Earlier today, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta joined VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to discuss collaborative efforts underway at both agencies. Check out the highlights from Twitter below.
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I love when the brass get together and give a press conference because that solves so many of the V.A.’s problems. It just gives me warm fuzzies in my belly when they use big words like “collaborative working relationship” etc. because it means THIS TIME they really mean it, dog gone it lol. I was medically discharged back in ’08. Went to the local V.A. hospital where lo and behold, they ALREADY had all my medical records in their database. I applied for my disability benefits in April of ’08 and because the guy who did my C & P (I thought he was a P.A. but the hospital has him listed as a Nurse Practictioner) was either too lazy or unable to read medical records, and also mis-labled a test I took, I was denied. I am now 4 months shy of having waited 5 years on what should have been a slam dunk claim. Whereas I appreciate the press conference, what exactly did it accomplish for those of us still waiting?
Shinseki said they are on track to eliminate the backlog by 2015, am I supposed to be impressed? That’s another 3 years and from what I’ve been able to gleen from other websites, most RO’s wait times are still going up. I just hope that someday they figure out a plan that actually works and doesn’t make Vets wait years for a disposition.
This project was started some years back by former SEC of U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi. I hope this efforts continues and can assist in the VA’s backlog of claims. Our Veterans deserve better!
Thanks.
Jon R. Schneider
former Regional Veterans Liaison for
SEC U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Anthony Principi
I’d like to know if any of these plans are “retro-active”. My command screwed up the paperwork they sent for my MEB, then when it got sent back to them, instead of doing it correctly, they simply transferred me to a ‘holding group’, then discharged me without even letting me know they had! I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t getting paid… until I went into my records files on the website and saw my “discharge letter”. Not only did they serew me out of my retirement, they screwed me out of my medical discharge. Fortunately for me, the VA was able to show the relationship between my injuries and my duty to provide me some disability assistance. But, after 18 years and two bouts in the Middle East, I was hoping to finish my career and retire. Now finding a job has proven impossible for three years, and unemployment compensation ran out two and one-half years ago. Try living on that disability check without any other income… Don’t throw the MacDonalds etc. type of employment at me, my disabilities preclude my being able to work in an environment that will worsen them or create more. Also, all those companies that are ‘supposedly’ hiring Vets… yeah right! Even getting on with the government is a laugh… the ‘insiders’ get the decent jobs and the vets just get left out. Something stinks, maybe it’s all the lies and corruption – even in the military.
I am wondering what Sec. Shinseki been doing when in 2009-2010 Ginnie Mae arranged that 50,000 military families were illegally foreclosed upon.
Here the deal, it take an ex-infantry soldier to discover a trillion dollar Ponzi scheme that include every single VA loan that was placed into the Ginnie Mae mortgage backed securities program.
Here is the fact and that is that because the lender had endorse Notes in blank and relinquish them freely to Ginnie Mae. Now what this does is separates the Notes and debts from one another, thereby voiding the Note as a Note must have a debt and a debt must have a Note.
We the Troops have become collateral damage in the housing war, as domestic drone are used to destroy our families who are bombed while are families or inside the homes.
We are constantly abused by the civilian sector, while flying old glory from the safety of their home while making commercial of supporting the Troops, but the message from the top clouds the issue as to what type of borrowers we are. It is made to sound as if we bitten more than we could chew.
However as a ex-bank prime/government mortgage loan officer I know that there not a single VA loan that was a Stated Loan that free thrown around, and left to the imagination of the rest of the public that somehow we did not bring full income documentation for the approval of our loans, when in fact there were not government Stated Loan.
Here is what I can do for a fact and that is to show that none of the loans that were submitted to the HAMP programs could have possible been foreclosed that the loans were in a Ginnie Mae pool (which was 95% of the loans) as there was not a legal party that held a financial interest in the properties.
Every single one of our loans have a couple thing in common and that is they were full documented loan and that the Notes are all still blank, and under UCC 9 its the holder of the blank Notes that has the burden of proof, to show they have purchase our loans which is an impossibility under the law.
The name is Charles Reed and I can show in all 50,000 cases that we were screwed by our own government of our homes. Merry Christmas to the First Families and there annual vacation to sunny Hawaii as one must be in need of getting away from a $333 million mansion the White House is! blackstarborn@yahoo.com….lead or get out the way!
I’ve been waiting since February 3, 2011 for a Letter of Disagreement appeal to a review exam onOctober of 2009! The doctor didn,t even have my extensive medical file on hand at the time! Also I put in a claim on the same date as above and itsstill in the gathering of evidence phase even though my nVA medical records clearly state that my conditions have worsened, not gotten better. I’VE BEEN TRYING TO GET ALL OF THIS CRAP STRAIGHT SINCE MY DISCHARGE IN APRIL OF 1995!
GET IT TOGETHER FOLKS OUR PATIENCE HAS WORN THIN!
I have been retired since 1971, I have heard many problems with receiving medical treatment, and backlog issues with claims processing. I recently read that as of this date the VA has a substantial backlog of claims. I am an energetic retired Navy personnelist with 20 more years in Human Resources with the federal government. To address the backlog issue, it seems to me that retirees such as myself would be willing to devote some volunteer time to assist the VA in processing its backlog claims, at least to reduce the time. I know that I would be willing to give a day or two a week for several months during the year to help. Has the VA every considered such and if I can be of service in this endeavor please let me know. You have my email address above. Yes I do have a pending claim but am willing to help the VA irrespective of my claim status.
The VA has been on some Military Bases for at least 9 years Fort Bragg was one of the first. The are handed the veterans medical records physicals and claims as part of the out processing and disability is often awarded before veterans make it back home. So I really don’t understand what the issue is. However, claims processing is a big issue, when claims take over a year to process, and appeals take over two years just to be certified to the BVA. It seems the VA needs to get its house in order before they try taking on more. I have been serviced by 6 different regional offices in the last 25 years, and no one of them seems to adjudicate claims the same way. One takes months to process a claim the other years. It is no different from one va medical center to another. In one prosthetic clinic I can walk in and get service, at another one I need an appointment. Ironically, they stand behind the regulations when they tell a veteran no, but they don’t always follow the regulations when it benefits the veteran. One va medical center carries my lung medications, another one doesn’t and I end up using military treatment facilities. It makes no sense that the va doesn’t always carry the most widely accepted medications and forces a veteran to seek treatment at two different places just to be able to get the medications. Its the same for clothing allowances, one facility requires the local va issue appliances, while another facility just requires proof that the appliance is for a service connected issue regardless where it was issued. Heck some va facilities won’t even answer the phones ( san Antonio), or reply to a clinical appeal within the required 30 days.. So really, before the va goes and makes more deals with the Military , how about getting your house in order before taking on more responsibilities… we don’t need more promises we need action.
Well done, gentlemen.
The collaborative synergy between DOD and Dept of VA is so encouraging! First of all, it helps to have a SecVA that has actually served in the Military… a General Ofc and Combat Vet no doubt. But more importantly, as an honorably discharged Veteran, it was a scavenger hunt to find all of the pieces to putting together a VA disability claim during the time that I separated (1997). Also, as a former Veterans Benefits Administration [VBA] RVSR, it was frustrating to adjudicate a Veterans disability claim — in many cases — because all of the necessary service records and military treatment records were (sometimes) not an organic part of the case file. The good news is that DOD will go the extra mile to assist Separating Veterans with medical evidence and forms; perhaps Vets will also receive the much needed medical treatments and disability ratings [MEB/PEB] from the Military prior to separation [RAD].
A press conference is not helping. It was just months ago that Secretary Panetta told Senator Murray each service would do a review of all Mental Health separations from 2001 to forward but it hasn’t happened yet. The Air Force W2 program has not been told this will happen and when it will start.
I am just one of many Veterans the VA says they serve but they have had 1 dependency claim for over 500 days and all it requires is a 1 digit change. They have another for 400 plus days for another dependency issue. They have a claim they say is being worked but somehow after 51 days from confirmed delivery they don’t show the received my evidence to support my claim. I check eBenefits and it has no detailed info. When I try to call I get a message saying they are having a high call volume and to call back after hours so I can schedule a call back. Why can’t I do that when I call the 1st time?
Secretary Shinseki needs to get down with the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines who are facing this laborious process and experience the pain and frustration it causes. We are not asking for anything more than to be taken care of. When asked to go do our duty, we didn’t and couldn’t wait 500 days. We did it at the moment asked.
One final note – why is the VA not hiring more people for locations like Oakland, CA where they have nearly 90% of their cases over 125 days?