Sailor Steve
12-23-14, 10:05 AM
I thought about posting this in the 'What Are You Doing Now' thread, but it's fairly long, so people can jump out now without having to scroll around it.
This is shaping up to be the best Christmas I've had in a long while. Normally I avoid the holidays because for me they are just one more day. Also my kids don't really communicate with me, so this time of year I can look at pictures of the grandkids I've never met, and possibly never will, and try to focus on other things. Enough depressing thoughts.
This year is different.
First, I'll explain my problem with the Veterans' Administration. In April 2010, after four years of being homeless, I managed to get into VA Housing, a converted hotel called Freedom Landing. Those of you who read my "Homeless" threads back then will remember some of this. While I was there a nice young lady helped me apply for a VA disability pension. I was receiving Unemployment Compensation at the time, and I kept getting it because for all I knew the pension would be denied.
Four months later, on August 10, I received a check in the mail from the United States Treasury for almost three thousand dollars. I had no idea what it could be, so I put it in the bank and started asking questions. I was told that it was my first pension payment for three months back pay. I immediately stopped the unemployment payments and didn't think about it further. One week later, on August 17, I got the official letter saying I was approved. The first of every month since then I've received another payment from them, going up a little bit the first of every year.
Last year I got a letter saying they had overpaid me and I owe them just over four thousand dollars. They had records for the unemployment and a couple of other very small items, and wanted me to confirm it. I told them I had received unemployment right up until that first check, but there seemed to be a one thousand dollar difference.
A couple months later I got another letter saying their numbers were correct and they were going to reduce my pay by 30% until it was paid back. I challenged it and we went around and around like this for almost a year. The first of October they cut back on my payments, and it will probably remain at this reduced level for a year or so.
This is where the problem really begins. At the same time I received another letter saying they estimated I now owed them $18,000 (yes, eighteen thousand dollars) and they were cutting me off altogether as of the first of December. I raced up to the local VA office. They tried to help, and said as far as they could figure the head office believed I was still receiving unemployment and had been double-dipping for the last four years. I printed out my Unemployment records showing that my last payment was August 8, 2010, and together with other paperwork we sent them a fax explaining everything.
A month or so later I got another letter saying they had run an audit and their numbers were correct, so I was pretty much screwed. I went back up to the local office and this time they told me there was nothing more they could do. They recommended I talk to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, an independent agency that helps veterans. I did, and the guy at the desk told me there was nothing he could do either. I tried calling the Utah Department of Workforce Services (the job-finding and unemployment people).
December 1 came and sure enough, no payment. I called the head VA office and after 40 minutes on hold I got to talk to a representative who told me there was nothing she could do. She did tell me that I wasn't really cut off, that there was a glitch somewhere and I would be receiving my December payment a few days late. That did turn out to be true, so that was some good news at least.
I went back to the VFW and this time managed to get past the guy at the desk and talk to two very helpful men, and then their boss got involved. I gave him access to my Workforce account so he could see that the unemployment payments had indeed stopped back then. He then gave me a Workforce email and regular mail address that could provide me with an official letter verifying my information. I sent an email and still haven't heard back.
However, I had received an email from the VA advertising an upcoming Town Hall meeting for veterans to talk to the heads of the local VA system. Last Friday night I went, and things started to happen. The meeting was led by the Head Honcho of the local VA Medical Center, the Head Doctor, the Head Coordinator and the Head Liason for working with other agencies. Anyone familiar with the American VA has heard the horror stories going back 50 years about how bad some of the hospitals are. Ours here in Salt Lake has a reputation for being one of the best, but there were still about fifty veterans there, and they all had complaints that they could never get looked into. Now here were the biggest bigwigs in the region, not only listening but promising to talk to each veteran individually and make appointments to get more information. They kept saying that it's about the veterans, not the doctors and staff.
When my turn came I told my story and not two minutes later someone tapped on my shoulder and took me to a cubicle at the back of the room. He was the Head of the local VA Pension department. He had an assistant grab someone else, who turned out to be one of the directors of Utah Workforce. That man gave me his card and told me to call him first thing Monday morning and he would get me the number of the woman who could hand me the official letter I need personally. The VA Pension Head then told me he would call me Tuesday or Wednesday, and when I had the letter he would put everything together and personally fax it to the main office in St Paul, Minnesota, and do everything he could to make sure it got straightened out.
Yesterday morning I called the Workforce director and had to leave a message. He called me back with the number I needed and I'll be calling her in just a few minutes.
For several months now I've been feeling like I was being railroaded, being accused of crimes I didn't commit, and I was already judged and found guilty, and unless I could prove my innocence I was, as I said before, screwed. I kept asking people if there was no advocate for me, no one to take my part and speak for me. At long last I no longer feel that way. It seems that there are indeed people who want to make it right.
I also have the numbers to give to the next veteran I meet who feels alone and neglected by the Pension system.
This is shaping up to be the best Christmas I've had in a long while. Normally I avoid the holidays because for me they are just one more day. Also my kids don't really communicate with me, so this time of year I can look at pictures of the grandkids I've never met, and possibly never will, and try to focus on other things. Enough depressing thoughts.
This year is different.
First, I'll explain my problem with the Veterans' Administration. In April 2010, after four years of being homeless, I managed to get into VA Housing, a converted hotel called Freedom Landing. Those of you who read my "Homeless" threads back then will remember some of this. While I was there a nice young lady helped me apply for a VA disability pension. I was receiving Unemployment Compensation at the time, and I kept getting it because for all I knew the pension would be denied.
Four months later, on August 10, I received a check in the mail from the United States Treasury for almost three thousand dollars. I had no idea what it could be, so I put it in the bank and started asking questions. I was told that it was my first pension payment for three months back pay. I immediately stopped the unemployment payments and didn't think about it further. One week later, on August 17, I got the official letter saying I was approved. The first of every month since then I've received another payment from them, going up a little bit the first of every year.
Last year I got a letter saying they had overpaid me and I owe them just over four thousand dollars. They had records for the unemployment and a couple of other very small items, and wanted me to confirm it. I told them I had received unemployment right up until that first check, but there seemed to be a one thousand dollar difference.
A couple months later I got another letter saying their numbers were correct and they were going to reduce my pay by 30% until it was paid back. I challenged it and we went around and around like this for almost a year. The first of October they cut back on my payments, and it will probably remain at this reduced level for a year or so.
This is where the problem really begins. At the same time I received another letter saying they estimated I now owed them $18,000 (yes, eighteen thousand dollars) and they were cutting me off altogether as of the first of December. I raced up to the local VA office. They tried to help, and said as far as they could figure the head office believed I was still receiving unemployment and had been double-dipping for the last four years. I printed out my Unemployment records showing that my last payment was August 8, 2010, and together with other paperwork we sent them a fax explaining everything.
A month or so later I got another letter saying they had run an audit and their numbers were correct, so I was pretty much screwed. I went back up to the local office and this time they told me there was nothing more they could do. They recommended I talk to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, an independent agency that helps veterans. I did, and the guy at the desk told me there was nothing he could do either. I tried calling the Utah Department of Workforce Services (the job-finding and unemployment people).
December 1 came and sure enough, no payment. I called the head VA office and after 40 minutes on hold I got to talk to a representative who told me there was nothing she could do. She did tell me that I wasn't really cut off, that there was a glitch somewhere and I would be receiving my December payment a few days late. That did turn out to be true, so that was some good news at least.
I went back to the VFW and this time managed to get past the guy at the desk and talk to two very helpful men, and then their boss got involved. I gave him access to my Workforce account so he could see that the unemployment payments had indeed stopped back then. He then gave me a Workforce email and regular mail address that could provide me with an official letter verifying my information. I sent an email and still haven't heard back.
However, I had received an email from the VA advertising an upcoming Town Hall meeting for veterans to talk to the heads of the local VA system. Last Friday night I went, and things started to happen. The meeting was led by the Head Honcho of the local VA Medical Center, the Head Doctor, the Head Coordinator and the Head Liason for working with other agencies. Anyone familiar with the American VA has heard the horror stories going back 50 years about how bad some of the hospitals are. Ours here in Salt Lake has a reputation for being one of the best, but there were still about fifty veterans there, and they all had complaints that they could never get looked into. Now here were the biggest bigwigs in the region, not only listening but promising to talk to each veteran individually and make appointments to get more information. They kept saying that it's about the veterans, not the doctors and staff.
When my turn came I told my story and not two minutes later someone tapped on my shoulder and took me to a cubicle at the back of the room. He was the Head of the local VA Pension department. He had an assistant grab someone else, who turned out to be one of the directors of Utah Workforce. That man gave me his card and told me to call him first thing Monday morning and he would get me the number of the woman who could hand me the official letter I need personally. The VA Pension Head then told me he would call me Tuesday or Wednesday, and when I had the letter he would put everything together and personally fax it to the main office in St Paul, Minnesota, and do everything he could to make sure it got straightened out.
Yesterday morning I called the Workforce director and had to leave a message. He called me back with the number I needed and I'll be calling her in just a few minutes.
For several months now I've been feeling like I was being railroaded, being accused of crimes I didn't commit, and I was already judged and found guilty, and unless I could prove my innocence I was, as I said before, screwed. I kept asking people if there was no advocate for me, no one to take my part and speak for me. At long last I no longer feel that way. It seems that there are indeed people who want to make it right.
I also have the numbers to give to the next veteran I meet who feels alone and neglected by the Pension system.