Equitable Relief Program for Veterans Benefits Administration October 2024 Tomah
Discover the Equitable Relief Program initiated by the Veterans Benefits Administration in October 2024 at Tomah. Learn about the eligibility criteria, general process, status updates, and background information. Find out how veterans impacted by exam reports can seek relief and access retroactive benefits.
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Presentation Transcript
Veterans Benefits Administration October 2024 Tomah Equitable Relief Program
Agenda Background of Equitable Relief Eligibility for relief General process Status of the program Outreach Challenges Questions Compensation Service 2
Background of the Program 38 USC 503(a) Secretary s Authority to Provide Equitable Relief Authority is not delegable; can only be approved by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs Secretary can grant relief considered warranted if benefits were not provided due to error on the part of the federal government The Secretary exercised this authority in a letter dated 11/02/2023 Compensation Service 3
Eligibility for Relief Veterans are eligible if examined by Dr. Mary Jo Lanska (Tomah neurology) and claims were determined to have been impacted by the exam report Most, but not all, claims involve TBI Claims range from 2002 to 2020 649 total class members, mostly Wisconsin Veterans Some already granted on appeal or subsequent claim; may be eligible for earlier effective date Compensation Service 4
General Process Solicitation letters for living Veterans mailed by batch process 12/2023 Manual solicitation letters sent for survivors in 03/2024; Milwaukee RO sends solicitation letters to survivors of any Veterans who pass away while the program is underway Standard operating procedure finalized on 02/01/2024 No prescribed form for living claimants Must opt in within a year from solicitation letter Claims forms are needed for survivors (to specify benefit sought and info needed) Compensation Service 5
Status of the Program (as of 10/11/2024) 248 Veterans and Survivors opted in 122 granted service connection 13 already SC, but granted an earlier effective date Approximately $7 million in retroactive benefits paid 49 denied SC 7 confirmed and continued 15 Veterans did not report to the exam 12 withdrew their claim 83 contacted and decided not to participate Compensation Service 6
Outreach Additional outreach conducted beyond just letters National Call Center made initial outreach calls in December/January Milwaukee reviewed NCC s attempts and made additional follow-ups to those with ambiguous results in 03/2024 The RO makes additional call attempts whenever a Veteran does not report to an exam Full contact audit by Milwaukee VSC from 08/2024 to 10/2024 RO reached out to POAs for additional phone numbers 09/2024 Milwaukee PMC calls survivors of any newly-discovered deceased Veteran Compensation Service 7
Challenges Some Veterans have not had contact with VA since their claim was denied, resulting in lack of contact information RO has CLEAR report functionality, which is a non-government program and not always accurate RO calls can be caught by spam blockers, or Veterans may not be inclined to answer calls from unknown numbers Veterans may suspect the call is fraudulent Veterans may be concerned about possible reduction Timeframe to opt-in for most living Veterans ends in early 12/2024 Compensation Service 8
Questions Compensation Service 9
