NEWS FROM….

CONGRESSMAN LANE EVANS

RANKING DEMOCRATIC MEMBER

COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS

    U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Quad Cities, Illinois – Congressman Lane Evans of Illinois, the ranking Democratic member of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, has called "false and misleading" a memo issued to its employees by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The VA memo provides employees "talking points" to respond to press inquires generated from an ABC "20/20" segment scheduled for broadcast tonight. The segment will examine VA handling of claims filed by veterans for service-connected disability compensation benefits.

According to Evans, VA current practice is simply to deny a veteran’s claim for service-connected compensation benefits as "not well-grounded" if the veteran does not provide medical and military information showing a current disability related to military service. While routinely it can take six months or longer to obtain military records from the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) or other military information repository, VA allows a veteran only thirty days to provide this information or the claim is likely to be denied by VA as not well-grounded.

VA knows full well, Evans commented, that the recent Morton decision of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims prohibits VA from assisting veterans obtain medical records and other information needed to establish a "well-grounded claim" for benefits. VA attorneys argued for and won this decision by the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims in 1999, which ruled "Absent the submission of and establishment of a well-grounded claim, the Secretary cannot undertake to assist a veteran in developing facts pertinent to his or her claim."

In most cases, Evans explained, it is necessary for a veteran to obtain a medical evaluation of his or her current medical condition, current medical records, records of military service, including service medical records and records concerning the military activities of the veterans. VA's Manual had previously required the VA to fulfill its duty to assist a veteran by "obtaining all necessary evidence before making a decision on a claim." The manual had also previously provided that VA would make reasonable efforts to help the claimant obtain any evidence that he or she explicitly identified or suggested that would help substantiate the claim. The Morton decision found the Manual provisions invalid.

"Today" Evans said, "veterans applying for benefits are becoming lost in a maze of conflicting case law and impossible Catch-22 scenarios." Within weeks of the Morton decision, VA repealed its Manual provision requiring VA personnel to assist veterans and instructed Regional Offices to give applicants 30 days to submit a well-grounded claim. VA also stopped requesting medical and other relevant information from claimant’s physicians and treating sources. If the evidence needed is not submitted within 30 days, VA denies the claim as not well- grounded.

The current situation requires veterans to cross significant administrative barriers before their claims are ever considered on their merits. "The obvious remedy," Evans said, "is elimination of the ‘well-grounded’ requirement. All claims should be appropriately developed before a decision is made to deny or allow the claim. I introduced H.R. 3193, the Duty to Assist Act, to make that happen. VA’s failure to assist veterans is well-recognized in Congress. More than 160 Members of the House of Representatives have cosponsored this measure."

"Veterans," Evans said, "should expect VA to obtain the kind of medical and other information routinely requested by other agencies for claimants seeking Social Security disability benefits, Supplemental Security Income disability benefits, Railroad Retirement Board disability benefits, federal employee disability benefits and servicemembers applying for a disability retirement. First, VA acted shamefully in pursuing this court decision, and then they acted shamefully in implementing it at breakneck speed. Now, when an ABC News show criticizes VA’s claims process, the agency is preparing its field offices to answer local press questions with answers that just aren’t so."

A basic reason for VA to pay veterans benefits, according to Federal law, is to compensate veterans who were disabled in military service to their country. "We can do better than this," Evans said. "These men and women deserve full consideration of the evidence needed to decide their claims fairly and with honor."