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RADICAL CONCEPT: APPROVE ALL VA DISABILITY
CLAIMS --
Researcher tells Congress that auditors could
then examine
claims to weed out fraud, just like the IRS
does.
Prof. Linda Bilmes
The woman pictured on this page, Prof.
Linda Bilmes of Harvard, could turn out to be a veteran's best friend.
Bilmes has proposed a unique system:
Approve all VA disability claims and then let auditors sort it out from
there...just like the IRS.
Bilmes did this some time ago in an
article she wrote...that here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfJAN07/nf010607-1.htm
Now, her radical concept has caught the
attention of Congress.
Story here...
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/
washington/articles/2007/03/13/investigators_va
_not_doing_enough_to_help_veterans_from_iraq/
Story below:
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Investigators: VA not doing enough to help
veterans from Iraq
By Hope Yen, AP
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Veterans Affairs' system for handling disability
claims is strained to its limit, and the Bush administration's current
efforts to relieve backlogs won't be enough to serve veterans returning
from Iraq and Afghanistan, investigators said Tuesday.
In testimony to a House panel, the Government Accountability Office and
Harvard professor Linda Bilmes detailed their study into the VA's claims
system in light of growing demands created by wars. They found a system
on the verge of crisis due to backlogs, cumbersome paperwork and
ballooning costs.
The House hearing is the latest to review the quality of care for
wounded troops returning from Iraq -- from emergency medical care at
military hospitals, to long-term rehabilitation at VA clinics and
eventual transition to civilian life with VA disability payments.
According to their findings, the VA:
--Took between 127 to 177 days to process an initial claim and an
average of 657 days to process an appeal, resulting in significant
hardship to veterans. In contrast, the private sector industry takes
about 89.5 days to process a claim.
GLOBE SPECIAL REPORT: A promise to keep
--Had a claims backlog of roughly 600,000.
--Will see 638,000 new first-time claims in the next five years due to
the Iraq war -- 400,000 by the end of 2009 alone -- creating added costs
of between $70 billion and $150 billion.
--Maintained a system for determining a veteran's disability that was
complex and applied inconsistently across regional centers. Results
varied; for example, Salt Lake City took 99 days to process a claim,
while Honolulu spent 237 days.
--Had antiquated technology for processing claims, such as unreliable
old fax machines.
The findings drew fire from House members. Rep. John Hall, chairman of
the House Veterans Affairs subcommittee on disability assistance,
floated the possibility that the Veterans Affairs Department should be
merged into the Defense Department.
"When our soldiers and military personnel return home and need help,
they should get the assistance they have earned without delay," said
Hall, D-N.Y.
Colorado Rep. Doug Lamborn, the panel's top Republican, said the
overstressed claims system was courting a "financial and potentially
emotional disaster."
Bilmes, a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government who
co-authored a paper on the war's economic costs with Nobel laureate
Joseph Stiglitz, described a failed system that could have been
prevented after years of warnings. She urged simplifying the disability
ratings system, reducing time VA staffers spend documenting
disabilities, and conducting random audits instead.
"The veterans returning from Iraq are suffering from the same problem
that has plagued many other aspects of the war, namely a failure to plan
ahead," she said.
Responding, Ronald Aument, deputy under secretary for benefits at the
VA, told the House panel that the department was working to shorten
delays. The VA also was consolidating some processing operations, and
planned to add 400 new employees by the end of June.
"Expediting the claims process is critical to assisting veterans in
their transition from combat operations back to civilian life," Aument
said.
The hearing follows disclosures of roach-infested conditions and shoddy
outpatient care at Walter Reed Medical Center, one of the nation's
premier military hospitals. Since the disclosures by the Washington
Post, three high-level Pentagon officials have been forced to step down.
President Bush has also appointed a commission led by former Sen. Bob
Dole, R-Kan., and former HHS Secretary Donna Shalala, a Democrat, to
conduct a broad review on veteran and troop care.
"If anything the recent Walter Reed expose has taught us is that trying
to treat and care for soldiers and veterans on a limited budget and
limited oversight only has one logical conclusion, poor care," said
Patrick Campbell, legislative director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans
of America.
Daniel Bertoni, an acting director at the GAO, Congress' investigative
arm, said the VA system has been riddled with problems for years. "After
more than a decade of research, we have determined that federal
disability programs are in urgent need of attention and transformation,"
he said.
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Larry Scott --
