American Legion Post 50 SAL 50 New York USA
| April 1, 20010 WVOX 1460 AM WVOX.com Sons of the American Legion Radio Report Craig Roberts National Media Relations Director The American Legion Discussing: Impact of the new Federal Health Care on Veterans New Agent Orange Claims Requests. Congressional Proposal to Honor Veterans Health Care Claims subject to Audit. Initiatives of VA Secretary Gen. Eric Shinseki |
The "Sons of the American Legion Radio Report" can be heard live on WVOX 1460 AM in Westchester County and around the world on WVOX.com. The show is
held every Monday from 2:30 to 3:00 PM.
The host of the program is Kenneth G. Kraetzer, Commander of Sons of the American Legion in Pelham, NY; Vice Commander for Westchester County, and Vice
Commander for New York State. Please contact Ken at 914-450-9554 with any questions or comments about this radio and Internet production. The co-host of
the show is John Chuhran, a New Rochelle based PR executive and Sons of the American Legion member.
Special segments and "Holiday calls from Troops" are aired on the "Good Morning Westchester Show hosted by Bob Marrone.
The intro music, "To The Colors" has been provided courtesy of the US Navy band based at Newport, RI.
Information about many upcoming SAL Radio Reports can be found on Facebook under Ken Kraetzer.
Craig Roberts, Media Relations Director, The American Legion
After completing his second year of college in 1966, Craig Roberts yielded to youthful impatience to serve his country and enlisted
in the United States Navy. Inspired by two WWII Navy pilot uncles, he took with him a strong desire to follow their military careers.
Craig was fortunate enough to be accepted into the service’s Naval Aviation Cadet program. Assignments to the Aviation Officer
Candidate School, then primary and advanced flight training squadrons, culminated in his being “winged” as a Naval Aviator two
years later.
Craig remained on active duty until 1978 when he returned to civilian life, re-entered college and earned a degree from the
University of Missouri School of Journalism. For most of the succeeding 30 years, Craig pursued a career as a broadcast and print
journalist, mostly in the United Kingdom and Western Europe. He is the author of numerous magazine articles on aviation history
and other topics and is a long time member of the Aviation/Space Writers Association. Craig is also a proud member of the Military
Officers Association of America and The American Legion, where he works as the organization’s Media Relations Director.
After completing his second year of college in 1966, Craig Roberts yielded to youthful impatience to serve his country and enlisted
in the United States Navy. Inspired by two WWII Navy pilot uncles, he took with him a strong desire to follow their military careers.
Craig was fortunate enough to be accepted into the service’s Naval Aviation Cadet program. Assignments to the Aviation Officer
Candidate School, then primary and advanced flight training squadrons, culminated in his being “winged” as a Naval Aviator two
years later.
Craig remained on active duty until 1978 when he returned to civilian life, re-entered college and earned a degree from the
University of Missouri School of Journalism. For most of the succeeding 30 years, Craig pursued a career as a broadcast and print
journalist, mostly in the United Kingdom and Western Europe. He is the author of numerous magazine articles on aviation history
and other topics and is a long time member of the Aviation/Space Writers Association. Craig is also a proud member of the Military
Officers Association of America and The American Legion, where he works as the organization’s Media Relations Director.
VA: Broken claims system can’t be fixed
Craig Roberts | The American Legion - March 22, 2010
03/22/2010 - 8:13am
Given the tenor of their testimony scripts, many of the veterans' advocates at the March 18 "2010 Claims Summit" on Capitol Hill were loaded for
bear. Representatives of 49 veterans service organizations and veterans interest groups had gathered before members of the House Veterans
Affairs Committee to express a mixture of admonishment and frustration at the Department of Veterans Affairs' infamous benefits claims backlog
- a backlog that has veterans waiting, in some cases, for years to receive what they believe is their due.
But, Committee Chairman Bob Filner, D-Calif., redirected the group's focus up front, declaring the meeting to be "about solutions" not rehashing
the problems that represent, in his words, "an insult to our nation's veterans." Thus, what was to have been a strictly orderly but, perhaps,
redundant and not altogether substantive series of two-minute mini-speeches became a more free-wheeling exchange of ideas with the common
goal of eliminating, or at least alleviating, the claims logjam. At last count, the number of unresolved claims being processed by VA topped 1
million and was growing.
Filner opened the mid-afternoon session with a couple of thought pieces. He proposed that the service-connected claims of all Vietnam combat
vets be honored automatically, and wondered aloud why the VA doesn't model itself after the new kinder and gentler Internal Revenue Service
and award benefits "subject to audit" as the IRS issues refund checks. He then turned to Rep. John Hall, D-N.Y., chairman of the House
Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs, who declared strongly that it was high time the Obama
administration appoint a permanent Veterans Benefits Administration under secretary to corral forces in meeting the claims backlog challenge.
With that, Filner threw the floor open to discussion. Common themes were soon identified: the claims backlog is huge and, seemingly, growing
exponentially, and, policies and procedures within the VA hinder the prompt and final adjudication of claims.
A Promise Reiterated
During the recent 50th Annual Washington Conference, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki told Legionnaires that eliminating the claims backlog by the
year 2015 is among his top priorities. He explained the rapid increase in outstanding claims by noting the acceptance of Agent Orange exposure-
related diseases and conditions as grounds for filing. This will be adding 200,000 or more claims to the pile, VA said.
During his Washington Conference appearance, Shinseki indicated that he is pinning his hopes on the implementation of the VLER (Virtual
Lifetime Electronic Records) program developed jointly by VA and Department of Defense. The employment of instantly obtainable and
transferable computer records that will follow a servicemember from swearing-in through retirement, intimated the secretary, will streamline the
benefits awards process to the point of eventually eliminating a claims backlog.
VA officials testifying at the claims summit reiterated Shinseki's pledge, detailed it and expanded upon it. The VA's defense against a large
roomful of constructive critics began with a statement that some found startling and others found refreshing and promising. "The current system
is broken," admitted Dr. Peter Levin, VA's Chief Technology Officer, "and it can't be fixed. So, what we are doing is building a new, Web-based
(claims processing) system."
The VBA's acting under secretary, Michael Walcoff, took up the tech chief's cudgel and said that the Veterans Benefits Management System
now under development will, when combined with a better business process and more people, end the claims crisis. The system will be in place
by 2012, he said, and by 2015 no veteran's benefit claim will take more than 125 days to process.
Chairman Filner expressed skepticism, noting that in his 18 years in the House of Representatives, he has heard such promises of revolutionary
problem solving time and again. He challenged the VA delegation: "How do I know that, once again, it's not just words?"
Levin then invited Filner to visit the VA's Baltimore Regional Office, where, he explained, a pilot initiative is underway to improve claims
processing and service to veterans. Filner accepted the invitation, encouraging representatives of VSOs and other veterans advocates to
accompany him.
In the end, the 2010 Claims Summit produced feelings of hope attenuated by caution among attendees that the decades long, and ever-growing
challenge of efficiently and efficaciously processing veterans benefits claims will be met by old lessons learned and new technology adopted. As
for the House Veterans Affairs Committee, it is far from finished in its scrutiny of the VA claims backlog. On Wednesday the committee will
reconvene for a session titled "Examination of VA Regional Office Disability Claims Quality Review Methods - Is VBA's (Veterans Benefits
Administration)'s Systematic Technical Accuracy Review (STAR) Making the Grade?"
Legion points to VA's inefficient policies and procedures
Many, if not most 2010 Claims Summit attendees saw new technology as only a partial solution to the claims backlog crisis. Among them was
Barry Searle, director of The American Legion's Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation Division. He pointed to VA policies and procedures, rather
than lack of electronic data processing, as a primary cause of the claims logjam.
In testimony prepared for the summit, Searle wrote: "The American Legion approved a resolution recommending (VA claims) adjudicators not
receive work credit for a claim until a final decision on that claim has been implemented. It is the position of The American Legion that an
emphasis on production numbers increases rather than reduces workload (speed of handling rather than accuracy of decision).
"The American Legion believes that when employees are rewarded or reproved for the number of cases moved, (and) not held accountable for
the number of cases properly finalized, an inappropriate work atmosphere can easily develop."
Searle amplified that point. "Symptoms of that atmosphere are ‘top sheeting' and unnecessary generic requests for assistance which delay
claims, add to the back log, but do not improve service," he wrote. "Top sheeting is where adjudicators do not take the time to completely review
the entire file, but reject or ‘request assistance' - asking for overlooked documentation that is already in the file. This practice moves the file off
their desks and a responding credit will be counted. However, when claims are rejected in this fashion, they then go into the appeals process
adding to the backlog for invalid reasons."
Searle concluded his written remarks by pointing to difficulties posed by a wasteful by-product of traditional bureaucracy: extensive and
redundant paperwork.
"The claims application process is extremely complicated. The 26-page claims form is practically impossible for untrained veterans to complete
successfully," he wrote. "Additionally, the all-encompassing concept of the form repeatedly asks the same questions or questions unnecessary
to a particular claim. Despite the best efforts of VSOs to convince veterans to allow service officers to assist with their claims, in many cases
veterans try to do it alone the first time. They then have their claim rejected and turn to a VSO for an appeal. This again, adds to the backlog
unnecessarily."
Craig Roberts | The American Legion - March 22, 2010
03/22/2010 - 8:13am
Given the tenor of their testimony scripts, many of the veterans' advocates at the March 18 "2010 Claims Summit" on Capitol Hill were loaded for
bear. Representatives of 49 veterans service organizations and veterans interest groups had gathered before members of the House Veterans
Affairs Committee to express a mixture of admonishment and frustration at the Department of Veterans Affairs' infamous benefits claims backlog
- a backlog that has veterans waiting, in some cases, for years to receive what they believe is their due.
But, Committee Chairman Bob Filner, D-Calif., redirected the group's focus up front, declaring the meeting to be "about solutions" not rehashing
the problems that represent, in his words, "an insult to our nation's veterans." Thus, what was to have been a strictly orderly but, perhaps,
redundant and not altogether substantive series of two-minute mini-speeches became a more free-wheeling exchange of ideas with the common
goal of eliminating, or at least alleviating, the claims logjam. At last count, the number of unresolved claims being processed by VA topped 1
million and was growing.
Filner opened the mid-afternoon session with a couple of thought pieces. He proposed that the service-connected claims of all Vietnam combat
vets be honored automatically, and wondered aloud why the VA doesn't model itself after the new kinder and gentler Internal Revenue Service
and award benefits "subject to audit" as the IRS issues refund checks. He then turned to Rep. John Hall, D-N.Y., chairman of the House
Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs, who declared strongly that it was high time the Obama
administration appoint a permanent Veterans Benefits Administration under secretary to corral forces in meeting the claims backlog challenge.
With that, Filner threw the floor open to discussion. Common themes were soon identified: the claims backlog is huge and, seemingly, growing
exponentially, and, policies and procedures within the VA hinder the prompt and final adjudication of claims.
A Promise Reiterated
During the recent 50th Annual Washington Conference, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki told Legionnaires that eliminating the claims backlog by the
year 2015 is among his top priorities. He explained the rapid increase in outstanding claims by noting the acceptance of Agent Orange exposure-
related diseases and conditions as grounds for filing. This will be adding 200,000 or more claims to the pile, VA said.
During his Washington Conference appearance, Shinseki indicated that he is pinning his hopes on the implementation of the VLER (Virtual
Lifetime Electronic Records) program developed jointly by VA and Department of Defense. The employment of instantly obtainable and
transferable computer records that will follow a servicemember from swearing-in through retirement, intimated the secretary, will streamline the
benefits awards process to the point of eventually eliminating a claims backlog.
VA officials testifying at the claims summit reiterated Shinseki's pledge, detailed it and expanded upon it. The VA's defense against a large
roomful of constructive critics began with a statement that some found startling and others found refreshing and promising. "The current system
is broken," admitted Dr. Peter Levin, VA's Chief Technology Officer, "and it can't be fixed. So, what we are doing is building a new, Web-based
(claims processing) system."
The VBA's acting under secretary, Michael Walcoff, took up the tech chief's cudgel and said that the Veterans Benefits Management System
now under development will, when combined with a better business process and more people, end the claims crisis. The system will be in place
by 2012, he said, and by 2015 no veteran's benefit claim will take more than 125 days to process.
Chairman Filner expressed skepticism, noting that in his 18 years in the House of Representatives, he has heard such promises of revolutionary
problem solving time and again. He challenged the VA delegation: "How do I know that, once again, it's not just words?"
Levin then invited Filner to visit the VA's Baltimore Regional Office, where, he explained, a pilot initiative is underway to improve claims
processing and service to veterans. Filner accepted the invitation, encouraging representatives of VSOs and other veterans advocates to
accompany him.
In the end, the 2010 Claims Summit produced feelings of hope attenuated by caution among attendees that the decades long, and ever-growing
challenge of efficiently and efficaciously processing veterans benefits claims will be met by old lessons learned and new technology adopted. As
for the House Veterans Affairs Committee, it is far from finished in its scrutiny of the VA claims backlog. On Wednesday the committee will
reconvene for a session titled "Examination of VA Regional Office Disability Claims Quality Review Methods - Is VBA's (Veterans Benefits
Administration)'s Systematic Technical Accuracy Review (STAR) Making the Grade?"
Legion points to VA's inefficient policies and procedures
Many, if not most 2010 Claims Summit attendees saw new technology as only a partial solution to the claims backlog crisis. Among them was
Barry Searle, director of The American Legion's Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation Division. He pointed to VA policies and procedures, rather
than lack of electronic data processing, as a primary cause of the claims logjam.
In testimony prepared for the summit, Searle wrote: "The American Legion approved a resolution recommending (VA claims) adjudicators not
receive work credit for a claim until a final decision on that claim has been implemented. It is the position of The American Legion that an
emphasis on production numbers increases rather than reduces workload (speed of handling rather than accuracy of decision).
"The American Legion believes that when employees are rewarded or reproved for the number of cases moved, (and) not held accountable for
the number of cases properly finalized, an inappropriate work atmosphere can easily develop."
Searle amplified that point. "Symptoms of that atmosphere are ‘top sheeting' and unnecessary generic requests for assistance which delay
claims, add to the back log, but do not improve service," he wrote. "Top sheeting is where adjudicators do not take the time to completely review
the entire file, but reject or ‘request assistance' - asking for overlooked documentation that is already in the file. This practice moves the file off
their desks and a responding credit will be counted. However, when claims are rejected in this fashion, they then go into the appeals process
adding to the backlog for invalid reasons."
Searle concluded his written remarks by pointing to difficulties posed by a wasteful by-product of traditional bureaucracy: extensive and
redundant paperwork.
"The claims application process is extremely complicated. The 26-page claims form is practically impossible for untrained veterans to complete
successfully," he wrote. "Additionally, the all-encompassing concept of the form repeatedly asks the same questions or questions unnecessary
to a particular claim. Despite the best efforts of VSOs to convince veterans to allow service officers to assist with their claims, in many cases
veterans try to do it alone the first time. They then have their claim rejected and turn to a VSO for an appeal. This again, adds to the backlog
unnecessarily."