It is an often repeated statement that less than 10% of veterans appeal their decision therefore just getting the claim done by hook or crook has little negative impact on the agency in reporting its annual performance. Instead, VA policy makers boast about the number of claims completed, regardless of due process errors.
Individual veterans and Veterans Service Organizations as a whole should have no confidence in receiving a technically correct, legally accurate, and an equitable rating decision when the entire system contains institutionalized, unaddressed fundamental flaws in applying Due Process under law.
Conspiracy or disturbing Comedy of Errors?
Over the years older veterans have seen a disturbing Comedy of Errors perpetuated by the VA leading to needless deaths. And even though the VA hospital has cleaned up (remember Walter Reed is an Army Hospital) its act to become one of the best care givers in the nation it’s still impossible to make a good “second” first impression. So many of these vets will remain undeterred from their first impressions of the VA and every new report of “evil doings” at a VA hospital, even if isolated, will merely reinforce that bad first impression. Chalk this up to a disturbing Comedy of Errors.
However consider the charge of intentionally denying benefit claims.
Since the AFGE represents the (VA) employees that decide granting or denying a veterans’ benefit claim - that makes Joe Waldman’s letter the smoking gun. In the full transcript of Mr. Waldman’s letter to congress
he asserts that supervisors pressure their employees to close cases as quickly as possible. For every benefits case closed that VA office receives a “work credit”. These are received regardless of the job being done correctly or not. Employees obtaining a set level of “work credits” are rewarded by the VA in cash bonuses.
The same cash bonuses that actually encourage the denial of benefit claims for disabled vets by the unscrupulous on the VA payroll.
Then there is the Knight-Ridder story stating that thousands of vets have died while their cases were in appeals. That a few veterans where still waiting since WWII to get their benefits.
Considering the overwhelming case load of 400,000 unresolved claims, plus the 200,000 projected new claims by those retuning from Afghanistan/Iraq;is it really hard to imagine why some veterans believe the VA is simply waiting them out?
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