single veteran.

The 923 day tally for 2013 is over half of the Department’s long-term goal of 400 days, and still well over its short-term goal of 650 days. One likely culprit for this troubling trend is the VA’s overall backlog of claims awaiting an initial decision.

The VA has been engaged in a very public battle to reduce its overall backlog. By 2015, the department wants to get the backlog to zero. That would ensure that no claim is pending for more than 125 days. This goal has received the most attention from Congress, the administration, and veterans groups, which has apparently left the appeals resolution time issue to take a backseat.

“As the VA has pushed to end the backlog, there’s been a diversion of resources from the appeals system to tackling the backlog,” said Jacqueline Maffucci, research director for the advocacy group Iraqand Afghanistan Veterans of America, in a recent Stars & Stripes report.

Laura Eskenazi, the official who oversees the Department’s Board of Veterans’ Appeals, cautioned that the long processing time “is not at all indicative of inactivity.”

Veterans who appeal their initial decision, either in part or in full, are slotted into a separate system, which extends their wait-time on a final decision even longer. That appeals process has evolved into a multi-layer system since its inception in World War I. Veterans, survivors, or their representatives may prompt a new review of the entire appeal at any time by submitting new evidence. The Board of Veterans’ Appeals then grants, denies, or, most commonly, remands the case to a VA regional office for additional review.

Few attorneys are experienced in the difficult prosecution of VA claims. Our legal staff at Legal Help For Veterans has over a decade of experience in dealing with VA disability appeals and employs a network of medical specialists, many former military physicians, who can ensure your claim has the best likelihood for success. Our staff includes former officers and enlisted personnel; we are veterans helping veterans and have experience in these very issues.

For more information, visit our website at www.legalhelpforveterans.com.

To read more on the appeals resolution time, see the Stars & Stripes Report here: http://www.stripes.com/news/us/va-s-time-to-resolve-disability-appeals-shoots-up-1.270408#.UxEGcZJ5ds8.email