Morning Muster: Veteran Standardized Claims Start Today ~ THE 5TH ESTATE ASIA

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Morning Muster: Veteran Standardized Claims Start Today

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Let there be no mistake: this is a WAR, a war of attrition - OUR ATTRITION, and we must make the White House criminals and Congress traitors PAY for every foot, EVERY INCH LOST with THEIR JOBS and Congressional seats

VETERANS BENEFITS GUIDE DAILY
03/24/2015

Veterans Affairs’ informal claims process, a format veterans have used for decades to easily file date place-holders for initial claims, ends today to the detriment of veterans, according to advocates, reports Stars & Stripes’ Heath Druzin.

Lest we forget: The Marine Barracks bombing, Beirut

The Veterans of Foreign Wars and Disabled American Veterans say they are considering legal action against newly required standardized forms. Bergmann & Moore is against the change, arguing that confusion, no required response time from VA, a lack of advertising and training, and expecting legal and medical expertise from veterans in filling out the new forms will cause veterans not to submit their forms, and, therefore, VA’s claims backlog to disappear. Partners Glenn Bergmann and Joe Moore are available for comment today. kkennedy@vetlawyers.com.

Reveal’s Aaron Glantz tracks the progress—or lack of it—of the investigation since he wrote about a Tomah VA doctor’s propensity to prescribe opiates.

The Indianapolis VA worker who sent an email portraying an elf as a suicidal veteran had her license temporarily suspended Monday after the Indiana Attorney General called her behavior “disturbing,” reports the Indianapolis Star’s Tony Cook.

22 Veterans commit suicide each day

Almost one-third of new federal hires in fiscal year 2014 were veterans, reports Federal Times’ Andy Medici.

A Mississippi VA center has reopened its search for a chief chaplain after officials learned its top applicant had killed his wife, reports The Clarion-Ledger’s Emily Le Coz.

Though laws were in place to ensure schools did not abuse veterans’ G.I. Bill benefits, they were not enforced, reports the Los Angeles Times’ Alan Zarembo. That allowed private helicopter companies to charge as much as $250,000 in tuition per veteran.

It’s the last day for comments on a proposed rule that would allow VA to look at the last three years of a veterans’ finances to determine if he or she is eligible for a pension, reports the Desert Dispatch’s Jose Quintero.

VA is relaxing the rule that allows veterans who live more than 40 milesaway from a VA facility to get private care, changing it so it’s 40 driving miles, rather than 40 miles “as the crow flies,” reports The Associated Press Matthew Daly.

In her first speech on the Senate floor, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, an Iraq war veteran, proposed legislation that would provide private mental health care for veterans if they could not get it through VA, reports USA TODAY’s Christopher Doering.

The Vietnam War Memorial Fund seeks photos to go with each name on the Wall, reports the Fayetteville Observer’s Drew Brooks.

Doctors and nurses are setting up appointments, rather than doing their medical duties, because they are under investigation for misconduct, reports The News-Journal’s William H. McMichael.

Federal union officials describe the investigation as “a sham.”

Bergmann & Moore, LLC, is a national law firm dedicated to serving the needs of veterans in compensation claims before and against the Department of Veterans Affairs. The firm’s partners are former VA attorneys who are very familiar with the VA system. Bergmann & Moore handles all kinds of cases, but has a concentration in claims involving PTSD, military sexual trauma, Gulf War illness and complex medical issues, such as brain cancer or degenerative issues, veterans exposed to Agent Orange often face. For more information, to submit news or to sign up for an email version of this blog, contact Kelly Kennedy at kkennedy@vetlawyers.com.

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