Why California can prohibit fees for veterans disability claims

From Adam AshtonCalmness

This story was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

$ 1.102 Adan Montalvo receives a disability from the Ministry of Veterans every month, matters to him, but regrets the price he paid for it.

Montalvo was able to receive the compensation after signing a contract with a private company that compiled medical evidence to help veterans establish disabilities. The process was working and Montalvo began to receive the money about 52 years after leaving the army with a bad knee.

But there was a catch. His contract with Trajector Medical required him to pay five times larger than the value of his new monthly compensation almost immediately. It was $ 5,500 that he didn’t have.

“They wanted to raise all this, and I told them how I would give you money that I didn’t have?” he said.

For the second consecutive year, California legislators are on the verge of banning fees for the type of service received that Montalvo received.

Paid Services critics say the practice is already illegal under the federal law that is only said accredited officers It can help veterans to submit these claims and that the representatives of the claims can only be paid in specific circumstances. And they note that veterans can receive the same assistance free of charge from the offices of the district veterans, as well as from several veterans organizations that have long been accredited in the Department of Veterans.

But the law prohibiting paid services loses its teeth after a major overhaul in 2006 removed penalties for violations, helping to ignite in a wandering industry with a profit that now takes care of veterans who want help with The The notoriously slow va Process of claims.

This is an opposition to many former military service members who view the allegations as a violation of the compact that the nation makes with those who serve. Several companies have formulas for fees similar to what Montalvo paid. This can lead to a fee of $ 20,000 depending on the rating of the disability of the veteran.

“We should not charge veteran outrageous sums of money to access their benefits, the benefits they have earned through their service,” Saint said. Bob AirlettaDemocrat from Norualk who sponsors Senate Bill 694 To ban non -accentuated companies from assisting California veterans with disabilities.

His bill expects a final vote in the Assembly after clearing the Senate and several legislative committees through prevailing majorities. However, his supporters are still not celebrating. A A similar measure died last year Late in the legislative process without a vote on the Budget Loan Committee. One of the bigger claims for veterans also makes a coherent impetus to defend its business as a legal alternative to free services.

“We serve veterans. Yes, we do it as a business, but the fact that we do it as a business does not mean that we do not provide a basic service,” says Bill Taylor, a former army officer who co -founded the guardian of the veterans.

He got up industry Over the last four years, as the first congress and then the state legislative authorities have taken bills to ban non -secured veteran claims. His company contributed $ 1.4 million to Congress members and spent $ 1.9 million per federal lobbying in 2023 and 2024, according to the Open Secrets funding website. In California this year, his company and another spent $ 235,000 on lobbying against Archalele’s account, according to the website California Lobby SearchS

“Maybe we were the only ones who acknowledged the existential threat to the industry.

I have no choice; I have to be here, “Taylor said in an interview with Calmatters during a recent visit to Sacramento.

The result is something like a impasse. Congress has not accepted legislation Restore penalties for unaccected veteran claims, nor has accepted a competitive account that would be allow companies to workS

States adopt different policies

States also move in different directions. Maine, New Jersey and New York have adopted laws to ban consultants with profit, while Louisiana passed a law to allow them, according to The StateLine News OrganizationS

Taylor calls on legislators to adopt policies that would regulate the claim industry, such as limiting fees and banning misleading advertising. He noted that his company has no shortage of customers and people often turn to dissatisfaction with VA or with free claims for claims.

But the Arklett and the veterans supporting his proposal say that it is impossible to distinguish the bad participants from the responsible ones. They want California to intervene in state policy until Congress has allowed the consultants with profit claims can receive accreditation and be regulated by the federal government.

“The question is here that you should never take money from the veteran. This is absolutely scandalous that this is allowed,” William Suenson, a Recipient of a medal of honor from The war in Afghanistan Whoever has recently visited Sacramento to meet with MPs in support of the Arkulet bill, Calmatters told. He now works for a company that develops a different approach to support veterans with their claims.

Veterans unprepared against a fee

The 72 -year -old Montalvo of Lamont managed to create a plan for payment with traater. It includes a small interest rate fee. He said he checked his knee when he left the army in 1973, but this did not evaluate the disabilities.

He said the tractor turned to him with a text message and a phone call, and he replied, thinking that it was worth shooting. Today, his monthly check on people with disabilities helps with food, although he sends more than half of him to the trajector and he pays his account.

68 -year -old John Ryan had a similar experience with Traejector. “They were really polite and I was influenced that they worked with VA, as soon as I was impressed, I felt calm. They asked me questions and moved pretty quickly. I was surprised that they got results so fast,” he said.

His claim led to $ 171 a monthly disability payment for hearing loss, hindering his service in Marines. He said he was also unprepared to pay the full fee of trajectories immediately, even though he had paid it.

Trajector spokesman Stephen Zenofski said the company seeks to clarify its veteran fees structure before working with them. Like the guardian of Taylor’s veterans, the tractor was also the co -founder of a veteran, and its leaders are considered as helping former military service members to orient themselves in a confusing process.

If a veteran receives $ 1,000 a month after working with a claim consultant, Zenofsky said: “This is $ 1,000 a month.

Senator Archalele wants to direct more resources to the employees of the California County Veteran Service, who are accredited to working on VA claims and can help target veterans to a wide range of services in addition to disabled payments.

David West, who served in the Marine Corps and is an employee of the veterans of Nevada County, was an outspoken defender of the bill. He was once a homeless man and at some point in his life he would sign a contract with a profit consultant.

He would regret it, he said.

“It didn’t promise me my recruiter,” he said, “You’re 19 years old. You’re coming in, we’ll take care of you, and you’ll never have to pay something.”

“We cannot allow this mediator to show up and break this promise,” he said.

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.