As Bureaucratic Red Tape Delays Their Disability Benefits, Georgia Veterans Band Together for Change

Published January 17, 2022

It’s a roadblock that’s all too familiar to many veterans applying for disability benefits: the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has assigned a veteran a disability rating and awarded benefits, but the veteran is still waiting to hear from the Social Security Administration (SSA) regarding eligibility in order to receive the full benefits they are entitled to.

While the VA and the SSA are both federal departments, it is commonly known that there is an institutionalized disconnect between the two agencies that prevent effective communication and sharing of documentation. This disconnect—combined with processing delays due to COVID-19—has created a backlog of cases, leaving many veterans experiencing confusing messaging, delays in processing, and even allegedly erroneous denials of eligibility.

The benefits process

To understand why a disconnect between these two agencies is so detrimental to the benefits approval process, it’s helpful to understand the process veterans typically go through in order to receive both VA and SSA benefits. Many veterans who are eligible for VA disability benefits are also eligible for SSA benefits, but receiving both requires separate application processes. The typical process for most veterans is to get approved for VA benefits first, then use VA medical records to facilitate approval for SSA benefits. This is where the problems begin; applicants report that the VA is not sharing the documentation necessary in order to process their SSA claims. And the result is that veterans are experiencing delays in SSA decisions due to their inability to obtain medical records from the VA. Worse than a delay is denial: the SSA has denied claims preemptively before they have a chance to receive VA medical records and when—for whatever reason—the VA simply won’t share its records. In cases of claim denial, the applicant must then slog through an appeals process that may take years, all the while going without the benefits necessary to live.

A key contribution to the bureaucratic disconnect is the fact that each agency has different standards with which they measure disability ratings and thus grant approval. This is in addition to the fact that many disabled veterans are prevented from accessing the SSA benefits they are entitled to simply because they do not know that they are eligible to apply.

Recognizing the bureaucratic failures at the heart of so many disabled veterans living without benefits, some frustrated Georgia veterans in Cherokee County have come together to form an informal support and advocacy group. The group was formed by West Point grad and local businessman Jim Lindenmayer as a forum to share tips and tricks to help veterans navigate a confusing system. Amid mounting frustration, the goals of the group have become a bit more ambitious. Lindenmayer and other members of the group are working to lobby the federal government to implement a few small changes that would have large effects in streamlining this unnecessarily tedious and confusing process.

Why the disconnect?

Though they both exist under the federal government, the SSA and VA operate with different objectives and follow different bureaucratic rules and regulations, with differences in protocols that are responsible for continued delays and denials for disabled veterans. In fact, a 2014 internal report from the SSA analyzed how the agencies handled precisely this situation and concluded that the two offices do not “integrate well.” The result of the report was instituting policies intended to fast-track benefits for veterans who have a 100% disability rating from the VA. Despite those initiatives, approval times still vary vastly depending on the medical conditions reported, and if initially denied, receiving a decision on an appeal can take anywhere from 12-18 months to 5-7 years depending on circumstances. The wait time for SSA approval is generally about 3-5 months for non-veteran applicants, but the exact waiting period is contingent upon the SSA receiving proper medical documentation from the applicant’s physician. In the case of veterans, that means receiving the applicant’s medical records from the VA, a process which—as established—is inconsistent at best and may never happen at worst.

A VA spokesperson told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the agencies “continue to collaborate on ways to streamline the disability process for eligible veterans. While VA and SSA have different requirements for disability rating, both agencies work diligently and swiftly to share documentation needed for benefits rating.”

Members of the Cherokee County support group feel that words like that provide little in the way of genuine actionable change. The group would like to see more visible steps made to address the bureaucratic failings. Specifically, the group wants:

  • A notification added to VA disability approval letters informing veterans that they may also qualify for SSA benefits
  • Veterans with a VA rating of 100% disabled to be automatically approved for SSA disability
  • Federal legislation preventing veterans from losing their homes while waiting on disability benefit approval

Progress has been slow, but group members are in it for the long haul. In the meantime, members of the group continue to stay in contact, offering support and advice for other disabled veterans navigating the lengthy and complicated benefits application process.

 

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