Congressman Rick Larsen expressed hope about the Veterans Affairs programs during a recent roundtable, despite concerns voiced by local veterans about claim turnarounds and service accessibility.
Larsen held a roundtable discussions in late August with veterans at the VFW Post 7392 in Oak Harbor.
Some of the roughly 60 veterans who attended the event expressed concerns about the efficacy of the VA, both in completing claims and ensuring veterans are aware of all the services available.
Larsen was joined by Rob Hard with the Seattle Regional Office of the VA who spoke about the efforts his office is making to complete the large backlog of claims.
Hard explained that when the law was changed three years ago to allow the VA to treat Vietnam veterans exposed to agent orange, the VA received 230,000 claims in the space of two weeks. This caused the widely reported backlog, Hard said, and it took them two years to compete those claims, paying out $3.6 million.
“The up side is that it was a very good thing for Vietnam vets,” Hard said. “The down side is we got backed up. It’s been frustrating but we’re making substantial progress.”
Hard said the VA is in the process of “transformation,” which is basically transferring all paper claims to a digital format.
“You’ll be able to update your information in real time, and it will create an express line for things that are straight forward,” Hard said.
The new challenge for the VA will be serving the military personnel who are now coming home from two foreign conflicts while the VA is downsized.
“We need to work more efficiently and smarter.”
Also in attendance was John Beckham, director of healthcare and plan management for the VA Puget Sound.
Beckham said that the VA’s closest Community-Based Outpatient Clinic in Mount Vernon is now treating more than 7,000 veterans and is outgrowing its space. Veterans in attendance voiced concern that there was no VA facility on the island and asked if there were plans to bring services here.
Beckham said that he knew of no plans to do so, but would revisit that possibility with decision makers.
Beckham said that all enrolled veterans will be notified that VA benefits qualify under the new Affordable Insurance Act, so no additional insurance will be required of them.
Sefarian Butler with Worksource Whidbey and Gerald Pfannenstiel, the Island County veteran services coordinator, were on the panel as well to discuss how veterans can get tapped into a variety of services locally.
Among those programs, Pfannenstiel said, are the Veteran’s Assistance Fund which helps low income veterans with rent and other basic living needs. Programs also exist to help homeless veterans, disabled veterans, chemical dependency and other programs. Butler also spoke of vocational programs that help veterans with education, job training and job placement.
When asked if Congress was going to be able to agree on a budget by the Sept. 30 deadline and end sequestration, Larson said he anticipated only a short-term fix for now.
“I don’t see us coming up with a big plan by Sept. 30,” Larsen said. “They want to replace sequestration, the debate is what that replacement looks like.”
Larsen said that while sequestration has caused problems for civilians and programs like Head Start, that the budget cuts were, in fact, working and the both the national debt and deficit are coming down.
“A lot of good-hearted folks in Congress are trying to make this work,” Larson said. “I’m optimistic.”
