Raise Hell for our Veterans.

Incompetent delay by the Veterans Administration

As noted before, I have been appointed as guardian (in charge of the physical person) and conservator (in charge of their money) for a number of people.  I usually cringe when one of them receives Veterans Administration benefits because (a) in my opinion the VA is the most inefficient agency of the entire Federal Government (one helluva feat) and (b) – probably related to (a) – is that the VA bureaucracy is a pain in the ass to deal with on a good day because the proper form is more important than the proper care. (An exception is the field officers – those who actually visit and work with the Veterans – are dedicated professionals who actually care for their veterans and I have total respect for them)

However, over five years to handle a Veteran’s claim is grossly incompetent and shows a callous disregard for the needs of those who put their lives on the line for our freedoms.

I recently got appointed as guardian and conservator for a 92-year-old WW2 Combat Veteran. Going through his papers I found a recent Board of Veterans Appeals decision related to his service disability benefits that, simply, pissed me off.

The Veteran had a 30% PTSD related service disability rating.  He applied for an increase sometime prior to 2010, the regional office denied it October 2010 and an appeal was requested. In April 2012 the Veteran asked to be allowed to testify at the hearing. That hearing was held THREE YEARS LATER in March, 2015. The Veteran, at the young age of 92, wasn’t able to appear.

The good news is the Board of Veterans Appeals ruled in his favor (only 5 months later in August, 2015) and said he should have, at least, a 50% disability rating. They remanded it to the regional office to see if it should be greater; that remand is probably pending since the Veteran – with combination of PTSD, age, and dementia – apparently hasn’t responded to requests for more information.

This much time to process a claim is inexcusable. It harms our veterans.  The hell of it is, Congress is well aware of the issues and problems facing the VA and is too damn incompetent to do anything about it.

And this ‘hold your nose and vote’ election coming up? I haven’t heard anything from either candidate or those running for Congress about what they’d do to address the VA’s incompetence. And I seriously doubt they really care.

Raise Hell for our Veterans with all politicians you encounter and vote for those who get results.

Government Logic . . .

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A heading like that is an oxymoron - contradictory terms within the phrase.  And in this instance, I don't mean it in any sort of flattering manner. (for classic oxymorons, look at these ) 
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As any regular reader knows, I'm court appointed guardian for a number of people, most of whom have dementia and no clue as to the current century, much less anything else around them. And just about all of them get "Medicaid" long term care benefits. Medicaid is notified that I'm the guardian and as such I am to get all notices that affect their benefits; there's an appropriate place in the Medicaid database for my contact information and, to my knowledge, I'm in there for all my wards.
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Virginia has embarked on a test project for health care called Commonwealth Coordinated Care ("CCC").  The ins and outs of the program are beyond the scope of this blog entry, but frankly it sounds good IN CONCEPT.  The roll out rivals the ACA Website roll out in incompetency, in my opinion, and from what I've seen I have refused to allow my wards to join it. Again, that's not the point here.
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Health care is a paramount concern for anyone, especially the vulnerable elderly Medicaid population. Virginia is spending great dollars mailing information to people about the 'benefits' of CCC.  So, logically, as guardian I should be getting a bunch of letters about CCC for my wards.
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Wrong. 
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DMAS (the agency that runs Medicaid in Virginia) sends it to the individual in the nursing home.  The same individual a court has declared legally incompetent. The same individual who is reliving the 1950's in their mind. The same individual who is in diapers.  A year ago I complained about this to Virginia's Governor; Dr. William Hazel, Secretary of Virginia's Department of Health and Human Resources, wrote back saying that the fault was a "limitation of our system and mailing processes . . . "
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That's Bullshit. And by profession I'm a bullshitter so I know it when I, uh, smell it/hear it/see it..  Dr. Hazel was trying to bullshit a bullshitter.
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The data is in the system.  People control what data is retrieved for which purpose. I see absolutely no reason the system data could not be used to send the legal representative - with sole authority to decide on care for an individual - the information about CCC or any other program.
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I had to write the Governor, again, about DMAS' idiocy and asked that he tell them to show common sense and fix it so the right people get the notice. And I got another bureaucratic bullshit response.
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Nah, I won't turn it loose - I'll continue to give them hell.