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Thread: Backlog of Veterans' Disability Claims Increases 179% Under Obama

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    One big Fubar...

    Errors Delayed Claims for Aging, Disabled Veterans
    Apr 03, 2016 | I've been getting complaints for years about how slow the government is to appoint fiduciaries to manage veterans benefits for former service members or their spouses who are old or disabled. It seemed as if the Department of Veterans Affairs had forgotten about them. In some cases, it did.
    The agency sheepishly announced a few weeks ago that about 14,000 fiduciary claims, some dating to 2000, didn't get processed because they weren't transferred properly within the agency's bureaucracy. The delay could have cost veterans and their families thousands of dollars. If a veteran dies before a fiduciary is appointed, benefits that have been withheld pending the appointment aren't always paid. Uncle Sam profits from its tardiness. "We sincerely apologize to these veterans and their survivors for this regrettable delay," VA Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson said in a statement March 24. "We are taking immediate action to complete these cases, initiate the fiduciary appointment process, and ensure that these errors do not happen again."


    The cover of a VA publication about its fiduciary program, which came under heavy criticism from the department's own inspector general.

    The VA's definition of "immediate action" probably differs from yours and mine. The VA said it could take as long as six months, or more. What else did you expect from an agency with a reputation for being as quick as a tortoise? The VA appoints fiduciaries to manage government benefits for veterans who are deemed incompetent to handle their money. That most typically happens with disabled and aging veterans, or their widows and widowers, who apply for pension benefits to cover the cost of their care in a nursing home. They must meet income requirements. Once they are approved, a process that can take months, their monthly benefits payments begin flowing. But they won't get any retroactive payments they are owed for the period between their application and approval if the VA believes a money manager is needed.

    Staff will interview the veteran or eligible widow/widower to assess their competency. If it is determined that a fiduciary is required, appointing one can take many more months. During that time, the retroactive payments, which can be thousands of dollars, continue to be withheld. The VA isn't comfortable releasing such large sums to someone considered to be unable to manage their money. So veterans must draw down their savings or rely on relatives to pay the nursing home bill until that money is released, though I've heard that some homes graciously will let the bill ride for at least a while for the benefits to come through. A few years ago, I wrote about a Carbon County woman who went through that. It took her eight months to get appointed as fiduciary for her father, a World War II veteran, and likely would have taken longer if the Watchdog hadn't intervened.

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    Veterans Facing Cancer Hope That 'Atomic Veteran' Bill Becomes Law
    Apr 03, 2016 | Congress is considering a bill that would create a special "atomic veteran" designation for the men and women who worked to clean up nuclear waste from a South Pacific atoll nearly 40 years ago, a move that Maine veteran Paul Laird says was a long time coming.
    But Laird, a 59-year-old from Otisfield who served with the U.S. Army's 84th Engineer Battalion on Enewetak Atoll and who is a three-time cancer survivor, said that the bill has only a slim chance of becoming law -- and that is not acceptable to him. As of now, only 30 co-sponsors have officially signed on to the bill, which is a number the Mainer said does not seem like enough. "We are not seeing people jump up and down to get on board," he said earlier this month. "We're a little disappointed. We're trying however we can to get the word out, but people just don't seem to think it's very important." The bill, H.R. 3870, is called the Atomic Veterans Healthcare Parity Act, and was introduced last November by US Rep. Mark Takai, D-Hawaii. It was referred to the House subcommittee on health on Nov. 6 and has not advanced any farther on its legislative path.

    The website GovTrack.us, which follows Congress, only gave the bill a 5 percent chance of getting out of committee and a 1 percent chance of being enacted into law. Veterans such as Laird and Jeffery Dean of Belfast want to be designated as so-called atomic veterans so that if they are diagnosed with one of several specific cancers or nonmalignant conditions they can be entitled to compensation or free medical care through the US Department of Veterans Affairs. With this designation, they would not have to prove their cancers were caused by radiation and would likely have an easier time getting a disability rating from the VA.


    A thermonuclear explosion rises above Enewetak Atoll on New Year's Eve 1952.

    Laird and Dean were among approximately 6,000 American soldiers tasked with rehabilitating the atoll between 1977 and 1980 before it was returned to the people of the Marshall Islands. The tiny island was the scene of more than 40 nuclear tests from 1948 to 1958, and when the two Mainers were among those told to clean it up with little protective gear, they believe they became contaminated with radioactive dust. "The stuff was like baby powder," Laird said of the contaminated soil he moved with a bulldozer and bucket loader. "When you dumped it in the back of the truck it would just go poof. The first weeks I was there I begged for a dust mask. They said they were on back order and just wrap your T-shirt around your nose."

    He said that he is in communication with 340 known surviving veterans from Enewetak Atoll, and of the 340, there is a 35 percent cancer rate. "We have many guys that have already died. We have lots more with a foot in the grave," Laird said. "I've had three different forms of cancer, which is very, very rare. I was in good shape my whole life, then all of a sudden, it was like someone flipped the switch. That's what radiation does." Dean, another cancer survivor, said last year that it is past time for the veterans to get the designation and health care they need. "We're all suffering the consequences," he said. "Vets are dying with no mystery to it."

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    Wait-times were systemic across the Veterans Affairs Department...

    IG Reports Detail Which VA Facilities Doctored Patient Wait-Times
    Apr 08, 2016 | Two years after whistleblower revelations of manipulated appointment times at the Veterans Medical Center in Phoenix led to findings that the problem was systemic across the Veterans Affairs Department, internal investigations into the matter are finally being released.
    The reports, documenting the manipulation of wait-times at VA facilities across 19 states, reveal that in at least seven facilities the dates were falsified per order of supervisors, according to an article in USA Today, which acquired the documents through a Freedom of Information Act request. The 71 reports are now available for viewing on the department's website. The VA anticipates releasing another half dozen reports at least. It is also completing 30 site-specific investigations that it will release in the coming months, department spokesman James Hutton said.

    The reports finally identify VA hospitals and clinics where appointment data was manipulated. In particular, inspector general concluded appointment dates were manipulated in accordance with supervisor instructions in facilities in seven states, including Arkansas, California, Delaware, Illinois, New York, Texas and Vermont. The investigations were carried out in 2014 after whistleblowers went public with allegations of appointment gaming that resulted in veteran deaths at the Phoenix hospital. Altogether, 40 VA hospitals and clinics across the U.S. and Puerto Rico were found to be "zeroing out" wait times -- meaning they would adjust the dates to make it appear veterans were getting the appointment dates they desired rather than those that were available.


    U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

    The manipulation concealed the extent to which facilities were not keeping up with patient demand. In some instances confirmed by the IG agents, wait-times were manipulated as a result of poor training or instruction, though the net results were skewed appointment data in violation of VA procedure. The department, in anticipation of the reports' release, said last week that it's "important to note that OIG has not substantiated any case in which a [Veterans Health Administration] Senior Executive or other senior leader intentionally manipulated scheduling data." In about a third of the inspector general investigations, there was no evidence of manipulated appointment data, it said. Of those remaining, investigators substantiated 18 instances of intentional misuse of scheduling systems.

    Of those 18 cases, VA says, the Office of Accountability Review found individual misconduct warranting discipline in 12, resulting in 29 employees who were disciplined. VA did not offer a detailed accounting of the actions taken, saying only that they ranged from official admonishment to removal, including three employees who retired or resigned with disciplinary action pending. Rep. Jeff Miller, a Republican from Florida and chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, on Friday said the inspector general reports "document dysfunction on the part of both the Department of Veterans Affairs and its inspector general." Miller, who has been the most vocal among lawmakers in demanding VA reform and accountability, slammed the department for sitting on the reports for so long.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Peter1469 View Post
    The amount of claims are staggering. I wouldn't blame Obama for the backlog.

    Thats right, but he did claim that fixing the VA was something he was going to take seriously and it's only gotten worse on his watch.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tahuyaman View Post
    Thats right, but he did claim that fixing the VA was something he was going to take seriously and it's only gotten worse on his watch.

    The only fix that I see is allowing Vets to go to any doctor they want and the bill goes to the VA.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Peter1469 View Post
    The only fix that I see is allowing Vets to go to any doctor they want and the bill goes to the VA.
    the federal government loses control if that's the case and the Feds don't react kindly to losing control of anything.

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    Peter1469 (04-10-2016)

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    Granny says, "Dat's right - Now we know how dey been makin' progress onna backlog...

    IG Report: VA Has Been Shredding Documents Needed for Veterans' Claims
    Apr 16, 2016 | Department of Veterans Affairs investigators conducted spot checks at 10 veterans benefits offices around the country and came to a disturbing conclusion: The VA has been systemically shredding documents related to veterans' claims -- some potentially affecting their benefits. The VA Office of Inspector General conducted the surprise audit at 10 regional offices on July 20, 2015, after an investigation into inappropriate shredding in Los Angeles found that staff there was destroying veterans' mail related to claims, according to an OIG report released Thursday.
    Investigators arrived unannounced at regional offices and sifted through 438,000 documents awaiting destruction as of 11 a.m. Of 155 claims-related documents, 69 were found to have been incorrectly placed in shred bins at six of the regional offices: Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, New Orleans, Philadelphia and Reno, Nev. There were none at Baltimore, Oakland, San Juan and St. Petersburg, Fla. Investigators determined that two of the 69 documents affected benefits directly, nine had the potential to affect benefits and the rest would not affect benefits but were required to be in the claims folders before destruction and were not there.

    It was enough, the report said, to conclude that not only were the problems systemic, the impact could be serious. "The potential effect should not be minimized," the report concluded. "Considering that there are 56 [VA regional offices], and if weekly shredding is conducted, it is highly likely that claims-related documents at other VAROs are being improperly scheduled for destruction that could result in loss of claims and evidence, incorrect decisions and delays in claims processing."


    The findings were the latest in a stream of mishandling of veterans care and benefits at the beleaguered Department of Veterans Affairs. The VA has been embroiled in scandal since the spring of 2014, when revelations emerged that the appointment wait list at the Phoenix VA Medical Center was so long that managers had manipulated the schedules to cover up delays. Patients had languished for months and in some cases years awaiting treatment. Some of them died before receiving care. In February, the inspector general's office, under pressure to publicize its findings, released dozens of investigations into wait times at various VA hospitals showing the problem persists across the system.

    In Thursday's report, the inspector general's office determined that the errors in destroying claims documents in general stemmed from a lack of understanding of the Veteran's Benefits Administration policy on managing paper records. The VBA's policy was revised in 2011, three years after the policy was created. The report said management and staff found the policy "unclear and confusing." It also found that records management staff were often tasked with other duties that sometimes diverted them from their duties of reviewing documents scheduled for destruction. "VBA's policy is outdated, lacks standardized procedures for records management staff and increases the likelihood for VARO staff to destroy claims-related documents without supervisory-level review," the report said.

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    Sharon Helman scores legal win...

    Fired Phoenix VA Director Scores Legal Win, Sparks Outrage
    Jun 03, 2016 | WASHINGTON -- The former director of Phoenix veterans hospitals who was at the center of a 2014 wait-time scandal scored a major legal win this week, shooting down sections of a law allowing the Department of Veterans Affairs to quickly fire misbehaving employees.
    U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Tuesday that the law fast-tracking firings is unconstitutional because VA employees cannot appeal a final decision by an administrative judge. Lynch and President Barack Obama's administration have sided with Sharon Helman, who is suing in federal court over her 2014 termination from the VA for accepting a trip to Disneyland and other gifts. The decision by Lynch is new evidence of the VA's faltering efforts to fire executives and employees when it deems them guilty of misconduct. It also undercuts a key reform passed by Congress in the months following the nationwide VA scandal, which erupted after a doctor in Phoenix said veterans were dying while waiting for care at the facilities overseen by Helman.

    The Obama administration is sending the message that "the sanctity of a federal bureaucrat's job is far more important than the health and well-being of our veterans," said Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, an architect of the law. McCain blasted the president for originally touting and signing the law. Other Republicans also voiced outrage over the decision. "The effect of this reckless action is clear. It undermines very modest reforms to our broken civil service system supported in 2014 by the president and an overwhelming majority of Congress," said Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Florida, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.


    Sharon Helman, director of the Phoenix VA Health Care System.

    In the past, employees had the option of appealing their termination to the Merit Systems Protection Board -- a panel appointed by the president -- in a process that could typically take months. But a joint VA-White House investigation during the wait-time scandal found a "corrosive culture" and widespread poor management at veterans hospitals and clinics across the country. The findings added urgency to VA efforts to quickly root out bad employees. A $16 billion reform law passed by Congress in 2014 dramatically scaled back the appeals process, ordering an administrative judge to make a final decision within 21 days -- with no appeal options -- on whether to uphold the firing. But Lynch now contends the law violates the Constitution because it allows nobody to review the judge's decision, including VA Secretary Bob McDonald.

    The law "vests a federal employee with the final authority -- unreviewable by any politically accountable officer of the executive branch -- to determine whether to uphold the removal of a [VA] senior executive, which includes the power to overrule the decision of a cabinet-level officer," Lynch wrote in a letter to Republican leadership in the House. Lynch said the Justice Department will no longer defend the law in court against Helman and other challengers. But the Justice Department will continue to defend against the other constitutional violations charged in Helman's federal lawsuit.

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    Three years to adjudicate a claim is w-a-y too long...

    Advocate: VA Must Reform Appeals Process 'Sooner Rather Than Later'
    Jun 10, 2016 | A director at the Veterans of Foreign Wars doesn't know if Congress will pass legislation aimed at fixing the VA appeals claims backlog before or after the November presidential election.
    But given the problem has been growing for several years -- and a roughly 18-month implementation window, Gerald Manar is comfortable saying his organization "certainly supports addressing this problem and getting it done sooner rather than later." In an interview Thursday with Military.com, the national services director for the VFW added, "but the problem is, this is a major election year." With all 435 members of the House and 34 senators -- about a third of the Senate -- seeking re-election in the fall, there is little time to get a proposed appeals reform bill through the two congressional veterans' affairs committees and out to the two chambers for votes. "The VA is pushing very hard to get both committees to do something this year," he said. "Whether it happens before July [when Congress goes into recess] or in the lame duck session, they understand that if it doesn't get done this year, it'll be another year before it gets done."

    Manar also noted even if the bill is approved by Congress, about a year and a half will pass before the Department of Veterans Affairs can actually begin implementing it. "I think 18 months is a realistic amount of time to gear up to take on the new claims processing initiative," he said. There will be changes required to VA information technology systems and a host of other modifications to the process, he said. "We saw with the Choice Act that if you rush it, you don't do a good job," Manar said. He was referring to legislation intended to give veterans greater choice and more opportunities to go outside the the department for care. But the bill translated into different types of agreements for different providers, and thus problems for veterans trying to get treatment. "The VA got burned on that once; they don't want to rush [this]." Manar said.

    A key sticking point with the reform package the VA proposed to Congress is that it would not grandfather the 450,000 veterans with pending appeals. Sen. Johnny Isakson, a Republican from Georgia and chairman of the the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee who sponsored a related bipartisan bill along with ranking member Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, said Congress still needs to know "what we do with the 450,000 [veterans] that are waiting." The bipartisan Veterans First Act already includes a pilot program for fast-tracking new appeals using a “fully developed claim” system. Here, veterans would submit all pertinent medical and health records at the time of their claim, certifying they have no further evidence to include. This would allow for a speedier disposition of the claim, they say.

    But those who filed under the existing system cannot simply be moved into a new system. The VFW and other veterans' service organizations, including The American Legion, have been meeting regularly with VA officials and lawmakers to come up with the reform package. The initiative before Congress would modify the current appeals system by establishing three options for veterans dissatisfied with a claims decision. Currently, a veteran may file an appeal that must wait with 450,000 others in the system. The advantage is the veteran may continue to add evidence to the claim along the way. The disadvantage is the time required for processing. VA officials have testified that, on average, a claim adjudicated by the appeals board in 2015 had been in the system for three years, though at least one appeals claim has been in the system for 25 years.

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    Ummm, it was back-logged way before Obama even took office. Folks would be redeployed while still waiting for mental health services. The US is a mess with civilian health care, why should it's service people be any different?

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    Quote Originally Posted by fureverywhere View Post
    Ummm, it was back-logged way before Obama even took office. Folks would be redeployed while still waiting for mental health services. The US is a mess with civilian health care, why should it's service people be any different?
    The wait for mental health services in the VA is up to half a year. In the private sector, perhaps a week or two.
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