Schram - A Quick Solution to Fix a Major VA Delay Problem
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Martin Schram-
Which means the men and women who fought our nation’s battles in distant lands are back to having to fight new battles at home, against their own government’s Department of Veterans Affairs — just to get benefits they earned long ago.
Too often, military veterans we gratefully honor Memorial Day, find themselves battling backlogs, bureaucratic delays and improper denials of duly earned benefits.
That’s the way it was after the end of the “War to End All Wars” in 1918 and it’s been that way after all the wars since. And even though Barack Obama has done far more than any modern president to make things better for veterans, the influx of vets from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars presents a massive challenge.
So, it was gratifying, having written a 2008 book on the VA’s problems, to come up with a fix to one VA delay that plagues tens of thousands of veterans’ families each year — yet has never been tried.
The making of one simple solution goes back to my reporting on a seemingly commonplace case of a World War II veteran and his wife, whom we will call Bill and Diane. Bill suffered a serious combat wound in Italy and was hospitalized for two years. Later as a civilian, Bill worked for the U.S. Postal Service. He retired in Florida with modest pensions from the VA and postal service.
In January 2011, Bill passed away. Diane simultaneously sent the VA and USPS all the vital documents — including Bill’s death certificate and their marriage certificate. She requested her share of both pensions as Bill’s surviving spouse.
The USPS immediately calculated Diane’s pension share. On the February date Bill’s postal pension check normally arrived, Diane promptly received her first USPS check, properly made out for about half Bill’s usual amount.
But the VA fell far short of the USPS standard — and inflicted unnecessary financial stress on this veteran’s widow. Half a year went by without a VA pension check. I’d heard of Diane’s plight and brought the case to the attention of a VA official. Now, it could be mere coincidence, but the next day Diane got a phone call saying her VA surviving spouse’s benefits were calculated and she’d soon get a check that included retroactive payments dating back to February. Her first VA pension check arrived in August.
Fortunately, Diane had no monthly rental or mortgage expense; that allowed her to survive the VA’s unwarranted half-year income gap.
Recently, while meeting with a senior VA policy official, I brought up the different ways the USPS and VA fulfilled their pension obligations to families of those who served. This VA official was genuinely concerned.
Especially when I asked: Why couldn’t the VA match the postal service’s compassionate handling of the survivor’s pensions? The VA official began by noting the VA must determine whether Bill’s death was related to war injuries, which could affect the pension amount.
Then I asked: Since there’s a base amount his spouse will get if his death wasn’t linked to war injuries, can’t the VA immediately start sending surviving spouses a check for that base amount? With any additional compensation to be paid retroactively? Why make a veteran’s surviving spouse suffer an income gap?
The VA official slapped his palm down on the conference table, then scribbled a note to himself. Yes, he said, that should be done from now on. We’ll watch to see how quickly this solution is implemented.
But what’s most troubling is this was a common-sense solution any bureaucracy should have generated ages ago — if helping veterans and their families was the VA’s true calling. What the VA really needs most is a new mindset.
That’s why I’ve said if the VA wants to remake its bureaucratic mindset, it needs to first send a message by renaming itself. Call it the Department of Veterans’ Advocacy.[[In-content Ad]]
Which means the men and women who fought our nation’s battles in distant lands are back to having to fight new battles at home, against their own government’s Department of Veterans Affairs — just to get benefits they earned long ago.
Too often, military veterans we gratefully honor Memorial Day, find themselves battling backlogs, bureaucratic delays and improper denials of duly earned benefits.
That’s the way it was after the end of the “War to End All Wars” in 1918 and it’s been that way after all the wars since. And even though Barack Obama has done far more than any modern president to make things better for veterans, the influx of vets from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars presents a massive challenge.
So, it was gratifying, having written a 2008 book on the VA’s problems, to come up with a fix to one VA delay that plagues tens of thousands of veterans’ families each year — yet has never been tried.
The making of one simple solution goes back to my reporting on a seemingly commonplace case of a World War II veteran and his wife, whom we will call Bill and Diane. Bill suffered a serious combat wound in Italy and was hospitalized for two years. Later as a civilian, Bill worked for the U.S. Postal Service. He retired in Florida with modest pensions from the VA and postal service.
In January 2011, Bill passed away. Diane simultaneously sent the VA and USPS all the vital documents — including Bill’s death certificate and their marriage certificate. She requested her share of both pensions as Bill’s surviving spouse.
The USPS immediately calculated Diane’s pension share. On the February date Bill’s postal pension check normally arrived, Diane promptly received her first USPS check, properly made out for about half Bill’s usual amount.
But the VA fell far short of the USPS standard — and inflicted unnecessary financial stress on this veteran’s widow. Half a year went by without a VA pension check. I’d heard of Diane’s plight and brought the case to the attention of a VA official. Now, it could be mere coincidence, but the next day Diane got a phone call saying her VA surviving spouse’s benefits were calculated and she’d soon get a check that included retroactive payments dating back to February. Her first VA pension check arrived in August.
Fortunately, Diane had no monthly rental or mortgage expense; that allowed her to survive the VA’s unwarranted half-year income gap.
Recently, while meeting with a senior VA policy official, I brought up the different ways the USPS and VA fulfilled their pension obligations to families of those who served. This VA official was genuinely concerned.
Especially when I asked: Why couldn’t the VA match the postal service’s compassionate handling of the survivor’s pensions? The VA official began by noting the VA must determine whether Bill’s death was related to war injuries, which could affect the pension amount.
Then I asked: Since there’s a base amount his spouse will get if his death wasn’t linked to war injuries, can’t the VA immediately start sending surviving spouses a check for that base amount? With any additional compensation to be paid retroactively? Why make a veteran’s surviving spouse suffer an income gap?
The VA official slapped his palm down on the conference table, then scribbled a note to himself. Yes, he said, that should be done from now on. We’ll watch to see how quickly this solution is implemented.
But what’s most troubling is this was a common-sense solution any bureaucracy should have generated ages ago — if helping veterans and their families was the VA’s true calling. What the VA really needs most is a new mindset.
That’s why I’ve said if the VA wants to remake its bureaucratic mindset, it needs to first send a message by renaming itself. Call it the Department of Veterans’ Advocacy.[[In-content Ad]]
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