NVF Dedicated to Correcting Law Unfairly Barring Veterans' VA Claims

LOS ANGELES, April 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Friday, at a San Diego reception for U.S. Congressman and Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs Bob Filner, National Veterans Foundation (NVF) President Shad Meshad hand delivered a letter to the congressman.  

The letter urged Chairman Filner to introduce legislation to correct a horrifying, unintended consequence of a 2007 Supreme Court decision that is preventing Veterans from filing their benefit claims and appeals.  

"The true irony and heartbreak of this law," wrote Meshad, "is that those Veterans who will have the most difficulty navigating the legal and benefit systems, like those former soldiers suffering from PTSD or Traumatic Brain Injury, are some of the men and women who most need the services they are being denied."  

This tragic issue of disabled Veterans' claims barred due to filing procedure errors and missed deadlines was highlighted in a recent New York Times article (Strict Deadlines, Disabled Veterans and Dismissed Cases).  According to the article, the Supreme Court decision regarding missed deadlines is preventing disabled Veterans from seeking and receiving the government help they need, and have earned.    

"The upshot," Adam Liptak wrote in the Times article, "according to a dissent in December from three judges on a federal appeals court in Washington, is "a Kafkaesque adjudicatory process in which those veterans who are most deserving of service-connected benefits will frequently be those least likely to obtain them."

"This law is incredibly unfair to Veterans," said Meshad.  "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."  

Meshad and the National Veterans Foundation have dedicated all the resources at their disposal to work with Congressman Filner to introduce new legislation to correct this injustice.  

The NVF has assisted over 350,000 Veterans in its 25-year history. Its mission is to serve the crisis management, information and referral needs of all U.S. Veterans and their families.  Veterans in need can call the NVF's Lifeline for Vets™ at 888-777-4443, 365 days a year.  Visit the NVF online at www.nvf.org or support the organization at www.help-veterans.org.

SOURCE National Veterans Foundation

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