By Marcari, Russotto, Spencer & Balaban | Published September 23, 2015 | Posted in Veterans Benefits | Tagged Tags: veterans affairs, veterans claims, Veterans Service Organization | Leave a comment
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has been focused on making the application for veterans benefits easier than ever, especially in the wake of the controversies of the past year. Now, veterans who seek disability benefits are required to use new standardized claim and appeals forms. These forms offer veterans more guidance in stating the Read More
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Although many veterans of the U.S. military are discharged and come back to seamlessly transition into civilian life, others are not so fortunate. There are numerous problems that plague veterans of all ages, including physical health issues, mental health conditions (especially post-traumatic stress disorder), lack of work and homelessness. If you are a veteran in Read More
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We recently covered the CBS News investigation of the Oakland VA, which revealed that the mismanagement of claims left many veterans waiting for years for the benefits they were owed, some dying before they ever received them. The full extent of that problem is staggering, as more than 14,000 cases of deliberately ignored veterans benefits Read More
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Each morning when you wake up you drink a glass of water, brush your teeth and take a shower. What do all of these things have in common? Well, if you lived at Camp Lejeune Marine Base, between 1953-1987, it meant you were ingesting contaminated water. You probably had no idea at the time that Read More
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Each year, the Veterans Benefits Administration is responsible for distributing more than $95 billion worth of benefits to veterans. These include disability money and pensions to veterans and spouses of veterans, along with death benefits. However, a new investigation from CBS News reveals that there has been tremendous mismanagement of benefits claims, and many veterans Read More
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On August 3, 2015, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that it will begin “the process of amending its regulations to establish presumptions of service connection for certain conditions resulting from exposure to contaminated drinking water at USMC Base Camp Lejeune.” For those service members who have long been suffering from the effects of exposure Read More
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A 2014 letter from former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel could mean that up to 80,000 veterans may be eligible to have their discharges upgraded if they are able to provide evidence that they were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The letter instructed boards for corrections of military records to closely consider all such Read More
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The Phoenix VA Health Care System was the epicenter of the nationwide scandal related to mismanaged veteran care over the last year. As a result, it has been something of a measuring stick for how the system is recovering from the issues involved. One interested party was President Barack Obama, who visited the Phoenix VA Read More
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A detailed new report from the National Institute of Mental Health shows that recent veterans commit suicide at much higher rates than people who did not serve in the military. The suicide rate was slightly higher among veterans who did not deploy to Afghanistan or Iraq, which means that the issue could be much more Read More
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A hospital project in Aurora, Colorado has been the subject of national scrutiny since it was made public that it cost more than $1.73 billion and has not even been completed yet. Now, Veterans Affairs Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson has apologized on behalf of the department for the expense of the project, and gave reassurances Read More
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