Veterans Pros And Cons

In the early 1600's, before the birth of the administration, a system was created to supported the veterans. In 1917, Congress created a system for the veteran to have benefits that targeted disability compensation. The services included programs for disability compensation, insurance for service personnel and Veterans, and vocational rehabilitation for the disabled veteran. The Veterans Administration was created in 1930 when President Herbert Hoover signed the Executive Order. The administration consolidated all government activities dealing with war veterans. Over the years, the Department of Veterans Affairs has changed drastically and have encompassed many different facets. With the increase in foreign wars and conflicts, the influx of veterans in need of medical care and disability compensation
has grown greatly. Furthermore, it has also enhanced the responsibilities of the medical and disability benefits program. The mission statement of the Department of Veterans Affairs created by President Lincoln, “To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan by serving and honoring the men and women who are America’s Veterans.” still stands today. Today's strategic goal is to empower veterans to improve their well-being, enhance and develop trusted partnerships, and manage and improve operations in delivering a seamless and integrated support system.
The Department of Veteran Affairs objectives has always been the same, even as problems arise. In 2012, there were many reports that veterans are experiencing long extended wait times for medical services. There were allegations that veterans have died while waiting to be seen by physicians. As a result of these reports, Congress directed an audit to be conducted on the Veterans Affairs Health Care System. During the review, several discrepancies were identified in the area of medical scheduling. The reason thousands of veterans had been waiting for medical care was due to not properly being entered on an electronic waiting list. The audit also revealed that many appointment schedulers in the Health system had not received proper training. In correcting this issue, all schedulers were trained, and veterans were properly scheduled on the electronic list to receive care quickly. The scheduling discrepancy caused a backlog of an abundant number of
claims. Extended processing times for veterans awaiting results of their disability, compensation claims became an important issue. Initiatives have been established to help eliminate this problem and streamline the US Department of Veterans Affairs Disability Compensation System. The Department of Veteran Affairs created a disability benefits questionnaire (DBQ) for physicians of Veterans applying for Veteran Affairs disability compensation benefits. The questionnaire provides accurate information in a standardized way to assist claims adjudicators in ensuring that Veterans receive their benefits as fast as possible (Public and Affairs, 2010). The questionnaire was created to "guide Veterans' personal physicians, as well as Veteran Affairs physicians, in the evaluation of the most frequent medical conditions affecting Veterans” (Public and Affairs, 2010). Placing the questionnaires on the Internet for VA physicians, and Veteran's private physician creates easy access. Precise and apt medical evaluations are a significant component in streamlining Veteran Affair in making rapid decisions about the nature and extent of conditions plaguing Veterans. The new questionnaire system will assist Veterans' physicians in providing explicit information that is needed to process their claims leading to a less backlog in the assessment of compensation decisions. The improvement will also contribute to eliminating the backlog of applications by the use of technological modernization reducing time wasted in completing paperwork. By going paperless, it allows the veterans to file their claim online, eliminating the mail time to the regional office. All Veteran Affairs examination results should be electronically available to claims adjudicators to assist them in ensuring the receipt of processing application quickly. Mike Walcoff, the Associate Deputy Under Secretary for Field Operations, while speaking at a joint hearing before Congress expressed that deploying this new initiative to create paperless claims would simplify and improve the claims processing system. Another initiative is to solicit volunteers and train them to become a part of the claims processing staff to accelerate the application process (Congressional & Affairs, 2010).