My father served 26 years in the U.S. Air Force. After he retired as a master sergeant, he spent years trying to get the disability benefits he had earned. He died before he could. I have carried that with me ever since, and I have spent years working to make sure other veterans do not face the same wall.
So when a federal judge in North Carolina issued a ruling last month that could make it a crime to pay someone to help you file a VA disability claim, I took it personally. Because it is personal.
On May 20, Chief Judge Catherine Eagles of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina issued a ruling that defines the word “agent” so broadly that almost any paid assistance with a VA claim could be treated as illegal. Under the court’s reading, helping a veteran decide what to claim, gathering supporting documents, or even tracking a mailed packet could constitute unlawful agency under federal law. The veteran can review every page himself and still be told that the person who helped him prepare it broke the law.
You can’t read that statute and come away thinking it covers a veteran’s neighbor helping him fill out forms.
The ruling has serious First Amendment problems. Courts are supposed to interpret statutes in ways that avoid constitutional conflicts when a reasonable alternative exists. This court declined. The Third Circuit has already found in a related case that Veterans Guardian’s services are likely protected speech under the First Amendment. The Supreme Court just applied strict scrutiny to restrictions on paid counseling in Chiles v. Salazar earlier this year. This ruling runs directly into that precedent.
The VFW and American Legion did not end up on the right side of this ruling by accident. They have been fighting paid consulting companies in legislatures and courtrooms for years. The VFW’s membership peaked near two million in 1992. Today, it sits around 950,000. The American Legion has lost nearly half its members from its own peak. When private companies started providing professional, accountable claims assistance with better outcomes, VSOs had a choice to make. They could improve their services. They chose lobbying and litigation instead.
The VFW spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on federal lobbying. VSOs maintain deeply institutionalized relationships with the VA, the same agency that controls accreditation. Now they are paying attorneys to litigate paid consultants out of existence. None of that is about protecting veterans, and all about protecting market share.
The numbers are hard to argue with. Private companies show significant success in getting veterans benefit increases, often hitting 90%. VA-accredited attorneys achieve roughly 42% approval rates, compared to about 30% for veterans who go it alone. Professional help works. The point of this litigation is to make that help unavailable.
I know what it looks like when a veteran cannot get proper help with a claim. My father lived it. The VA’s system is not forgiving. A poorly prepared application can lead to a denial that takes seven years to work through on appeal. When the average claim already takes 80 to 100 days to process, and 550,000 claims are still in the pipeline, telling veterans they can only use a VSO volunteer or go it alone is not consumer protection, it’s regulatory capture that hurts the very consumers it claims to protect.
Veterans are not children who need to be protected from their own decisions. They served this country, many in combat. They are fully capable of reading a contract, evaluating a service provider, and deciding who they want helping them with paperwork. What they cannot do is fight a ruling from a North Carolina federal court that limits their options without their input and against their interests.
VETERANS AFFAIRS WILL HOST CEREMONIES AT MORE THAN 120 CEMETERIES FOR MEMORIAL DAY
The Ford v. Veterans Guardian decision should be reversed on appeal. Congress should look hard at whether federal law needs to be clarified to preserve veterans’ right to choose professional help. And the VSOs behind this effort should have to answer to if their services are good enough, why do they need a court to get rid of the competition?
My father deserved better. So do the veterans filing claims today.
Donyale Hall is Veterans Ambassador for the Frederick Douglass Freedom Alliance. She is a U.S. Air Force Gulf War-era disabled veteran and a military mother.