To put it another way, if it was hard for me as a Veterans representative, it was hard for VA. If you do not at least tell them where the evidence is, it becomes much harder to find and less likely VA will be able to obtain it and grant your claim. We have a duty to assist the Veteran in finding evidence, but it can take a lot longer. Private medical records are a good example of this, since VA cannot compensate private medical providers for records. Usually, Veterans can get evidence about their own history more easily than VA can. Simple Truth #3: Often, you can obtain evidence easier than VA
This becomes even more important if you’ve received treatment from a private sector doctor. And if Veterans don’t tell VA where their records are, we may not know where to find them.
If you don’t, it can be like looking for a needle in a haystack of Federal agencies, each with its own set of records. Sometimes I hear people say that VA will develop your claim to the fullest and you just have to file it. Simple Truth #2: Tell VA where to find evidence So I often explained that the best way to get a claim granted is to make it easier for VA to grant it, or easier for your representative to help you. That’s understandable, because of complex legal requirements for compensation claims.
When I would talk with the Veteran, I often found that the Veteran did not understand that he or she needed to submit supporting evidence. Sometimes I would get claims for “leg condition” or “back pain,” leaving me with nothing but questions: Which leg? What part of the leg? What is the actual condition causing back pain? Too many times, there were no medical records to show a diagnosis, or worse, nothing that would tell VA where to look for medical records. Simple Truth #1: Make your claim easy to approveĪs a Veterans representative, it was most difficult to move a claim through the process when it was submitted with no evidence to go with it. And now that I work for the Veterans Benefits Administration at VA, I’d like to share them with you. As I talked my Veterans through the process, I often shared some simple truths. As a result, I learned that there were certain truths and methods that many Veterans did not know about. After serving for several years in the Air Force, I worked at the Board of Veterans Appeals advocating on behalf of Vets as an appeals representative.
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