CHARLESTON, W.Va. –Earlier this month, Senate Bill 658, which would require anyone who advises or assists veterans in getting their disability benefits, to be accredited in order to receive compensation, passed the Senate, unanimously.
Now that bill has sat stalled in the House Judiciary Committee for two weeks.
The bill, which aims at prohibiting certain persons (claim sharks) from receiving compensation for advising or assisting with a veteran’s benefits matter.
Claim sharks are either a company or an individual, that charges veterans a hefty fee to assist or consult them in applying for VA benefits.
Under the bill, no person shall be able to receive compensation for the preparation, presentation or prosecution of assisting an individual with a veteran’s benefits matter and should not receive compensation by referring an individual to another person for the preparation or presentation with veterans’ benefits matter.
Ted Diaz, who is a retired U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman, and the former Cabinet Secretary for the WV Department of Veterans Assistance says that it’s not only a West Virginia issue, but it effects veterans nationwide.
“Nationwide we’re looking at a multi-million-dollar industry is milking our veterans from there compensation that our government owes them,” Diaz said on MetroNews Midday Friday afternoon.
According to former state insurance commissioner Jim Dodrill, who was on with Diaz Friday, an accredited person who deals with these disability claims, will only take about 20% or 1/3 of the increase in disability payment. He gave the example of $4,000 dollars, and the accredited person would only get $800.
However, he said that the claim sharks take more.
“What the claim sharks do, is they take five times that. So, on a hundred percent disability, $4,000 dollar, it would be a $20,000 dollar award that they would take,” Dodrill said.
Veterans should be able to go to a State Veteran Service Officer or a County Veteran Service Officer do get these claims filed.
Diaz says there’s a lot of them.
“There are a lot of entities out there that can provide these services, and they are accredited by the Office of General Council at the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs,” he said.
He said that the reason that has been given for so many claim sharks is because there’s a backlog in availability for claim assistance in the states.
Dodrill said that this was not the case.
“There is no backlog whatsoever, the Department of Veterans Assistance that Ted used to lead has 38 veteran service officers who can file those claims today, they can also file those electronically,” he said.
However, he did say there was a backlog at the federal level.
He urges veterans to not fall for the claim sharks’ tactics to get them to come to them.
“Don’t be sucked into their advertising, there are online advertising right now that have pictures of bags of money that lead these veterans to come in,” Dodrill said.
On the other hand, Diaz urged delegates to pass the bill as it sits in committee today.
“Pass it as is, there’s no need for changes to it, there’s no need for amendments,” he said. “Our senate has already passed it, unanimously, as it is written today,”
The legislative session ends on April 12.