Beneficiaries should give feedback directly to VA - Military Retirement - Navy Times

Beneficiaries should give feedback directly to VA

We’re just a few weeks from the start of a new fiscal year, when Congress is supposed to have finished work on the funding bills for various federal agencies, such as the Pentagon and Veterans Affairs Department.

That rarely happens anymore, and fiscal 2013 will be even more unsettled than most.

But when that work kicks into gear, lawmakers will be considering a VA budget request of $140.3 billion for fiscal 2013, which would represent a 4.5 percent increase over the current budget. What would that mean in terms of providing better service to veterans and retirees?

I hear from plenty of retirees who are badly disappointed in the VA bureaucracy, particularly in the benefits claims system.

VA leaders admit that the claims review process has been a huge problem, fueled by a 36 percent increase in claims over fiscal 2011.

VA is hiring more claims examiners and experimenting with new processes, such as automating the decision process on simple claims.

But results are what matter, and the claims backlog seems to be as stubborn as ever.

That said, the proposed fiscal 2013 budget would support a variety of programs and initiatives. Along with addressing the claims backlog, VA plans to: expand inpatient, residential and outpatient mental health programs; expand institutional and non-institutional long-term care services; provide more money for maintenance at 131 national cemeteries; and establish eight more national cemeteries in rural areas.

Other areas of emphasis include improving services for newly discharged veterans; pushing the drive to end homelessness among veterans; and continuing to collaborate with the Defense Department on a common electronic health records system.

It’s easy to bash VA, and often VA deserves it. But a bureaucracy as vast and entrenched as this one doesn’t change overnight.

In fairness, I think VA Secretary Eric Shinseki has tried to change the culture. That’s reflected in emails I have received from retirees who have expressed satisfaction with VA, not only in the quality of its health care services but also in better communication with the veterans VA is charged with serving.

As VA “consumers,” retirees have a stake in ensuring the department is properly supported and funded and is putting its resources toward the highest priorities.

That means making our voices heard and our concerns known not only to our senators and representatives but to VA. You can contact VA through its website or by calling 800-827-1000.