This legislative session, Colorado missed a unique and important opportunity to lead the nation in helping its military veterans access the benefits they earned in the course of serving their nation. By killing House Bill 1233 in the House State, Military, and Veterans Affairs Committee earlier this month, veterans have essentially been denied consumer protections for a necessary but largely unregulated avenue of assistance for claiming veteran benefits.
The system currently available to assist veterans in accessing the benefits they earned through their service suffers from a number of inherent flaws. This stems from chronic underfunding of the Veterans Administration, a confusing benefits program, and a consequent backlog in the processing of claims. Of the roughly 922,000 pending VA claims for disability compensation and benefits, more than 245,000 are considered to be backlogged, defined as being older than 125 days – more than four months.
Several factors contribute to, and serve to exacerbate, this backlog: the last two decades have produced the most veterans since the Vietnam era; veterans from all eras are aging; there is expected to be a further increase in claims associated with exposure to Agent Orange and toxic burn pits; and the underfunding problem is not expected to be alleviated anytime soon. All of this means that the benefit processing backlog will continue to grow, and that veterans will need additional options for navigating the system and accessing what they have earned.
There are currently four avenues available for veterans in handling claims: 1) they can elect to go it alone and try to navigate the labyrinthian system themselves and hope for the best; 2) Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs) staffed mainly by volunteers; 3) lawyers and other VA-accredited actors who work on a fee-for service model, to assist with legal appeals or denied claims; and 4) private consulting agents, who work on a contingency basis, i.e. they only get paid if the veteran receives a benefit increase.
Each option has its benefits and drawbacks. VSOs are fantastic organizations but are often overstretched and not always available in every part of the country. Lawyers only get involved once a claim has been denied or another sort of appeal is needed and have the option of charging substantially more if a claims appeal last longer than 15 months, meaning legal fees can add up significantly. Private consulting agents are not lawyers – meaning they cannot represent veterans in front of the VA on appeals – but assist veterans in handling the process from the start, and can be incredibly useful in filling gaps where other options are unavailable, inappropriate, or too expensive.
While private actors fill an important role, and do so currently, they also operate in a completely unregulated space. Most who provide this service are decent, honest individuals who work hard to get the veterans who come to them every cent they are owed; but sadly there are dishonest and unscrupulous individuals who try and take advantage of struggling veterans by charging outrageous fees, failing to provide the services paid for, or otherwise defrauding them. HB 1233 sought to establish safeguards such as compensation caps, written disclosures and terms, and ethical and certification standards that would ensure veterans would still have the option of using their services without fear of financial victimization.
Some lawmakers have suggested the solution is to simply ban private consulting agents, but this approach would be both unrealistic and misguided. These individuals have already helped hundreds of thousands of veterans successfully secure VA disability benefits and the extreme backlog, complexity, and growing uncertainty of the current system creates a demand for this service that will likely exist one way or another.
The best approach is for state governments to recognize such realities and to provide the requisite oversight and legal guardrails to ensure all operate honestly and legally. Our veterans willingly offered all they had in the service of their country. At the very least, the society they protected should be able to offer them the greatest choice of options for accessing the benefits they earned.
State Sen. Nick Hinrichsen represents Senate District 3 in Pueblo, and is a U.S. Army combat veteran. State Rep. Rebecca Ketie represents House District 16 and is a 21-year U.S. Navy veteran.
Sign up for Sound Off to get a weekly roundup of our columns, editorials and more.
To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.
