Is The VA Inherently Evil? Jim Strickland

"Delay, deny, until we die" is a phrase that lands in my mailbox often.

The veterans who use the words are frustrated at the length of time it takes to process their claims and the high rate of errors that occur during processing of a claim.

More than any other issue, veterans are always angry at the lack of communication that occurs during the process. Once a claim is submitted, the veteran has no idea of what happens next. It doesn't matter if the veteran has chosen my recommended Do It Yourself (DIY) method of filing a claim or if he/she has elected to file through the office of a Veterans Service Officer (VSO), there is usually no further notice from anyone.

Sure...the veteran may receive an occasional piece of mail from the VA Regional Office (VARO) where the claim is being adjudicated. The letters are often repetitive and make no sense. They may inform the veteran "We're sorry for the delay" or they may request detailed information that the veteran knows has already been submitted.




If the veteran tries to find out where the claim is at in the order of processing, he may try to call the infamous toll free number or use the VA IRIS system for electronic communications. Neither of these systems are reliable and often add to the confusion with gross misinformation.

The problems are compounded when veterans don't understand the system. While a basic rule of customer service tells you that the business should never blame the customer, this isn't the way it works at your VA. Veterans must take the time to educate themselves about how the process works (or doesn't work) and what to expect.

Veterans also make the common error of believing that their word about something that happened is good enough and that VA will award them a benefit because they said so.

The Veterans Service Officer must take a lot of responsibility for not taking the time to explain the process to the veteran. If every VSO would tell every vet, straight up and with no frills, that he or she should expect a 2 year delay and a denial rate of over 50%, much of the frustration and anger would be defused from the start.










Veterans must also understand that nobody will call them to let them know that their claim is OK and in line for next week, next month or next year. VA takes the attitude that to make such notifications would only add time to the already lengthy process. The truth is that most of the time the VARO has no clue where an individual file is located or how to find it.

There is no way to track a claim. Every vet should be told that fact from the moment he/she files a claim. Calling the toll free number every day won't help.

Are these delays intentional? Is this a plot to manage the VA and federal budget by depriving veterans of what they've earned?

Is the VA the enemy?

The VAWatchdog dot Org believes the answer is clear. Your Department of Veterans Affairs has no hidden agenda to harm you or to purposefully delay your benefits. The VA is not inherently evil and the organization is not the enemy.

Why then does the VA feel like it's out to get us by depriving us of what we earned through our honorable military service?

The VA is a remarkable organization. It's one of the largest of the businesses run by the federal government. With well over 300,000 full time employees, tens of thousands of contractors and temporary staff and a mission to provide services for a diverse group of people, it's sometimes a miracle that it functions at all.

The VA employees that I know personally are incredibly dedicated to their mission. Like any large organization though, there is a percentage of the employees who hate their job and unfortunately, these are the people who seem to set the standard for others.

Beyond the bad apples, our federal government employees are well organized and their jobs are protected. Many believe that the protections that are afforded to government employees has gone too far. A bad performer is difficult to reprimand, much less be rid of.







Overall, your VA does a very good job. Once secured, the benefits you earned are generous and steady. Home loans and GI Bill education are superb even with some of the bumps along the way to using them. Your health care that's provided by the Veterans Health Administration is as good as it gets in America and most anywhere else in the world.

Having said all that, your VA operates in a state of chaos every day. There is no other organization that can compare to the VA when it comes to a lack of leadership on the front lines and stark incompetence in the ability of managers to fix problems that occur over and over.

Your VA isn't evil and it isn't the enemy. It's more like your uncle Joe...the one who has entered the early stages of Alzheimer's disease or an onset of senile dementia. He doesn't mean to hurt you when he withholds that money he promised you for your birthday, he doesn't remember telling you that. When he does remember, he can't recall where he put the money. When he remembers where the money is, he can't find his ATM card to withdraw it for you. When he finds the card, he's forgotten who you are.

The VA isn't evil, it's incompetent.

Napoleon Bonaparte is usually credited with, “Never ascribe to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence.”

Getting angry with your VA is about as productive as anger directed at uncle Joe. It doesn't help you and can only add confusion to what is already a confused setting.

Don't get angry. Get smart. Learn how your VA works (doesn't work) for you and use that to your advantage. You'll be the winner with your full benefits while others are still posting silly and repetitive remarks that get them nowhere.








Learn More About YOUR VA

Your Department of Veterans Affairs is actually 3 distinct businesses. These business units are all connected by the "mother ship" in Washington, D.C. That's the VA Central Office (VACO).


The Veterans Benefits Administration


The Veterans Health Administration
 

The National Cemetery Administration
 

Any time you choose to engage the VA to apply for a benefit, it helps for you to understand the enormity of the organization you're dealing with.

Branching from those business units you see above are dozens of sub-businesses.

The VA Office of the Inspector General (VA-OIG)

The VA Office of General Council (The OGC is where many of the VA attorneys work)

The Board of Veterans Appeals


More organizations and their sub-organizations may be found by clicking here.

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