September 2023 — MHCE Newsletter

20 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us SEPTEMBER 2023 EDITION
services to veterans, suggesting they
can provide quick turnaround times
on claims and higher benefit checks
than if veterans choose a VA-approved
representative.
"What we've seen are people signing
away, in advance, a portion of the
benefits that are due them," said Jim
Rice, assistant director of the Office
of Servicemember Affairs at the
federal Consumer Financial Protection
Bureau (CFPB) in Washington, D.C.,
regarding the practices of some of
these companies. The CFPB and the
VA jointly published a cautionary
blog postopens in a new tab or
window in February, noting reports
that "unscrupulous actors have misled
some veterans into paying hundreds of
thousands of dollars in illegal fees."
To be eligible for disability
paymentsopens in a new tab or window,
veterans must have an injury or illness
caused or worsened by their military
service. The Department of Veterans
Affairs assigns veterans a disability
rating from 0% to 100%, depending on
the degree of disability. A higher rating
means a higher monthly paymentopens
in a new tab or window.
The contract that Janssen signed said
he would pay Trajector Medical the
equivalent of five times the amount
of any increase in his monthly VA
compensation, which is part of the
basic billing structureopens in a new
tab or window the company outlined
in 2022 congressional testimony.
When he was awarded a 10% disability
rating for tinnitus, the company billed
$829.60, five times the monthly award
of $165.92 for a 10% disability. When
his rating was later increased to 40%,
the company informed him he owed
an additional $2,829.70, five times his
monthly increase of $565.94.
The problem was that the company
had done virtually nothing to help him,
Janssen said. At the very beginning of
the process, he said, the company sent
him what he thought looked like three
boilerplate paragraphs describing his
injuries. "All they provided was a cutand-paste
canned response in a VA
form for me to submit," Janssen said of
what the company supplied last July.
In November, Janssen said, after
months passed with no word on his
case or assistance from Trajector, he
contacted the company to cancel his
contract. But the company did not
respond to his request, he said.
On his own, Janssen said, he scheduled
appointments and flew back to the U.S.
for medical evaluations in December
and February. Also on his own, he said,
he filed secondary claims requesting an
increase in his disability rating because
of insomnia and migraines related to
his tinnitus. (The VA denied his claims
for back and shoulder injuries.)
It wasn't until Janssen was approved
for a higher rating from the VA that he
said he heard from Trajector again. The
company, which he said sometimes
referred to him as a "battle buddy,"
sent him an email congratulating him
on his new disability rating and billed
him more than $2,800 for its assistance
in obtaining it.
"I called Trajector and raised bloody
hell," Janssen said. "I will never pay
this money."
In March, Trajector agreed to waive
its claim for the additional $2,829.70.
But it still wants $829.60 for his initial
rating, and a company representative
told him during a telephone
conversation it would start charging a
1% monthly late fee.
Trajector declined a request to discuss
its services and to comment on Janssen's
case. But in congressional testimony
last year, Evan Seamone, Trajector's
general counsel and legal manager,
said that "private sector companies
like Trajector meet an important and
unfulfilled need that is not being met
by existing free resources."
Still, Janssen is not the only veteran
who is unhappy with Trajector
services. Trajector holds an A+ rating
from the Better Business Bureau, but
dozens of complaintsopens in a new
tab or window have been filed with
the organization that describe similar
experiences.
Trajector has responded with
variations of this comment: "We have
helped tens of thousands of veterans,
like you, obtain the most accurate
disability rating for their conditions.
We apologize that you have not been
satisfied with our customer service or
overall experience."
Veterans organizations have grown
increasingly concerned about the
activities of businesses not accredited
by the VA promising such assistance.
"They are predatory companies that
charge outrageous amounts to veterans
to access their benefits," said Ryan
Gallucci, executive director of the
Washington, D.C., office of Veterans
of Foreign Wars (VFW), an accredited
veterans service organization (VSO)
with more than 2,300 representatives
worldwide. Gallucci made similar
comments in his April 2022 Capitol
Hill testimonyopens in a new tab or
windowabout unaccredited assisters.
Of the 280 complaints sent to the
VA Office of General Counsel from
2018 to 2022, 40% were related
to unaccredited individuals and
organizations, according to Randal
Noller, a VA spokesperson.
Representatives for some unaccredited
companies say most private operators
are honorable and that the whole
group is being targeted because of the
activities of a few bad actors.