An article came out in the New York Times last week, highlighting yet another obstacle to our Veterans accessing their VA benefits. 

Due to a three-year-old Supreme Court decision’s unintended consequences, those Vets who are most deserving of healthcare and disability benefits are the ones most likely to be denied those benefits, due to missed deadlines and paperwork errors.  

While the VA takes six months to process a benefits claim and up to five years to resolve a denial appeal, they are holding wounded Veterans to a ridiculous double standard, using the Supreme Court decision to deny claims and appeals if the Veteran has missed a filing deadline. 

The Supreme Court decision was not over a Veteran benefits case.  The case involved a convicted murderer who had beaten a man to death.  But now it is being applied to our Veterans. 

Imagine a Veteran suffering from PTSD or Traumatic Brain Injury who is already severely challenged dealing with day-to-day life, being forced to complete a 23-page claim form, or handle the complicated appeal process if their claim is denied, only to find out that they’re out of luck because they missed a filing deadline by a few days.

This situation is a travesty. 

At a reception for U.S. Congressman and Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs Bob Filner last Friday, I hand delivered a letter to the congressman, asking him to introduce legislation in the House that would correct this horrible situation.

“This law is incredibly unfair to Veterans, I wrote.  “The VA unreasonably takes months to process claims, and years to handle appeals.  Yet they are holding our Veterans, who have served their country and are often suffering from severe physical and mental combat-related injuries, to a completely different standard to deny their claims and appeals.  This is unconscionable.” 

The National Veterans Foundation asks everyone to help support us and Chairman Filner in an effort to change this law.

 Read the original New York Times article here.