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thedrifter
10-10-07, 07:19 PM
Quick action on checks for disabled vets urged
By Hope Yen - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Oct 10, 2007 18:20:24 EDT


WASHINGTON — Injured veterans suffering long waits for disability checks could have their claims processed immediately with audits done later, if need be, the head of a special commission said Wednesday.

Separately, two major veterans groups expressed impatience at government delays in improving care for wounded troops. They urged President Bush to move quickly to nominate a new Veterans Affairs secretary who would finally make the “needs of our nation’s veterans a national priority.”

“This is no time for the president to fill such an important position with a placeholder for the remainder of his term,” said David W. Gorman, an executive director of Disabled American Veterans.

Retired Lt. Gen. James Terry Scott, chairman of the Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission, testified before Congress Wednesday. His was the first of several commissions and task forces to weigh in on the Hill on the issue of reducing delays in veterans’ disability pay.

Last week, the 13-member commission issued a 544-page report on the ailing system, calling the current 177-day wait unacceptable. It called for better technology, standardized procedures and additional staff to reduce the Department of Veterans Affairs claims backlog to about 90 days within two years.

Under questioning Wednesday, Scott acknowledged that more radical efforts might be needed. He said a VA pilot program that would let veterans get benefits without having to prove their claim first — subject to random audits later for validity — might work if the new VA secretary works closely with Congress to ensure there are no unintended consequences.

Such a proposal, similar to the process by which taxpayers file their returns with the IRS, has been touted before by Harvard professor Linda Bilmes and more recently by former VA secretary Jim Nicholson, just before leaving office.

Scott said the VA was hesitant about such a radical proposal because of the risk of fraudulent claims that might be difficult to recoup later. But he added that it might be worth trying, given the lack of success so far with other measures.

“The VA as an institution has been hit about the head and shoulders so much that trying something new is sometimes resisted because they’re afraid they’ll be left holding the bag,” Scott told the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

“I wouldn’t object to a pilot program,” he said. “The current system is so complicated, it’s a wonder to me that anyone can get a claim processed.”

Several of the House committee members said they would be interested in crafting legislation to give the VA such authority.
Disability claims pouring in

“We have to cut through the bureaucracy and do it soon,” said committee Chairman Bob Filner, D-Calif., noting that disability claims from veterans injured in Iraq and Afghanistan are pouring in at rates faster than the VA can train new processors.

Filner said the pilot program could offer accountability and some protection from fraud if veterans were required to submit claims with the assistance of a “properly trained or certified officer.”

“We have to stop this adversarial approach where we have to prove every little detail,” he said.

The comments come as the Bush administration and Congress struggle to find clear answers to some of the worst problems afflicting wounded warriors more than seven months after disclosures emerged of shoddy outpatient treatment at the Pentagon-run Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

The Government Accountability Office earlier this month in particular cited Army problems in providing personalized medical care and the VA’s backlogs in disability pay.

Nicholson, who stepped down Oct. 1, has said his successor will have to “think outside the box” to solve intractable delays in disability pay. Gordon Mansfield, the VA’s deputy secretary, is serving as acting secretary pending a nomination of a successor by Bush.

On Wednesday, the group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America aired a new television ad that chastises both Congress and the Bush administration for continuing problems in veterans care.

The group noted that even though the House and Senate passed separate bills that significantly boosted funding for the stressed veterans health care system, the budget has yet to be approved due to disagreements among lawmakers and the White House, which is urging more “fiscal restraint.”

“It is critical that they take immediate action on issues that will substantially impact veterans’ lives,” said Paul Rieckhoff, the group’s executive director.

Ellie