I know congress is responsible, as well as bean counters in capital hill. I mean did the va really just wake up up day and have it's director say just deny everyone for everything, answer is no, they were directed to save money any and every way possible, usually through denying claims hoping no one would put pressure on them and try again.
Now you mention law firms, some of the ones I have seen get through in record time though did not go through law firms, they talked directly to a va worker directly in charge of handling such red tape and paperwork, and they would tell them step by step how to bypass the red tape. I imagine a law firm would do the exact same thing, but a va system should not be a game of denial and hoping you give up, it should be you need it or you don't and nothing else should be in the way.
Hey, the representatives we elected did what they believed was the will of the voters.
When my brother in law applied for VA disability back in 1985 it was a lot less red tape.
Again, don't forget, the current badmouthing of the VA consists of a lot of people who don't know sh*t about the system, claiming that we're spending too much and that there is too much disability fraud.
Sound familiar? It should because it's the same bullsh*t they scream about so called "voter fraud".
We get what we deserve.
I'm telling you from personal experience for last twenty-three years with a disabled Navy veteran wife, it is tough to get enrolled and awarded but once you are in, it's awesome. They take excellent care for the most part.
I am right there with you and agree that the bureaucracy should be less adversarial.
But that doesn't mean that the quality of care is bad. It's not...it's excellent for the most part, as good as or better than private sector.
The Comp and Pen department moves as fast as it can for a severely underfunded department.
Congress can fix this one of several ways but the worst way is to use private sector PROFIT oriented services who are mandated to create even MORE of an adversarial atmosphere and which will be even MORE disconnected from the disabled veteran community.
In my humble opinion, the best SecVA we've had since my wife has been in the system is actually a George W. Bush pick, Anthony Principi.
Here is an editorial he wrote several years ago, see what you think of his opinion:
VA isn’t broken. But it’s in desperate need of change.
The things Trump is doing goes against about 90% of what Principi recommends.
The very FIRST thing Trump should have done, in his first hundred days, should have been this:
Third, consider fully integrating the health-care systems for the VA and Defense departments. The cost of running the two systems, which serve the same people at different points in their lives, now costs taxpayers more than $125 billion annually. The
ongoing effort to move the health-care systems of both departments onto the same electronic medical record system is encouraging, but that is only the first step.
Did you see that? The VA and DoD systems should never have existed separately in two silos in the first place. If you're in the military or you're a veteran, you should be able to access facilities and services in either system seamlessly. That move alone would significantly increase the number of facilities a veteran can choose from, like the famous
"Bethesda Naval Hospital" now known as Walter Reed Military Medical Center.
I grew up with the Bethesda Navy Hospital tower at the top of my street.
You can literally see my childhood home in the top left of this picture:
That is not a VA hospital, it's DoD and for active duty only, which is stupid.
Veterans must fight inner city DC traffic instead, to go to the Washington DC VA Medical Center.
With Principi's recommendation they would now have two facilities or more to choose from, and active duty personnel could seamlessly transition all their medical records the moment they are discharged from service.
We get exactly what we deserve.
