The Free Lance-Star - Wittman Addresses Veterans' Concerns With VA

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By: Kristin Davis

Retired Marine Bill Carico was declared 100 percent disabled a year and a half ago by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
He's been waiting for back pay ever since, Carico said during a veterans town hall meeting with U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman, R--1st District, that drew about 50 people Monday night.
Carico said the Roanoke VA Regional Office told him the back pay, for an injury suffered during his active duty, could be withheld indefinitely "because I am receiving Marine Corps retirement and not in dire need."
It was his second run-in with the department, Carico continued. In 1999, "the VA killed me," he said.
That is to say he was mistakenly declared dead by the agency, which put a halt to his VA compensation and military retirement. By the time he got it fixed, Carico said, he was nearly bankrupt.
"It's been more than 18 months," he said of the most recent fiasco. "You owe me."
Keith Wilson, director of the VA's Roanoke office, agreed, calling what he'd been through "inexcusable."
He and Wittman promised to do their part to make it right, taking down Carico's information for follow-up.
Carico was among at least a dozen men and women who shared similar stories of frustration at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3103 in Fredericksburg Monday.
One man said he'd waited so long for a follow-up medical appointment with the VA that he'd nearly returned to the emergency room. Several attendees described waiting years for answers to disability claims that were ultimately denied. Others complained of poor communication and customer service.
Army veteran Donnell Johnson said he'd been told he had to continue going to Washington for VA treatment even after moving to Fredericksburg. That directive had cost him when he had to seek care closer by, he said.
"We'll find a way to make sure you go to the most convenient location," said Wittman, who hosted the event to solicit such stories.
He said he understood the veterans' dissatisfaction. "This isn't an entitlement program. This is something that you've earned."
Alan Lombardo, associate director of the Richmond VA Medical Center, also fielded questions and complaints Monday night. He said the agency was doubling down on what he called "customer service and accountability."
The meeting comes two years after delays at the VA became a major national scandal.
"Some think that because we're government, we can't discipline or remove people," Lombardo said. But in fact, the VA has helped numerous workers "find employment elsewhere," he added.
A new, 10,000-square-foot VA clinic is on track to open next month at Lee's Hill Medical Plaza in Spotsylvania to serve what Lombardo called one of the fastest-growing populations of veterans in the country.
Meanwhile, Wilson said, his office was doing its best to reduce the backlog of disability claims. In the last 3 1/2 years, the number was whittled down from 28,000 outstanding claims to 10,600.
In addition, the Roanoke office added 11 new employees to handle appeals and put their most experienced people in charge. Claims that once took years to process now take an average of 160 days, he said.
"That's not where we want to be," Wilson said. "But we're moving in the right direction.

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