New VA case managers tackle disability backlog

[thedrifter]

August 21, 2006

U.S. Military (Ret.)
New VA case managers tackle disability backlog

By Alex Keenan
Special to the Times


One of the staples of my mailbag is letters from retirees expressing frustration with the bureaucratic Department of Veterans Affairs process for obtaining a disability rating.

It is, unfortunately, slow. There are more than five dozen steps in evaluating a veteran’s initial disability compensation claim, and the VA itself may wait two or three months to receive information requested of medical records.

Plus, with improved benefit information and outreach programs, veterans today are filing more disability compensation claims than at any time in history — more than 100,000 a year.


The VA has responded to the upswing in claims with more training for its staff, new quality controls and improved monitoring programs. At the same time, however, policies governing how VA processes disability claims have become increasingly complex and time-intensive due to court rulings that expanded the procedures.

Disability compensation benefits cover chronic illnesses or injuries incurred during or worsened by military service.

Of the estimated 26 million veterans alive today, more than 14 percent have had an illness or injury officially declared “service connected,” and 9 percent of all veterans receive monthly payment from the VA. About 70 percent of all initial claims from veterans are approved in whole or in part, but the approval process takes about six to eight months.

Musculoskeletal problems, including impairment of the knee and arthritis due to trauma, account for about 40 percent of all disabilities.

Disabilities are rated in increments of 10 percent, reflecting their severity. When a veteran has more than one disability, the percentages are not simply added together to produce a new rating; instead, a formula described in federal regulations calculates the overall rating.

A veteran may be rated at zero percent, meaning there is evidence of a service-connected condition, but it does not impair the veteran. This rating, although not compensable, can be beneficial because it may raise the veteran’s priority in other VA programs such as health care eligibility.

Disability compensation for veterans is not subject to federal or state income tax.

Monthly disability compensation rates for 2006 are:

n 10 percent: $112.

n 20 percent: $218.

n 30 percent: $337.

n 40 percent: $485.

n 50 percent: $690.

n 60 percent: $873.

n 70 percent: $1,099.

n 80 percent: $1,277.

n 90 percent: $1,436.

n 100 percent: $2,393.

Veterans whose service-connected disabilities are rated at 30 percent or more are entitled to additional allowances for dependents that increase with the rating.

Monthly allowances for a spouse range from $40 to $135 and for a dependent child from $27 to $91. Allowances also may be paid to veterans who require aides to assist with eating, bathing or other activities of daily living.

To help deal with the backlog of claims, the VA is introducing a system to give each veteran the name and phone number of a case manager handling the claim.

These new “veterans service representatives” combine the jobs of benefits counselors who initially accept veterans’ applications and gather information, and the claims examiners who decide a medical problem’s official connection with service as well as the nature and severity of the disability and its financial compensation.

The representatives I’ve spoken with have been polite and helpful, but patience is required. This is a case of supply being unable to meet the demand.

If you think you might be eligible for disability compensation, VA’s online applications system may be accessed on the Internet at www .vabenefits.vba.va.gov or by calling (800) 827-1000 and speaking with a veterans service representative.

Alex Keenan is a retired command master chief petty officer who served 28 years in the Coast Guard. E-mail him at retired@atpco.com.

Ellie

[lifer1369]

...old news right out of the va handbook.

[lizard]

At section 28 of dd 214 it says narrative reason for separation
conduct triable by courts-martial Request for Discharge for the good of the
Service

August 21, 2006

U.S. Military (Ret.)
New VA case managers tackle disability backlog

By Alex Keenan
Special to the Times


One of the staples of my mailbag is letters from retirees expressing frustration with the bureaucratic Department of Veterans Affairs process for obtaining a disability rating.

It is, unfortunately, slow. There are more than five dozen steps in evaluating a veteran’s initial disability compensation claim, and the VA itself may wait two or three months to receive information requested of medical records.

Plus, with improved benefit information and outreach programs, veterans today are filing more disability compensation claims than at any time in history — more than 100,000 a year.


The VA has responded to the upswing in claims with more training for its staff, new quality controls and improved monitoring programs. At the same time, however, policies governing how VA processes disability claims have become increasingly complex and time-intensive due to court rulings that expanded the procedures.

Disability compensation benefits cover chronic illnesses or injuries incurred during or worsened by military service.

Of the estimated 26 million veterans alive today, more than 14 percent have had an illness or injury officially declared “service connected,” and 9 percent of all veterans receive monthly payment from the VA. About 70 percent of all initial claims from veterans are approved in whole or in part, but the approval process takes about six to eight months.

Musculoskeletal problems, including impairment of the knee and arthritis due to trauma, account for about 40 percent of all disabilities.

Disabilities are rated in increments of 10 percent, reflecting their severity. When a veteran has more than one disability, the percentages are not simply added together to produce a new rating; instead, a formula described in federal regulations calculates the overall rating.

A veteran may be rated at zero percent, meaning there is evidence of a service-connected condition, but it does not impair the veteran. This rating, although not compensable, can be beneficial because it may raise the veteran’s priority in other VA programs such as health care eligibility.

Disability compensation for veterans is not subject to federal or state income tax.

Monthly disability compensation rates for 2006 are:

n 10 percent: $112.

n 20 percent: $218.

n 30 percent: $337.

n 40 percent: $485.

n 50 percent: $690.

n 60 percent: $873.

n 70 percent: $1,099.

n 80 percent: $1,277.

n 90 percent: $1,436.

n 100 percent: $2,393.

Veterans whose service-connected disabilities are rated at 30 percent or more are entitled to additional allowances for dependents that increase with the rating.

Monthly allowances for a spouse range from $40 to $135 and for a dependent child from $27 to $91. Allowances also may be paid to veterans who require aides to assist with eating, bathing or other activities of daily living.

To help deal with the backlog of claims, the VA is introducing a system to give each veteran the name and phone number of a case manager handling the claim.

These new “veterans service representatives” combine the jobs of benefits counselors who initially accept veterans’ applications and gather information, and the claims examiners who decide a medical problem’s official connection with service as well as the nature and severity of the disability and its financial compensation.

The representatives I’ve spoken with have been polite and helpful, but patience is required. This is a case of supply being unable to meet the demand.

If you think you might be eligible for disability compensation, VA’s online applications system may be accessed on the Internet at www .vabenefits.vba.va.gov or by calling (800) 827-1000 and speaking with a veterans service representative.

Alex Keenan is a retired command master chief petty officer who served 28 years in the Coast Guard. E-mail him at retired@atpco.com.

Ellie

[David Jameson]

They been saying this for 30 years.They will never fix it .It has to be intentionl.

[Ed Palmer]

wrong post