As one of more than 5 million out of 18 million veterans who receive federal disability benefits from the Veterans Administration (VA), I pay close attention to current events on this subject for two reasons. First, such payments aren’t easy to come by and maintain, per my experience. Second, there always seems to be major changes on the near horizon -- some positive, some negative.
One major negative trend I’ve witnessed over the past year is an effort to enact criminal penalties at the state level on small businesses which assist veterans file claims for federal disability benefits. Several states are following the lead of New Jersey and Maine, which advanced bad laws in the past year.
Despite a deserved reputation for difficulty in the VA disability process already, I was alarmed to recently read a completely one-sided “news” reports in a number of local and regional media, including Milwaukee, parroting talking points from large Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs), urging the state legislatures to take action against small businesses in the veterans benefits sphere.
All veterans should familiarize themselves with the issue and be prepared to push back should state legislatures follow New Jersey and Maine in criminalizing small businesses that assist veterans to obtain benefits. Several other states have introduced similar legislation but theproposed bills went away quietly when publicly challenged.
Obtaining VA benefits is not an easy process. My experience was challenging and -- unfortunately -- not unusual.
I started the process with a large non-profit Veteran Service Organization and submitted medical records and VA paperwork, which was extensive. After a year of waiting, I got a letter from the VA saying since no medical records had been filed, they had no choice but to deny my claim. I learned the VSO had lost my entire military medical record.
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Eventually, I was able to rebuild my records and received a disability rating which led to federal disability payments.
More than a dozen years later I had a free benefit review done by a small, for-profit, veteran service company. I learned when I was initially registered in the VA system, it showed I had no dependents despite having a spouse and four children. That mistake alone cost me more than $18,000 in disability pay since retirement.
The company, on my behalf, submitted a correction and I did receive one year of back pay, of which a small portion went to the company. I gladly paid their fee because I had no idea that my record had been wrong for so many years and most likely would have remained undiscovered and would have missed out on the additional benefit for many more years.
And why are states working to restrict options for who can help veterans receiving federal benefits?
There are two major reasons why VSOs are pressuring state legislatures to criminalize these small businesses. One, big VSOs receive public donations for helping veterans as per their non-profit organization status. However, for-profit small businesses which perform similar services for today's shrinking pool of veterans are seen as competition. If VSOs are helping fewer and fewer veterans, many people may stop donating.
The second is because the VSOs haven't been successful in getting a federal law through the U.S. Congress. Coincidentally, Congress should have jurisdiction in this matter because military disability payments are federal benefits and not state benefits.
Though no matter who is creating the legislation, whether at the federal or state level, there is only one clear victim from such changes to restrict their options for claims assistance – the veteran.
If such misguided bills to criminalize these small, for-profit veteran service businesses were to become law around the country at the state level, how many other disabled veterans would otherwise miss out on future benefits?
I encourage my fellow veterans to look at all sides of the issue and not support legislation that limits the opportunities for veterans to apply for and receive the disability benefits they have earned and deserve.
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