While there has been some scuttlebutt going around about a VA report discussing huge differences in benefits paid by various states, we'd yet to have found the actual report.

Of note is that there are wide differences for vets receiving compensation, depending upon where the vet files and the claim is reviewed.

For example, those who have filed in New Mexico and Maine are much more likely to get benefits and higher benefits than those in Ohio or Illinois.

There is a link, which may or may not work for you. Keep in mind that this is a .pdf file and even with a high-speed interenet connection it will take quite a while to download this link.

Here's the report.

Please be advised that this report is very long and somewhat technical. If you are able to retrieve it, be ready to spend some time reading it as it may hit on some issues which may be difficult to read or may not apply to your specific situation.

This is an Office of Inspector General report, and does not necessarily mean that any actions are being taken directly from the report itself.

It is a review of the VA's history with claims and may or may not have any impact on what will happen with specific claims in the future.

If you get that far, you will also find out that veterans who have Veteran's Service Officers (VSO's) receive significantly higher benefits than those who do not.

That's one of the reasons why we encourage veterans to seek out a competent VSO to assist in their claim development.

This is an important finding which may account for some of the frustration veterans encounter when seeking compensation benefits.

Check out the link.

Thanks.

Wow!
The inconsistancies, discrepencies and the variables are all over the place.

You can bet that any poster that has stated how easy their claim was because of their competent presentation of it to their VARO is probably from the 'top pay' states and had nothing to do with the claimants intelligence...

Also, you can bet they ain't from Illinois

Words more true were never spoken Flashypoo! I think somewhere in my list of things that burn my butt, that lack of fairness or consistency is somewhere up at the top.
I know as you do from being on these forums, that everyone has some advice of what worked for them, and in the next post the same tactic failed miserably for someone else.
I think a lot can be gleaned from those statistics, but one must be very careful in "guessing" at the real causes. Why do enlisted get more dollars than officers? Why do the VSO represented get more money? One COULD attribute that to something as simple as crooked VSOs and a lack of integrity in enlisted persons. Not true, but just think of all the REAL reasons.
Still, I maintain there is something VERY wrong with the top level of management of the VA, when for whatever the reason, there can be such disparity between regions, without it sparking so much as passing ho hums.

quote:

....without it sparking so much as passing ho hums.

Really..... With all the political screaming lately since Walter Reed, everything has been scrutinized and discussed about the VA system to 'improve' it....except this issue.
It just proves the Vets are at the bottom of the VA food chain.
A planned project at Hines VAH will tear down a solid half-mile long building and replace it with multiple buildings. This will cost hundreds of millions of dollars but NOT improve benefit to the lowly Vet, of who the VA exists for. Only the 'look' will be improved. ..IMO and the opinion of many employees there,..this is a waste.
The contractors have all the money and many political friends. The VAH's in my state have all the money they need for new buildings down to ridiculous parking lot projects, to interior decorating....But no money for the Vets.

The report also indicates a very flawed rating system and also examples some outrageous fraud cases, but this might change with the implementation of the Dole -Shalala Act, in which state to state variances in comp amounts were not discussed,.. to my memory anyway..

The VA pays uniform rates across the country. For information relative to the funds available to veterans across the country go here.