Disabled Veterans Should Be Allowed to Seek Out Private Sector Help to Access Benefits

America’s Veterans give and give and give to their country. Therefore, the very least we can do to give back is to fulfill our pledge to financially support them if they are disabled from their service. It is, in fact, our debt to them and to their families—and one that we sadly have a mixed record of properly paying.

It is well known that our Veterans must navigate a complex and arcane claims process that often leaves them waiting years to receive disability benefits or receiving less than they earned or deserve. The VA currently has a disability claims inventory of over one million and a backlog of over 300,000, the largest in more than 12 years. Despite large increases in the VA budget, the agency has simply been unable to keep up with the demand. The VA remains understaffed, and many newer staff don’t have sufficient training to effectively help veterans. According to a recent NBC News story, the VA is also plagued by staff turnover and low morale, which is all making the backlog worse and increasing the chances Veterans will have their applications rejected or receive an inaccurate disability rating.

Private companies have sprung up to fill a void in this broken system, helping Veterans file claims with the VA so they can get their full disability benefits in a more timely and effective fashion. Yet these entities have been demonized and attacked because they are “for-profit” companies.

Most of the opposition is coming from government-accredited Veteran Service organizations like the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion and Disabled American Veterans; nonprofits that charge membership fees, who are supposed to be helping Veterans access their benefits but aren’t getting the job done, thus giving rise to the for-profit entities. The bottom line is that the for-profit companies, many of which are Veteran-owned and staffed by former VA officials, are helping disabled Veterans get what they deserve, running circles around the nonprofits – which is why they are doing well and why they have become an important part of the process.

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Additional opposition is coming from attorneys, particularly their lobbyists at the National Organization of Veterans Advocates, who charge Veterans large sums to help them file formal appeals before the VA’s Board of Veterans’ Appeals. These attorneys clearly view private benefit companies as their competition. If a Veteran, with the help of a private company, is able to file a complete and accurate claim and receive the correct disability rating from the VA, there is no need for an appeal and no need to hire an expensive attorney. 

Naturally, there are some in Congress pushing legislation – on behalf of the VSOs and attorneys – that would outlaw these private companies. The overreaching and misguided “Governing Unaccredited Representatives Defrauding VA Benefits Act” (GUARD VA Benefits Act), which was introduced in the House by Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH) and in the Senate by Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), neither of whom served in the military, is sold as legislation to crack down on bad actors in this space, as if for-profit status alone doth a bad actor make. The irony is that this legislation intended to help Veterans will outlaw the very companies that are helping disabled Veterans the most now.

A better approach is the one taken by Reps. Jack Bergman (R-MI) who is a former U.S. Marine Corps Lt. General, Lou Correa (D-CA) and Nancy Mace (R-SC) who is the first female graduate of The Citadel, in the Preserving Lawful Utilization of Services for Veterans Act (PLUS for Veterans Act). According to Rep. Bergman, their bill is “bipartisan legislation that will safeguard Veterans from fraud, abuse, and bad actors who seek to take advantage of them when they seek VA disability benefits” while “also protect(ing) Veterans’ right to seek private assistance when seeking benefits if they so choose.” So, theirbill cracks down on the bad guys while preserving the option for Veterans to seek help from legitimate companies. Or to put it another way, throws out the bathwater and keeps the baby.

Honorable service to our nation should be rewarded – swiftly, effectively, generously. Our VA system intended to support those who are rendered disabled because of service should not be a complicated mess that can only be navigated by professionals. But now, it is what it is.

Congress should not take action that would make it even harder for Veterans to receive the benefits they have earned. 

Christian Josi is a veteran political strategist and media advisor. He also is a founding Board Member of #HELP22, a not-for-profit organization that provides pro-bono coaching, counseling, therapy and encouragement to Veterans in an effort to help curb the plague of Veteran suicide.