Get Out of the Way of Veterans Trying to Help Fellow Veterans

By Charles Cervantes

Read it in Newsmax

Vietnam War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C (Alexandre Fagundes De Fagundes/Dreamstime.com)

As war raged in Vietnam, I had good news and bad news for family and friends upon graduation from the University of Texas.

The good? I graduated.

The bad? I was drafted.

In my 50-plus years of practicing law since then, I’ve followed veteran-related issues closely. This includes service at the Pentagon as the former director of the Service-Disabled, Veteran-Owned, Small Business (SDVOSB) program for the Department of Defense (DoD).

One of my proudest achievements was overseeing the growth of companies enrolled during my tenure from 5,000 to 12,000, as I described for Stars & Stripes back then — now almost 20 years ago.

These days while I’ve been thrilled to see Congress pass the PACT Act in 2022, expanding eligibility for disability claims to include for exposure to toxic burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as Agent Orange in Vietnam, it’s been disheartening to see efforts to criminalize veteran-owned small businesses for helping veterans.

Roughly 6 of 18 million veterans receive federal government payments based on a "disability rating."

Applying for disability benefits with the Veterans Administration (VA) is often not easy.

For veterans without completeaccess to their medical records and lots of time, it’s near impossible to do it by themselves.

Same goes for veterans with severe disabilities to include loss of limbs, traumatic brain injury, blindness, and other ailments.

Fortunately, several entities can help veterans in the claims process.

Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs) accredited by the VA, mostly volunteers, don’t charge fees.

Their compensation comes from public donations and membership dues.

VA-accredited attorneys contracted through the VA also help with claims, typically from law firms in Washington, D.C.

While they don’t charge fees to veterans directly, they do charge U.S. taxpayers for hourly service, regardless of results.

Veteran-owned small businesses make up a third category — entrepreneurial companies which typically charge contingency fees based on successful outcomes.

Regrettably, the first two groups form a de-facto “duopoly” dominating the veterans-benefits space which represents tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer money this year alone.

They are pushing to criminalize the third category to eliminate competition.

Unlike most things seem in Washington today, this isn’t a Democrat versus Republican issue. There have been several bipartisan attempts in Congress to criminalize anyone not "accredited" by the VA to help veterans.

These bills haven’t passed.

Yet a compromise bill in the House which would expand the VA accreditation itself and allow the veteran-owned businesses to operate hasn’t either.

It’s gridlock.

So the current battlelines have been shifted to the states.

New Jersey and Maine have already cracked the whip on small businesses helping the veterans with claims, despite jurisdictional questions raised over disbursement of federal funds.

Several other states like California and Missouri have introduced similar misguidedlegislation.

Still other state legislatures havedrafted and/or introduced similar bills which have stalled — once the other side is made public.

The battle also extends to the media, where one-sided news reports and opinion columns about "claim sharks" litter the field.

One common refrain is citing veteran complaints about fees charged.

Yet those fees usually represent five months of expanded benefit payments.

For example, a veteran who pays $5,000 to a veteran-owned company would correlate to theirincrease in $12,000 per year.

To deter scammers, existing laws can be applied, as well as organizations like the Better Business Bureau. New and draconian laws aren’t necessary or wise.

So why would VSOs and boutique law firms try to shut down honest companies, fellow veterans,helping other veterans?

For the VSOs, they are struggling to survive because of changing times.

After the drafts of WW-II, Korea and Vietnam, it seemed most men were veterans.

That's not the case today.

And younger veterans don’t typically hang around VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) and American Legion lodges.

VSO leaders want to crush small businesses hurting their bottomline even while admitting they don’t have the time to help all veterans who need it.

Meanwhile, those specialty law firms withconnections to the VA don’t want to lose a greatdeal and what’s seen as easy money — and plenty of it, at hourly rates.

We should reject the bureaucratic red tape of the VA and its combination with the duopoly of the VSO’s and bar associations.

Let's embrace the free-market principles exhibited by entrepreneurial veterans who are providing a valuable service to veterans who have been disabled.

This is the American way.

Charles Cervantes is a Vietnam War-era U.S. Army veteran and is a former director of the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned (SDVO) Small Business Program at the Pentagon.