OneWorld.net (U.S.)

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 12 (OneWorld) - Two veterans groups filed a class action lawsuit this week to help ensure bureaucratic delays no longer keep disabled U.S. veterans from getting the financial help they need, when they need it most.

Disabled veteran in San Diego, California. © shindohd (flickr)The move comes after high profile investigations earlier this year revealed that many veterans wait at least six months to get disability claims settled, and some wait several years.

Vietnam Veterans of America and Veterans of Modern Warfare have asked a federal court to order interim benefits be paid to a veteran if an initial claim for disability compensation takes longer than 90 days to be processed or an appeal of a denied claim takes longer than six months.

The groups hope that this will encourage the government to speed up its process and ensure those who deserve benefits don't have to remain in financial limbo at the time they need the money most -- just after they've returned from combat.

The lawsuits have requested interim payments be equal to what is paid for a 30-percent disability rating -- between $350 and $500 a month, depending on the number of the veteran's dependants.

"It's really great that we welcome everybody home and we throw them parties the first week and we even remember them the second week, but then all of a sudden, they're getting back to reality and they have a claims issue which is real and based on a good premise and then they're in the grinder," said John Dorrity, president of the New Jersey Association of Veteran Service Officers.

"The bureaucracy can grind people down," he said.

In the seven years since the Sep. 11, 2001 attacks, over 300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have returned home and filed a disability claim with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

When they file their claims, these veterans -- many of whom suffer from post traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury (physical brain damage often caused by roadside bombs) -- are sucked into a giant VA bureaucracy, and they don't receive compensation until the system spits them out on the other side.

"I've seen people lose their homes waiting for their claim to be processed because they are unable to work."
- John Dorrity, New Jersey Association of Veteran Service OfficersAccording to the VA, the average disability claim is processed in about six months. But many times it can drag on much longer. Internal VA documents released in federal court in San Francisco this spring showed that veterans who dispute a VA decision to deny their benefits have to wait an average of four and a half years for their answer.

By contrast, private health care plans, which handle more than 30 billion claims a year, generally process claims and related appeals in less than three months.

"I've seen people lose their homes waiting for their claim to be processed because they are unable to work, because their situation is that serious," Dorrity added. "I've seen families dissolve. I've seen suicides. What could be a worse impact on those who give us the right to live here? We're just tearing their lives apart."

In the six months leading up to Mar. 31, 2008 almost 1,500 veterans died waiting to learn if their disability claim would be approved by the government.

Vietnam Veterans of America's National President John Rowan says the number of deaths could grow, because at the same time Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans are returning home and filing disability claims, many Vietnam veterans are feeling the long-term effects of their war service four decades ago.

"They're coming down with Agent Orange-related illnesses later on in life," Rowan told OneWorld. "There's a long list of illnesses later on in life -- cancers, diabetes, and other things that have been associated with exposure to Agent Orange -- that don't manifest themselves until these guys are in their late 50s or early 60s, and the women have even more serious problems."

Representatives from the VA refused to comment for this story, citing the legal implications of talking to the press about a pending lawsuit.

In their lawsuit, the groups have asked the court to require the VA to present a plan within 30 days for speedier claims processing. If the VA fails to come up with such a plan, the suit asks the court to order an "equitable remedy," which the veterans' groups believe would amount to interim payments equal to what someone would receive if they had a 30-percent disability rating. The interim payments would continue until the claim is resolved.

Their lawyer, Creig Magid, said the VA is breaking the law.

"Congress has very clearly indicated through legislation that the VA [must] expeditiously handle these claims, and it just hasn't happened," said Magid. "So we feel like, as kind of a last resort, we see litigation as the only way to see that these veterans' needs are addressed promptly and addressed now."

The lawsuit was filed Monday in the Federal District Court in Washington, DC and has been assigned to Judge Reggie Walton, an appointee of George W. Bush. It's unclear how quickly Judge Walton will move the case to trial.

OneWorld.net: Latest News, Groups Working on Iraq

OneWorld TV: Four Independent Journalists on the War in Iraq