Anna Claire Vollers | (TNS) Stateline.org
For-profit consultants throughout the nation make tens of millions every year by charging army veterans for assist in submitting their incapacity claims with the U.S. Division of Veterans Affairs.
The apply exists in a authorized loophole: It’s unlawful underneath federal legislation for firms that aren’t accredited by the VA to cost veterans charges for serving to file their incapacity claims, however there’s no prison penalty for breaking the legislation, and plenty of consultants contend that the companies they supply aren’t explicitly forbidden. Latest makes an attempt to manage this for-profit shadow trade have stalled in Congress.
Whereas some state lawmakers are attempting to shut the loophole by submitting payments to limit the apply, they’re up in opposition to their legislative friends and a cadre of trade leaders with a steady of lobbyists who need the loophole sealed into place on the state stage.
Three states — Maine, New Jersey and New York — handed legal guidelines previously 12 months cracking down on for-profit consultants. Comparable payments have been launched in 17 different states.
In the meantime, Louisiana enacted a legislation hailed by the for-profit trade as a win; it permits firms to cost as much as $12,500 in charges for a process that veterans service organizations resembling The American Legion will do free of charge.
The difficulty is pitting veterans in opposition to each other.
“When we have organizations and companies out there like these claim sharks that are preying on our veterans and taking away their hard-earned benefits and making a profit off them, there’s something empirically wrong with that,” mentioned Missouri Republican state Rep. Dave Griffith, a former Inexperienced Beret within the U.S. Military eighth Particular Forces Group.
Griffith launched a invoice earlier this 12 months that may impose prison penalties on these receiving compensation for serving to a veteran apply for advantages. The invoice died in committee, however Griffith has refiled it for the upcoming legislative session.
“What’s even more disturbing to me,” mentioned Griffith, who served in Vietnam, “is that many of these organizations are run by veterans.”
The for-profit consulting trade argues that veterans ought to have the liberty to rent whomever they wish to assist them navigate the VA’s plodding, glitchy software course of. Incapacity claims at present take 4 or 5 months on common to resolve, based on VA knowledge, although some languish for a 12 months or extra.
Some veterans have reported that the expense is value it — and have chided the federal government for not doing a greater job advertising on to vets about the best way to get their advantages.
The businesses charging exorbitant charges, trade representatives say, are only a few unhealthy apples.
“The key for us is having transparent disclosures, processes and statements of fees so veterans can make informed decisions,” mentioned Peter O’Rourke, president of the Nationwide Affiliation for Veteran Rights, a newly shaped commerce affiliation for the claims consulting trade. O’Rourke, a U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Power veteran, was previously appearing secretary of Veterans Affairs in the course of the Trump administration earlier than he was pressured out in 2018.
O’Rourke estimated he and his staff have been to 38 states to testify at committee hearings and communicate with legislators.
“There’s a better way of doing business, and we need to have more of that discussion, versus going back in time and criminalizing what the market has been able to provide veterans,” he mentioned.
Guarantees and earnings
The urgency from all sides of the difficulty follows Congress’ passage two years in the past of the PACT Act, the biggest enlargement of veterans’ advantages in generations. It gives disability-related advantages for veterans affected by the results of Agent Orange, poisonous burn pits in current wars and different poisonous exposures over the previous a number of many years. Beneath the act, tens of millions extra veterans may qualify for help.
That elevated funding represents a possible bonanza for personal consultants who promise to assist army veterans entry it — for a value.
Veterans with a service-related incapacity, from most cancers to bronchial asthma to despair, can apply to obtain a month-to-month money profit from the federal government. Their checks may vary from $500 to greater than $4,000 per thirty days, relying on the severity of the incapacity and different elements, resembling their variety of dependents.
However getting accredited takes months. The claims course of — sluggish and riddled with glitches, based on veterans and the VA’s personal knowledge — requires a prolonged software and detailed medical documentation.
Enter the personal claims marketing consultant. For a charge or a minimize of a veteran’s future incapacity advantages — usually 5 occasions what the veteran stands to obtain from the VA, amounting to hundreds of {dollars} — the consulting firm guarantees to assist clean the method and maximize the veteran’s incapacity examine.
“Veterans are often facing delays with the VA, and I can see why there’s a desire to get results. But these companies sometimes use exploitative practices and seize a big chunk of your benefits,” mentioned Florida Democratic state Rep. Anna V. Eskamani. She partnered with Republican state Rep. Michelle Salzman, an Military veteran, to introduce a declare shark invoice in the latest legislative session. The invoice died in committee, however Eskamani mentioned they plan to proceed speaking with veterans and introduce the same invoice subsequent session.
Since January, Republican and Democratic lawmakers in at the very least 17 states — from Rhode Island to Mississippi to California — have launched payments to ban or prohibit personal declare consultants from profiting off veterans.
Most are primarily based on the federal GUARD Act, at present stalled in Congress, which might impose penalties on unaccredited consultants who cost veterans for claims submitting help. Organizations such because the Veterans of Overseas Wars and The American Legion have been outspoken supporters of the GUARD Act and comparable state efforts to rein in for-profit consultants.
Final 12 months, New Jersey grew to become the primary state to make it unlawful for anybody missing VA accreditation to cost a veteran for help submitting a incapacity declare. Maine and New York quickly adopted.
The VA grants accreditation to attorneys, veterans service organizations and different claims brokers that meet sure necessities, resembling a background examine and a written examination. Organizations such because the VFW and The American Legion present their companies free of charge, although attorneys and brokers are allowed to cost charges to help with some claims, together with appeals.
Griffith, the Missouri legislator, modeled his invoice after the New Jersey legislation. When he first started researching the difficulty, he mentioned, he didn’t like what he noticed. Usually, he mentioned, firms will cost a charge for his or her companies equal to 5 occasions the rise of the veteran’s month-to-month profit.
For instance: A brand new veteran accredited for 100% incapacity receives about $3,800 per thirty days from the VA. For assist submitting that declare, a consulting firm may cost a one-time charge of about $19,000.
In some circumstances, Griffith mentioned, consultants can pocket as a lot as $30,000 by means of techniques resembling holding onto a declare for months earlier than submitting in order that they will take their minimize from the substantial backpay that the VA finally awards the veteran.
Criticism and pushback
O’Rourke mentioned his group is in favor of some authorized guardrails on the federal or state stage to guard veterans from exploitation, resembling setting sure limits round charges or requiring transparency in contract agreements. However, he mentioned, personal consulting must be freely out there as a result of the VA and its present accreditation course of haven’t saved up with the wants of veterans.
“We’re looking at, after 20 years of war, a strain on our social infrastructure when it comes to how we take care of veterans,” he mentioned, noting that the VA’s claims and appeals course of is many years outdated, complicated and cumbersome to navigate, even with accredited teams providing assist. “Asking veterans to go into a system that uses a lot of their time and causes frustration … veterans are going to try to find workarounds for that.”
Teams together with the VFW have been vocal opponents of for-profit consulting firms, urging lawmakers to take motion and waging public relations battles in opposition to the trade. For-profit firms have been investigated by media and officers in states together with Texas and Louisiana for doubtlessly unlawful practices.
Final 12 months, the VA issued a fraud alert, warning veterans to keep away from consultants who aren’t accredited.
However the trade is pushing again. One of many largest for-profit consulting firms spent greater than $800,000 final 12 months and $780,000 this 12 months in federal lobbying efforts, based on knowledge compiled by the nonprofit OpenSecrets. That included pushing for a invoice that may make the authorized loophole everlasting. On the state stage, representatives from a few of the trade’s largest gamers are displaying up in statehouses throughout the nation to talk in opposition to payments.
“I got very close to getting my bill passed last year,” mentioned Griffith. However claims consulting firms employed a lobbyist in Missouri, he mentioned. “They lobbied the [House] speaker’s office and he delayed the bill.”
Throughout a committee listening to, Missouri legislators heard opposition to the invoice from O’Rourke, who additionally testified in opposition to Eskamani and Salzman’s invoice in Florida.
“I was surprised at the amount of money they’re willing to spend to try to keep things the way they are,” mentioned Eskamani, who mentioned she didn’t count on to see such a concerted effort to cease a invoice in its first committee assembly.
In June, Louisiana quietly enacted a legislation that may enable unregulated firms to revenue from aiding veterans with their incapacity claims, although it caps consulting charges at $12,500. Republican Gov. Jeff Landry allowed the invoice to develop into legislation with out his signature. It marked an about-face for Landry: When he was the state lawyer basic, he labored to close down the varieties of consulting companies the legislation now explicitly permits.
Comparable payments have been launched this 12 months in Arizona, Georgia, Hawaii and Kentucky, however didn’t cross.
Final month in Alabama, members of the legislative committee for the state veterans affairs division voted to work with state lawmakers on a invoice to ban claims consultants from profiting off veterans. The difficulty is prone to present up once more subsequent 12 months in state legislative periods across the nation.
Initially Printed: December 13, 2024 at 11:49 AM PST
