When I am asked by a Veteran if the department of Veterans Affairs makes mistakes, I automatically feel as if I am in “The Hunger Games,“ and I think to myself “VA today, VA tomorrow, VA forever!” However, like in “The 
Hunger Games,” I should not be afraid to criticize the VA. Besides, they have a lot more to worry about right now than a snarky blogger. I then realize that they are a government agency, and they are subject to occasional audits. Recently a report surfaced from one of those audits showing how severe those mistakes actually are now.
As you may already know, every state has at least one VA Regional Office. Some states have more than one, and they, for the most part, operate differently depending upon the state in which you reside. For instance, Vermont operates very quickly whereas Cleveland operates slowly. Recently the New Orleans VA Regional Office was audited, and the findings were somewhat shocking.
The report, which was issued by the VA Inspector General, found that out of 90 claims sampled, 42 had mistakes. For those of you who are better at math than I am, that means 47% of the claims were flawed. For the optimist out there, it is a 53% accuracy rating. With that many mistakes sent out it’s almost as if General Motors is running the New Orleans VARO.
If you are a Veteran reading this you are probably not shocked that the VA is producing that many mistakes. Is it really that bad though? Well, it’s not great. Looking more in depth, the report shows that 23 of those claims with mistakes actually affected the amount the Veterans were supposed to receive each month. Here is the number that made gasp me out loud, resulting in several annoyed coworkers near me. The mistakes meant that there 238 mistakes made in monthly benefits to 17 Veterans totaling $132,878. The report goes in to a lot more depth than I have shared today, and I encourage everyone to take a look at it soon. The bottom line here is that the VA is capable of mistakes.
So, what are you to do? Honestly, if you receive a decision from the VA, there is a good chance you would not know a mistake was made. For instance, how would you really know if you were rated too low on a back injury? Unless you are well versed with the law, you would not know what a proper rating is for your claim. That is where an attorney, like the ones at Jan Dils Attorneys at Law, is so valuable for a VA Disability case. Whenever any of our clients receive a decision, we review it in house to see if any mistakes were made. A mistake could be that the VA rated you on PTSD at 30% instead of 50%. If something like that occurs, we can spot it, and quickly file an appeal. We even review all of the past decisions a Veteran received before they became a client of ours to see if they should be rated higher.
Overall the state of the VA as whole right now isn’t great. We hate to beat a dead horse, but having proper representation when dealing with the VA can make a world of difference. Give us a call today for a free consultation. 1-877-526-3457. If you would rather be contacted by a member of our staff, fill this form out now.
