Who's Winning the Multibillion Dollar Battle Over Veterans Benefits?
Veterans’ advocates have worked for years to stop unaccredited consultants from charging vets thousands of dollars for help filing disability claims, but setbacks in court and on Capitol Hill indicate their quest to ban the deep-pocketed companies could be in peril.
With Republicans in control of Congress, a bill legalizing for-profit claims consultants nationwide will advance to a full House of Representatives vote, the first time such a measure has made it out of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Meanwhile, a competing bill introduced by a Democrat, which would crack down on for-profit companies by imposing criminal penalties, has not advanced.
And in a case closely watched by other states, a federal appeals court has suggested that a New Jersey law banning the companies in the Garden State could violate their First Amendment right to advise veterans—even if they’re doing it to make a profit.
The decisions signal how a leading claims consulting company’s strategy of lobbying and lawsuits— revealed in a War Horse investigation—is paying dividends. North Carolina-based Veterans Guardian and other companies have spent more than $4 million on lobbying federal and state lawmakers over the past two years, the investigation published in April found. The company is suing the attorney general of New Jersey to be allowed to operate in the state, where it was recently outlawed.
https://thewarhorse.org/congress-advances-bill-to-charge-veterans-for-va-help/