Fighting Fraud and Claim Sharks in Minnesota
Let’s talk about “Claim Sharks”, attorneys that charge, Veterans Service Organizations (VSO’s), County Veterans Service Officers (CVSO’s), and trying to protect Veterans from predatory practices. The most contested issue in the Veterans world this session has been the efforts by Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs, Commanders Task Force (CTF) and the Minnesota Association of County Veterans Service Officers (MACVSO) to try to put in place stronger protections for Minnesota’s Veterans from the predators seeking to take their money.
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Claim Sharks, what are they? These are entities that will charge extremely high fees to “advise” a Veteran on how to file their claim. Many will make outlandish claims about how high they can get a disability rating, how they can get it faster, and how they can do it better. Those claims are lies, plain and simple, they are lies. It is illegal for any for-profit entity to charge for filing original claims, so they call the service they provide “advising”. You pay them, they tell you what to put (often wrong or poorly justified) and if you get an award they get part of it. Some will charge up-front fees, and then take part of your benefits.
These entities do not have access to a faster way of getting claims decisions. Many of them are untrained, unaccredited advisors who hope that if they get you to claim enough, they will receive some money from whatever sticks. When I did claims, I called this the “throw it against the wall and see what sticks” strategy. It is terrible for the Veteran and clogs up the system. Unfortunately, if there was an issue that with further development by a trained professional could have been granted, it is much harder to try a second time to get it done later.
The idea that these entities will “get your benefits faster” runs contrary to their profit model, which is often a percentage of your award. What motivation do they have to get your claim done in 6 months, with 30% of your backpay instead of 12months and 30% of that pay? None.
Let’s play with the numbers. We’ll say that a shark “advises” a Veteran on a claim that is granted at 70%. If the claims decision comes in at 6 months after filing, the Veteran is entitled to about $12,109 (Veteran w/spouse and 1 child) so the shark charging 30% will take $3,632. Now, lets say the shark has the Veteran file an Intent to File, draws out the Veteran’s claim for 8 months of “development” and the Veteran gets granted at 70% after 14 months. The Veteran is entitled to $29,934. Now the sharks share of the Veterans benefits is $8,980 for doing the exact same amount of work. What motivation would these “advisors” have to get your claim done as fast as possible under this fee structure? NONE.
Are all who charge “claim sharks”? No, not every person/entity/attorney who charges a fee should be lumped in with the claim sharks. There is a difference. Under 38 U.S.C. § 5904, accredited persons are allowed to charge up to 20% of back due claims for work they’ve done. Do the DAV, other VSO’s, CVSO’s, and MDVA think Veterans should pay 20% of their benefits to someone when the same services are available for free? No. But, under the law, if they are accredited and not charging for an original claim, they may legally do so. It is this fact that makes all of these accredited attorneys showing up to try to defeat our efforts in Minnesota so confusing. They are already following the law, we are saying that we need real penalties in place to punish those who are not.
Quickly, we will cover the entities and organizations doing this work for free. In Minnesota, you have the DAV, VFW, and MDVA operating at the Federal Building. Much of their work is with the CVSO’s in every county in Minnesota. All of these are highly trained and accredited. Many of them are accredited by multiple organizations. They are also required to continue their education every single year, so the training never ends.
I will talk specifically about the National Service Officers that DAV has at Ft. Snelling. They go through an intensive 16-month trainee program, and are required to take courses on medical terminology, anatomy, and physiology as part of their training. These are not as one testifier called them, “Uneducated lay people”. This is all they do, every single day, they are learning and working for Veterans. They are not writing a will one minute, chasing an ambulance the next, and working on a Veterans’ claim in the afternoon. They are highly trained specialist in just this area, and they are free.
It has also been tossed around that organizations like the DAV are somehow “lackeys of the government”. The person who said this has absolutely no idea who we are or what we do. The DAV does not accept funding from the VA or federal government, we are not compensated by the VA, and we work strictly for the Veterans. You don’t have to look very hard to see the DAV has sued the VA in the past, when they have made changes that don’t benefit Veterans, or lead to an adversarial relationship. Not some VA lackey.
The last thing I want to cover is the notion that efforts like ours “will limit options for access to services” or “limit access to legal representation” as some have claimed. You know, it is kind of true, actually. The DAV, American Legion, VFW, MACVSO, and MDVA would like to limit access to those who will commit fraud, steal benefits, charge illegally, and provide minimum services to Veterans for maximum charges. Yes, we would like to make it clear that Minnesota will not tolerate those who wish to prey on Veterans. I completely fail to understand how there are so many who don’t want to remove the option of fraud masquerading as “service” from Minnesota and as an option.
The battle lines are clearly drawn: some lawyers, claims factories (sharks), and some lawmakers on one side. Arguing that reinforcing the current federal law, to make it enforceable and have some teeth, is a bad thing for Veterans. Two of those three have a profit model built around being able to extract portions of Veterans benefits. On the other side you have VSO’s with over 100 years of serving their fellow Veterans, the American Legion, DAV, VFW, and County Veterans Service Officers who have dedicated their careers to helping Veterans in their communities, along with MDVA and some lawmakers. None of these will take your benefits, none of these profit off of the service they provide to our Veterans. It is time to decide which side you think has the best interest of Minnesota’s Veterans in mind and join us.
The ask is simple: Tell your state lawmakers that you support SF 1894 and HF 1855. Tell them you expect their support for SF 1894 and HF 1855. You can call them, email them, and/or join us at Veterans Day on the Hill on April 9th, to let them know which side you are on, and which side you expect them to be on.
You can click on this link, and let them know right now! https://www.votervoice.net/DAVMN/Campaigns/124200/Respond