Rob Maness: Preserve Private Sector Options for Louisiana’s Veterans
By Rob Maness
Read it in BIZ Magazine
Maness Headshot
America’s veterans have made immense sacrifices in their service to our country. While nothing can fully repay the debt we owe them, providing comprehensive Veterans Administration (VA) disability benefits is the least we can do as a nation to show our appreciation.
Yet the process of accessing such benefits has become increasingly challenging to navigate. Many veterans today find themselves struggling to understand the intricate requirements for qualification while facing long wait times and confronting a backlog that has ballooned to more than 267,000 claims. As long as such issues remain, we are failing to meet our obligation to these patriots.
The more than 211,000 veterans who reside in the Pelican State are regrettably not immune from these challenges. This is why legislators in Baton Rouge recently passed Senate Bill 159 (SB 159) by near unanimous consent in both chambers and it was enacted into law. Meant to help improve the process and empower veterans to decide what kind of assistance they would like to use when navigating a VA disability benefits claim, the bill has added additional safeguards around the use of third parties during this process as well. Not only will this help ensure veterans are protected from any third-party actors that may not have their best interests at heart, but it will also allow them to still take advantage of the valuable services that these experts can provide.
This is promising progress and one that lawmakers and the governor should be commended for. But unfortunately, a lawsuit was recently filed in objection to SB 159 that could prevent it from taking effect. Contending that the bill violates the supremacy and contracts clauses of the United States Constitution, the challengers assert that it must be declared unconstitutional and void.
While this may have been done with the best of intentions, this lawsuit would do nothing to help address the broader issues with navigating the VA disability claims process and would dismantle the important guardrails that SB 159 put into place. If successful it could also, problematically, reopen the door to other counterproductive pieces of legislation considered this past legislative session in Louisiana which would have banned the use of some outside experts altogether when navigating the VA disability benefits process. We should focus on better ways to resolve these concerns.
The crux of the issue stems from the role attorneys play in helping to secure VA disability benefits as one of three types of entities generally engaged to navigate the process – in addition to Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs) and private consulting agents. Some believe that SB 159, as currently written could restrict veteran access to attorneys when navigating the disability benefits claims process by among other things, capping their compensation at $12,500. While this would not be an outright ban – like aforementioned one that was puzzlingly considered in the Louisiana House for private consulting agents – some attorneys believe that such restrictions surrounding their pay would be insufficient to compensate them for more complex cases and could limit their participation.
Fortunately, there is a better way forward that will provide our veterans the freedom to enlist the partner of their choice when claiming disability benefits while allaying the concerns of those challenging the law. Senator John Kennedy has proposed legislation at the federal level known as the PLUS for the Veterans Act that institutes several of the same important reforms in SB 159 while resolving many of the constitutional and procedural concerns alleged in the lawsuit. Not only would it clear up the outstanding issues with the VA accreditation process that necessitated SB 159 in the first place, but it also resolves questions about attorney compensation by exempting court proceedings from the $12,500 cap.
Unfortunately, progress on this legislation has stalled out, which made the passage of SB 159 necessary and led to the legal challenges it is facing today. As a result, Congress should do its best to untangle this gridlock and resolve this issue once and for all. At the end of the day, those who have given so much to our country should not have to face additional barriers when seeking the benefits they have earned and should have the choice to enlist the partner that works best for them.
Rob Maness is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel and service-connected disabled veteran. He was previously a candidate for U.S. Senate in the state of Louisiana.
