Earlier this year, California lawmakers made it illegal for fee-based companies to help veterans claim health benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Two prominent Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs), the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and Disabled American Veterans (DAV), also support federal legislation that would crack down on the same companies nationwide.
These groups insist that no veteran should have to pay a fee to file a claim. Maybe not, but for veterans like me — an Air Force National Guard vet living in Los Angeles — the dubious benefit of that high-minded declaration is that we pay no fee to file a claim, wait forever, and then receive no benefits.
In my case, DAV delayed my casework for more than a year while I was making regular payments to the organization. Earlier this summer, I learned directly from the VA that my claim had been denied again. Whatever DAV calls those payments, it does not call them fees, because the organization opposes charging veterans for claims assistance. Regardless, I certainly was not receiving value from them. I have since dropped DAV as my representative…