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VETERANS' ADVOCATE JIM STRICKLAND SOUNDS ALARM
ON VETS'
SURVEY -- "The Veteran who responds openly and
honestly to this
survey is more likely than not going to find
that the information
he provides will be used as evidence against
him."
Jim Strickland responds to my article
about the Vets' Survey being conducted by the Veterans' Disability
Benefits Commission that was posted earlier today...that article here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/nfDEC06/nf120106-1.htm
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Veterans' Advocate Jim Strickland
provides regular columns for VA Watchdog dot Org.
If you would like to contact Jim about
his columns, you can email him here...
The archive of Jim's articles
is here...
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VETS' COMMISSION SURVEY: WHY ARE THEY ASKING
ALL OF THESE PERSONAL QUESTIONS?
"They also asked me about my volunteer work."
Many Veterans Administration Voluntary Services (VAVS) volunteers are
disabled Veterans. Some are severely disabled, some not so much. Quite a
few volunteers log 20 to 40 hours each week at their VA facility.
VA volunteers are already acutely aware of those who say that if a Vet
is able to volunteer, he should be able to work. There is always an
ongoing quiet discussion amongst volunteers who are rated as disabled;
"What if?"
What if there is an official accounting of disabled volunteers and
subsequently a review of those documented to be logging in for more
than, say, 10 hours each week? Currently VA volunteers, like so many
other volunteer organizations, have "bragging rights" that are
predicated on how many hours they are signed in as volunteers. At
volunteer services celebrations awards are given and applause is offered
to those volunteers who log in the most hours.
The Vets Commission questionnaire has nothing whatever to do with
improving the quality or efficient delivery of health care to Veterans
in desperate need of that care. It has even less to do with improving
the current inefficient (and usually wrong) process of adjudicating a
Veteran's claim for disability. In the list of questions your reader
sent to you as an example of what he was asked, over 50% are directly
related to the Veteran's ability to work.
This questionnaire is a hard-core scientific instrument. Those friendly
questions concerning his ability to work, perform household chores,
participate in hobbies or interact with family members are aimed toward
determining his "Functional Capacity". The determination of Residual
Functional Capacity after a claimed injury or illness is SOP in the
disability industry. Each question on this survey will have been debated
and refined by a panel of experts that includes psychologists,
physicians, lawyers and social workers. Functional capacity reporting
will provide information to determine an individuals work abilities as
well as the status of their disability.
Why are they conducting this survey? On May 30, 2006 the Government
Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report regarding disabled Veterans
harshly criticizing the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) for not
enforcing stricter requirements for Veterans receiving 100% IU benefits.
In his excellent article published in June on the military.com web site
Tom Philpott reports that:
"The number of disabled veterans rated IU and the cost of their benefits
have risen sharply in recent years. From fiscal 1996 through 2005,
veterans rated unemployable tripled from 71,000 to 220,000. In the same
period, IU payments jumped from $857 million a year to $3.1 billion.
The 'marked increase' is troublesome, GAO suggests, because it has
occurred 'at a time when advances in medicine and technology, along with
labor market changes, have provided greater opportunity for people with
disabilities to seek and maintain employment.'
The 54-page report has been much anticipated by members of the Veterans'
Disability Benefits Commission which is conducting the first major
review of veterans' disability benefits in 50 years."
Reading through Tom's article, then the GAO report and later Googling up
a few more references leaves us with a clear understanding of the intent
of this survey: This questionnaire is a wolf in sheep's clothing. The
Veteran who responds openly and honestly to this survey is more likely
than not going to find that the information he provides will be used as
evidence against him.
Can a Veteran's compensation be reduced? Of course it can.
Reading 38 CFR §3.343, "Reduction of Service-Connected Total
Disability", you'll find that as they are attempting to lower your
benefit rating, VA instructs ratings specialists to; "Cite clear and
convincing evidence of actual employability when reducing a rating based
on individual unemployability. Examination reports showing material
improvement must be evaluated in conjunction with all the facts of
record. Consideration must be given particularly to whether the veteran
attained improvement under the ordinary conditions of life, i.e., while
working or actively seeking work or whether the symptoms have been
brought under control by prolonged rest, or generally, by following a
regimen which precludes work."
A Vet's honest answers to the survey may demonstrate "material
improvement" and become "the facts of record". You'll hand over
incriminating evidence that your "symptoms have been brought under
control by prolonged rest" and that you've been "following a regimen
which precludes work".
During this intense interrogation if you break and confess that you are
a VA volunteer a few hours each week and that you're minimally able to
do some of your own laundry and rake a few leaves or drive a car, you
have just provided your accusers with, "clear and convincing evidence of
actual employability" and they will lower your rating to satisfy the
bean counters at GAO.
I opened this rant with some comments about volunteers....now back to
that.
I'm a disabled Veteran. I volunteer a few hours each week at my local VA
Primary Care Clinic. I'm proud to be able to give back to my doctor and
the other professional staff who have helped me. I always feel good when
I can help a brother or sister in arms. The younger ones are
particularly rewarding...those just returning from the battle really
need an experienced hand to guide them.
Most of the volunteers I work with have disability ratings. Maybe 1/2
are 100% disabled. If this is to be a witch hunt by The Veterans'
Disability Benefits Commission (VDBC) to uncover our dirty little
secret...that we're able sometimes to answer a phone or file some
papers...we'll have to give that up. As it stands today it would seem
that each time we sign in to our VA facility to do a bit of volunteer
work, we've just raised a red flag and officially documented to VBA on a
VA computer system (Searchable by the Commission?) that we should have
our personal disability rating reviewed.
The message from VDBC is pretty straightforward. Don't try to improve
your life by working, volunteering or interacting with those around you.
And if you insist on carrying on like that, for God's sake, don't get
caught. A few hours of volunteer work or making your bed each day will
be seen as proof that you enjoy good health and employability. And as
long as you're doing so well, your rating will be reduced.
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Larry Scott
