A recent Washington Post article details how illegal for-profit organizations have been taking advantage of veterans by charging exorbitant amounts of money to sign up for disability benefits. The companies will often charge months worth of disability payments for their services and sometimes will take a cut of disability payments in perpetuity.
Although this activity is against the law, organizations involved in the practice have successfully lobbied congress to remove the legal penalties associated with the law. This allows them to operate with impunity. Several states like New York, New Jersey, and Maine have gotten involved using legislation to ban the practice. Other states are fighting the industry with lawsuits, such as one brought forth by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
In Ohio, each county has a Veteran Services Commission that will provide free assistance to help you sign up for benefits. Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, and the American Legion also offer free assistance. Although the paid industry often disparages these free services as less than adequate, the Post story uncovered that much of the work done by the paid services is done by workers in foreign countries that never even interact with the veterans they file for.
Not only do these shady businesses scam veterans out of money, but they also scam the VA. They often increase disability payments by signing veterans up for benefits they do not qualify for, which can jeopardize the veterans' future disability benefits.
Ohio created the Veteran Services Commissions specifically to ensure that veterans can receive all the benefits they're entitled to at no cost. If you receive this newsletter, you're probably already aware of what we do. But there are many more veterans who are unaware of the Ohio Veteran Services Commissions and the great services we provide. The for-profit benefit scammers are aggressively targeting these individuals with advertisements and telemarketers. Please talk to fellow veterans about how they can avoid such scams by going to their local Veteran Services Commission.
Note: The full story can be read on the Washington Post website but it's behind a paywall. We usually don't include paywalled stories but we thought this one was important. If you are using an iOS device such as an iPhone or iPad, you can also read the story for free on Apple News.
