Washington Passes Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act
September 09, 2017
Veterans have struggled for years to efficiently navigate through the VA appeals process. Appealing disability benefits claims could take, on average, three to five years to complete. Many of these benefits are critical to thousands of veterans worldwide, and they can’t afford to be kept waiting years for the process to be completed. Last week, Washington took a step in the right direction. The passage of Veterans Improvement and Modernization Act of 2017 will strive to create a much more conducive system.
The new legislation will work to allow veterans multiple methods to challenge unfavorable decisions and protect veterans’ due process rights. The Act will defuse the burdens and frustrations that have been experienced by many veterans under the previous system. This will lead to more favorable outcomes and a much quicker process.
The bill will create three different “lanes” for the appeal process. The “Local Higher Level Review Lane” involves an adjudicator reviewing the same evidence considered by the original claims processor. The “New Evidence Lane” allows the veteran to submit new evidence for review and have a hearing. Finally the “Board Lane” transfers jurisdiction immediately to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals.”
More than 470,000 veterans are currently waiting on appeals decisions and around 4.1 million veterans living with service-connected disabling conditions are compensated annually. Do you think this new legislation will provide the appropriate relief many veterans hope for?
Claims Processing, Medical Issues / Disability, News and Press