Columbia VA town hall meeting turns into claims gripe session

http://www.thestate.com/2014/08/14/3620310/columbia-va-town-hall-meeting.html?sp=/99/205/&ihp=1



Columbia VA town hall meeting turns into claims gripe session
By JOEY HOLLEMAN
August 14, 2014 Updated 8 hours ago

The director of the Columbia Regional VA Office, standing in front of a packed room full of disgruntled veterans Thursday night, said her office has improved the processing of disability compensation claims but still needs to get better.

Then veteran after veteran took to the microphone to back up the second part of Leanne Weldin’s contention. They weren’t so sure about the “improved” assessment.

“A lot of veterans are saying the VA is just waiting for us to die or to quit trying” to get claims, said Bruce Wright of Swansea. He complained that national Veterans Affairs claims staffers told him his appeal was in the computer system, but local staffers insist the information isn’t in the system.

Wright’s complaints were typical of the few people given a chance to speak at what was one of the first of dozens of meetings new VA Secretary Robert A. McDonald pledged to stage nationwide at each VA medical center and regional office. Not knowing what kind of a turnout to expect for the scheduled two-hour session, the meeting was planned in a room that held 80 seats. When enough people showed up to fill it twice, the organizers decided to break it into two one-hour meetings.