Navigating VA Benefits: Expert Advice from SRQ Vets
We hear it all the time from confused veterans around Florida: the VA benefits process is confusing, stifling, and just plain aggravating. Unfortunately, that’s the reality for many honorable veterans who worked extraordinarily hard, making innumerable sacrifices throughout their military careers.
So, wouldn’t it be nice if someone could simplify and explain the way VA benefits administration works?
Find a Reliable Veterans Service Officer (VSO)
The first thing to do, if you’ve had any headaches with the VA process, is to locate someone who can help. There’s something called a Veterans Service Officer (VSO), whose task it is to help veterans (including widows) navigate benefits administration. These are trained individuals who know the ins and outs of the legal process, which also involves legislative changes such as the recent Pact Act provisions affecting benefits.
They can help you submit and revise claims if you’ve gotten tangled in the bureaucracy. In the last section of this post, we’ll put you in contact with some professionals we know in the Sarasota area who specialize in legal sponsorship for local vets.
What Does the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) Do?
The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) has the responsibility of dispersing benefits, so you’ll need to know about them, too. We’d like to highlight a few important benefits you might need, which would involve going through them.
- Dependency & Indemnity Compensation – for tax-free benefits that help the families of veterans after they’ve died.
- Service Connection Disability Compensation – this handles compensation for injuries, diseases, and other disabilities sustained during active-duty service. If you possess disabilities from your time in the military, then you’re eligible for VA healthcare.
- VA Specially Adapted Housing – for disabled veterans to help with home purchases, building, and remodeling.
What About Benefits Denials and Appeals?
Finally, we arrive at the tough part: benefits denials.
This can happen for a variety of reasons, and you might have a tremendously hard time getting a response from the VA regarding a claim you’ve made. Fortunately, however, SRQ Vets knows a local law firm that specializes in helping veterans recover lost disability benefits and service awards.
Our friends at Veterans Affairs Law offer outstanding legal sponsorship for whenever you need . . .
- Help appealing claim denials
- Assistance with adjudicating survivor benefits
- Corrections to military records
- . . . and other forms of support for dealing with the VA office
Since this is just a brief sketch of what you should know about VA appeals and other navigation issues, we welcome you to reach us anytime for further support. SRQ Vets, representing veterans in Sarasota, Bradenton, and nearby communities, is always ready to assist any way possible.
Contact us to learn more about VA benefits and other pressing veterans’ issues by calling 941-777-8387.
