Military Learning Center » Matthew Hamilton

Vets face blizzard of red tape, group says

Angel — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 12:20:05 +0000

Combat veterans returning to the U.S. often find themselves facing a new, complex and frustrating enemy: red tape.That is the assessment of a new report released Friday by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Here are some examples of the problems faced by veterans:• Drew Brown, an Iraq veteran who returned from a 2004 deployment struggling with anxiety and depression, says he asked the military five times over 16 months for mental health counseling before he got a call back. When he tried to get help from the Veterans Affairs Department, he says he was told it would take three weeks to schedule an appointment — which could only be at a far-off location between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m, requiring the former Army sergeant first class to take time off work.• Air Force veteran Aimee Sherrod, medically retired in 2005 as a result of post-traumatic stress related to a mortar attack on her unit on her second day in Iraq in 2003, received a 10 percent disability rating that she accepted because she thought she would get better. But when she got worse in 2008 during a pregnancy, she discovered that a VA hospital would not admit her as an inpatient because they weren’t prepared for maternity care. Instead, they told her to drop out of school and relax.• Navy veteran Richard Sanchez, a veteran of Operations Enduring Freedom, Noble Eagle and Iraqi Freedom, left the service in 2006 on disability with a recommendation for back surgery for treatment of injuries suffered when heavy equipment fell on him. It took three years for VA to schedule the surgery, about the same amount of time he has been struggling with a disability claim related to post-traumatic stress.• Army veteran Matthew Hamilton, who did two tours in Iraq, is one of about 1,500 student veterans still waiting to receive their fall GI Bill payments. “My claim has been with the VA over 200 days,” said the graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “They have acknowledged they have all the information needed but cannot give me a reason why it has not been processed,” he said, calling it a “nightmare.”VA officials confirmed Hamilton’s claim has languished, apparently because of a dispute involving how to count credit hours for graduate students. “No one at VA wants a student veteran waiting for their check instead of focusing on their studies,” said VA spokeswoman Katie Roberts. The department “will do everything it can to resolve any outstanding issues and make sure this veteran gets the benefits he has earned.”The report says the four examples are not isolated but are representative of the kind of bureaucracy that the nation’s newest generation of combat veterans is facing.“More than 35,000 troops have been wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands of them have suffered injuries not recorded in the official military tally,” the report says. “These new veterans and their families are shouldering an unacceptable burden, recovering from their injuries while navigating antiquated and deeply flawed military and veterans’ health care and disability systems.”The report is expected to be the centerpiece of a campaign next week as Iraq and Afghanistan veterans arrange meetings with members of Congress to talk about their needs.Paul Rieckhoff, the executive director and a founder of IAVA, testified Thursday before the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee that while the nation is doing far better today to help veterans than when he returned from Iraq in 2004, “our work is far from done.”“Right now, thousands of veterans are unemployed, more than 100,000 are homeless and hundreds of thousands are desperately waiting months — sometime years — for their well-earned VA benefits,” he said.Improving the veterans’ benefits claims process is the top priority for 2010 of all major veterans groups, and several, including IAVA, are trying to draw up a comprehensive plan to address claims delays.The system is “archaic,” Rieckhoff said, with a lingering heavy reliance on paper-based military personnel and medical records that create numerous opportunities for key documents to go missing.“Hundreds of thousands of wounded troops and veterans are forced to wait months, and sometimes years, for disability compensation” because there is no electronic records system, he said.The report says troops wounded in service can face delays at every step, beginning with a military medical tracking system that doesn’t always have updated information available to treating physicians, which can result in redundant tests, misdiagnoses and delayed treatment.Other conclusions:• Troops placed in medical holding units can find themselves lingering without purpose if they arrive during a surge of wounded.• The military’s disability evaluation process seems to be aimed at making things hardest for those with the most complex injuries by generally rating only one condition when deciding a disability, so that a person with several problems may not get a fair rating.• For those leaving the military and needing care from VA, the transition is “anything but seamless,” in part because neither the Defense Department nor VA maintains complete records.• The wait for VA benefits and care can be lengthy because demand already exceeds capacity and is increasing as a result of the flood of new Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and the downturn in the economy. More than 450,000 veterans have waited more than 30 days for a doctor’s appointment, and more than 423,000 veterans are waiting for compensation claims to be paid.

Vets face blizzard of red tape, group says

Angel — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 12:20:02 +0000

Combat veterans returning to the U.S. often find themselves facing a new, complex and frustrating enemy: red tape.That is the assessment of a new report released Friday by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Here are some examples of the problems faced by veterans:* Drew Brown, an Iraq veteran who returned from a 2004 deployment struggling with anxiety and depression, says he asked the military five times over 16 months for mental health counseling before he got a call back. When he tried to get help from the Veterans Affairs Department, he says he was told it would take three weeks to schedule an appointment — which could only be at a far-off location between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m, requiring the former Army sergeant first class to take time off work.* Air Force veteran Aimee Sherrod, medically retired in 2005 as a result of post-traumatic stress related to a mortar attack on her unit on her second day in Iraq in 2003, received a 10 percent disability rating that she accepted because she thought she would get better. But when she got worse in 2008 during a pregnancy, she discovered that a VA hospital would not admit her as an inpatient because they weren’t prepared for maternity care. Instead, they told her to drop out of school and relax.* Navy veteran Richard Sanchez, a veteran of Operations Enduring Freedom, Noble Eagle and Iraqi Freedom, left the service in 2006 on disability with a recommendation for back surgery for treatment of injuries suffered when heavy equipment fell on him. It took three years for VA to schedule the surgery, about the same amount of time he has been struggling with a disability claim related to post-traumatic stress.* Army veteran Matthew Hamilton, who did two tours in Iraq, is one of about 1,500 student veterans still waiting to receive their fall GI Bill payments. “My claim has been with the VA over 200 days,” said the graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “They have acknowledged they have all the information needed but cannot give me a reason why it has not been processed,” he said, calling it a “nightmare.”VA officials confirmed Hamilton’s claim has languished, apparently because of a dispute involving how to count credit hours for graduate students. “No one at VA wants a student veteran waiting for their check instead of focusing on their studies,” said VA spokeswoman Katie Roberts. The department “will do everything it can to resolve any outstanding issues and make sure this veteran gets the benefits he has earned.”The report says the four examples are not isolated but are representative of the kind of bureaucracy that the nation’s newest generation of combat veterans is facing.“More than 35,000 troops have been wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands of them have suffered injuries not recorded in the official military tally,” the report says. “These new veterans and their families are shouldering an unacceptable burden, recovering from their injuries while navigating antiquated and deeply flawed military and veterans’ health care and disability systems.”The report is expected to be the centerpiece of a campaign next week as Iraq and Afghanistan veterans arrange meetings with members of Congress to talk about their needs.Paul Rieckhoff, the executive director and a founder of IAVA, testified Thursday before the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee that while the nation is doing far better today to help veterans than when he returned from Iraq in 2004, “our work is far from done.”“Right now, thousands of veterans are unemployed, more than 100,000 are homeless and hundreds of thousands are desperately waiting months — sometime years — for their well-earned VA benefits,” he said.Improving the veterans’ benefits claims process is the top priority for 2010 of all major veterans groups, and several, including IAVA, are trying to draw up a comprehensive plan to address claims delays.The system is “archaic,” Rieckhoff said, with a lingering heavy reliance on paper-based military personnel and medical records that create numerous opportunities for key documents to go missing.“Hundreds of thousands of wounded troops and veterans are forced to wait months, and sometimes years, for disability compensation” because there is no electronic records system, he said.The report says troops wounded in service can face delays at every step, beginning with a military medical tracking system that doesn’t always have updated information available to treating physicians, which can result in redundant tests, misdiagnoses and delayed treatment.Other conclusions:* Troops placed in medical holding units can find themselves lingering without purpose if they arrive during a surge of wounded.* The military’s disability evaluation process seems to be aimed at making things hardest for those with the most complex injuries by generally rating only one condition when deciding a disability, so that a person with several problems may not get a fair rating.* For those leaving the military and needing care from VA, the transition is “anything but seamless,” in part because neither the Defense Department nor VA maintains complete records.* The wait for VA benefits and care can be lengthy because demand already exceeds capacity and is increasing as a result of the flood of new Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and the downturn in the economy. More than 450,000 veterans have waited more than 30 days for a doctor’s appointment, and more than 423,000 veterans are waiting for compensation claims to be paid.