Friday, February 26, 2010

Vocational Rehabilitation Success Rate 18%, VAOIG

Voc Rehab:
"The VA claims it successfully rehabilitates 75 percent of the veterans admitted to the system."

"But by not counting the veterans, like Smith and Frazier, who apply but don't get into the program, the VA is overstating its success. Two years ago, the VA's Inspector General said if every veteran who applied was counted, that success rate could be as low as 18 percent."

GAO Report, PDF 48 pages

Full Article at: Wounded Veterans' New Fight: The VA

By Wyatt Andrews

(CBS) Former Army medic Jeremy Smith was wounded and paralyzed in Afghanistan. Clearly qualified for both medical and pension benefits, Smith was surprised when a Veteran's Affairs counselor told him he wasn't disabled enough for vocational benefits.

"How can I not be disabled enough? How much more disabled do I need to be," Smith asked. "Should I go throw myself under a bus real quick?"

Brandon Frazier has a similar story. A veteran of the 2004 Marine assault on Fallujah, Brandon suffered hearing loss and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD.

But as CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports, a VA counselor wrongly told him the VA would not help disabled vets study pre-law.

"It didn't seem like he was in there to find a way to help me. He was there to tell me I couldn't," Frazier said.

"Looking for a way to turn you down," Andrews asked?

"Right," he replied.

Then there is Kenny Lyon. A Marine sergeant, whose miraculous battlefield rescue in Iraq - and 2 year fight to recover - was profiled on "60 Minutes."

60 Minutes: A Fighting Chance

Lyon had to fight the VA for five months - but after being finally told he would get vocational benefits to study at Gettysburg College, the VA called to say stop.

"I was on my way to classes and I got a phone call saying it was not approved," Lyon said.

"You weren't getting the tuition," Andrews asked.

"Yes," Lyon replied.

The VA benefits these veterans requested are from a program called Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment, or Voc Rehab benefits. Separate from the GI Bill, Voc Rehab helps disabled vets get whatever training they need to live on their own or get a job. When it works, which is most of the time, Voc Rehab services range from sign language lessons to technical classes to Harvard Law School.

But in a two-month investigation, CBS News found story after story of veterans who were wrongly denied benefits, veterans who even under the complex rules, should have qualified.

"It makes me question everything I've done," Smith said. "Was it right, was it worth it?"

Voc Rehab does serve more than 100,000 disabled veterans. But in the last two years, the number of new applicants soared - up 28 percent - to more than 78,000 last year alone. The VA claims it successfully rehabilitates 75 percent of the veterans admitted to the system.

"This is an excellent program," said Ruth Fanning, the program's director.

"Is 75 percent good enough," Andrews asked.

"Seventy-five percent is a good number for rehabilitation programs and it represents veterans who have completed the program," Fanning replied.

But by not counting the veterans, like Smith and Frazier, who apply but don't get into the program, the VA is overstating its success. Two years ago, the VA's Inspector General said if every veteran who applied was counted, that success rate could be as low as 18 percent."

VA to ReOpen Gulf War Vet's Claims

VA is promising "plans to review how regulations were written to ensure the veterans received the compensation they were entitled to under the law. The VA would then give veterans the opportunity to have a rejected claim reconsidered."

So veterans now is the time to start putting together your claims, I'd suggest that since you were previously denied that you ask if you are therefore able to retain an attorney from the start, if so, then definitely retain an attorney.

It will be interesting to see how they go about this, what the written guidelines are and more importantly how the RO's interpret and apply these guidelines. Remember the ROs consistently failed, according to their own admission, to correctly apply the VCAA two years after it was law.

Full Article at:
VA to reopen Gulf War vets' files


By KIMBERLY HEFLING, Associated Press Writer Kimberly Hefling, Associated Press

WASHINGTON – "The Veterans Affairs Department says it will take a second look at the disability claims of what could be thousands of Gulf War veterans suffering from illnesses they blame on their war service, the first step toward potentially compensating them nearly two decades after the war ended.

VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said the decision is part of a "fresh, bold look" his department is taking to help veterans who have what's commonly called "Gulf War illness" and have long felt the government did little to help them. The VA says it also plans to improve training for medical staff who work with Gulf War vets, to make sure they do not simply tell vets that their symptoms are imaginary — as has happened to many over the years.

"I'm hoping they'll be enthused by the fact that this ... challenges all the assumptions that have been there for 20 years," Shinseki told The Associated Press in an interview.

The changes reflect a significant shift in how the VA may ultimately care for some 700,000 veterans who served in the Gulf War. They also could improve the way the department handles war-related illnesses suffered by future veterans, because Shinseki said he wants standards put in place that don't leave veterans waiting decades for answers to what ails them.

Steve Robertson, legislative director of the American Legion and a Gulf War veteran who has struggled with his own health issues such as joint problems and chronic fatigue, said Friday the decision is welcome news.

"I can assure that there are Gulf War veterans who have been fighting this issue since 1991-92," Robertson said. "The ones I've talked to are very, very upset that they've had to fight this battle."

Robertson said many veterans couldn't work because of health problems, but couldn't get medical help from the government because they couldn't prove their illnesses stemmed from their war service.

"If you had an invisible wound it was kind of like come back when you have hard evidence that you got it in the theater of operation," Robertson said.

The decision comes four months after Shinseki opened the door for as many as 200,000 Vietnam veterans to receive service-related compensation for three illnesses stemming from exposure to the Agent Orange herbicide.

About 175,000 to 210,000 Gulf War veterans have come down with a pattern of symptoms that include rashes, joint and muscle pain, sleep issues and gastrointestinal problems, according to a 2008 congressionally mandated committee that based the estimate on earlier studies.

But what exactly caused the symptoms has long been unanswered. Independent scientists have pointed to pesticide and pyridostigmine bromide pills, given to protect troops from nerve agents, as probable culprits. The 2008 report noted that since 1994, $340 million has been spent on government research into the illness, but little has focused on treatments.

Last week, Shinseki and Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., a member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs committee, met privately in Charleston, W.Va., with several Gulf War veterans. In an interview after the meeting, Rockefeller told the AP that Shinseki's background as a former Army chief of staff made the changes possible. He said either the military has been reluctant over the years to release paperwork related to the war or kept poor records about exposures in the war zone, which made it harder for the veterans to prove they needed help.

"The paperwork isn't very accurate, but the pain is very real," Rockefeller said.

Shinseki has publicly wondered why today there are still so many unanswered questions about Gulf War illness, as stricken veterans' conditions have only worsened with age.

Last fall, he appointed a task force led by his chief of staff, John Gingrich, a retired Army colonel who commanded a field artillery battalion in the 1991 war, to review benefits and care for Gulf War veterans. The changes stem from the task force's work.

Gingrich said he feels a personal stake because some of his own men who were healthy during the war are dealing with these health problems. Gingrich said the VA isn't giving a new benefit to Gulf War veterans, just making sure the claims they submitted were done correctly.

"We're talking about a culture change, that we don't have a single clinician or benefits person saying 'you really don't have Gulf War illness, this is only imaginary' or 'you're really not sick,'" Gingrich said.

A law enacted in 1994 allows the VA to pay compensation to Gulf War veterans with certain chronic disabilities from illnesses the VA could not diagnosis. More than 3,400 Gulf War have qualified for benefits under this category, according to the VA.

The VA says it plans to review how regulations were written to ensure the veterans received the compensation they were entitled to under the law. The VA would then give veterans the opportunity to have a rejected claim reconsidered.

The VA doesn't have an estimate of the number of veterans who may be affected, but it could be in the thousands.

Of those who deployed in the Gulf War, 300,000 submitted claims, according to the VA. About 14 percent were rejected, while the rest received compensation for at least one condition."