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VA: FAILING THE AILING -- "I have claims that
are 10 years old.
I have seen guys get their first check and die
that month."
Larry Cummings says his post-traumatic
stress disorder
is a result of serving in Vietnam.
Story here...
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/
news-story.php?story=dispatch/2007/
01/30/20070130-A1-00.html
Story below:
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Failing the ailing
Medical-claims system leaves veterans
struggling
Kelly Hassett
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Larry Cummings says his post-traumatic stress
disorder is a result of serving in Vietnam. His medical claim has been
in the appeals process for five years.
Larry Cummings doesn’t like to talk about what he saw in Vietnam,
especially the day in March 1968 when a bomb was dropped on a nearby
Marine unit and he was called on to help.
But the violence and pain stayed with the 59-year-old Lancaster resident
in flashbacks. He suffered from insomnia. When he came home in 1969, his
sister told him he was like a different person.
In 2001, Cummings’ post-traumatic stress disorder finally was diagnosed
and he started treatment. He filed a medical claim with the U.S.
Department of Veterans Affairs but was denied compensation. The agency
said his condition wasn’t related to military service.
He disputed that decision, and his claim has been in the appeals process
for the past five years. Two weeks ago, he got a letter saying the board
would reopen his case.
"Right now, I’d just like for them to recognize it," said Cummings, an
Army veteran. "I could use the money, but I’d like for them to admit
it."
Cummings’ claim is one of thousands filed for compensation or pension in
Ohio every year, and one of many that gets held up in the appeals
process.
Advocates say the delays and waiting are the norm because of the layers
of paperwork required and a shortage of staff members who are adequately
trained in evaluating veterans issues.
"I have claims that are 10 years old. I have seen guys get their first
check and die that month," said John Kitts, Morgan County’s veterans
service officer. "You’re looking at a system that’s just plain broke."
After a veteran files a claim, the state VA office decides whether the
condition is related to military service and serious enough for payment.
If a veteran disagrees, he has a year to file an appeal.
To do that, the veteran must mail a formal statement of disagreement.
The government sends back a statement of the case, listing what factors
went into the decision. Then the veteran must file what’s called a
substantive appeal within 60 days of receiving the statement of the
case.
The appeal goes to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals in Washington. After
that, a veteran can appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans
Claims, an independent court, where the process starts all over again.
Regional and national veterans offices are being bombarded with claims,
and experts say they’ll receive more as more veterans age.
The Board of Veterans’ Appeals received 41,816 new cases in fiscal 2005.
And, despite making more than 34,000 decisions, the board still had
37,539 cases pending at the end of 2005. That was 8,724 more than at the
beginning of the year.
The board has focused on ways to decrease the backlog, such as voluntary
attorney overtime and training to help employees write clearer and
more-concise decisions, according to the board chairman’s annual report.
But it still expects to receive more cases than it decides in the
upcoming years.
Ohio received 26,569 claims for medical care from October 2005 to
October 2006, said Mark Mentzer, assistant veterans service center
manager at the VA regional office in Cleveland.
Decisions were rendered in 24,020 of those cases. Of those decisions,
1,230 were appealed, he said.
The time it takes to decide a claim or an appeal varies widely from case
to case, Mentzer said.
"We try to get to them as quickly as possible," he said, though some
cases take years, depending on how much information is sent. Every time
a new piece of information is sent, it can add months to the process, he
said.
Vietnam veteran Gary Fluharty’s symptoms started just three or four
years after the 57-yearold McConnellsville man was discharged from the
Army in 1971.
His wife, Jane, is a registered nurse and suspected his condition was
multiple sclerosis, but "back then it was very hard to diagnose multiple
sclerosis because there wasn’t a test that said you had it or not," she
said.
Mr. Fluharty’s multiple sclerosis finally was diagnosed in 1998, but his
claim was denied as unrelated to military service. The Fluhartys think
it is related, and their appeal is pending.
A heavy-equipment operator during his service, Mr. Fluharty also has
problems with his hips and left knee, which were crushed between two
bulldozers while he was in the Army. He was in traction for six months.
His hearing has worsened to the point that he has difficulty carrying on
a conversation and sometimes asks his wife to talk for him.
"They go to give their lives over there," Mrs. Fluharty said. "Yet when
they come back they’re just denied and denied and denied."
Mr. Fluharty does get some help from Veterans Affairs for his
medications, but he and his wife say they can’t begin to calculate the
medical bills they’ve paid on their own in the past two decades.
"Fortunately, we’ve been able to survive," Mrs. Fluharty said. "But some
can’t."
The Veterans Affairs offices are burdened with a massive number of
claims, an inventory that’s only going to increase as more veterans
file, said Rebecca Lee, women veterans representative to the National
Association of County Veteran Service Officers.
"It’s such a complicated system," said Lee, who’s also the executive
director for Pickaway County’s veterans office. "Developing these cases
and getting that information upfront is your best bet."
In some cases, a veteran is granted pay retroactively, but that doesn’t
come until the first payment, Lee said. Until then, "They’re worried
about their day-to-day living.
"A little money along the way would certainly help."
khassett@dispatch.com
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Larry Scott
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