![]() ![]() 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." Trajector declined a request to discuss its services and to comment on Janssen's case. 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. In March, Trajector agreed to waive its claim for the additional $2,829.70. "I called Trajector and raised bloody hell," Janssen said. 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. It wasn't until Janssen was approved for a higher rating from the VA that he said he heard from Trajector again. (The VA denied his claims for back and shoulder injuries.) 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. for medical evaluations in December and February. On his own, Janssen said, he scheduled appointments and flew back to the U.S. But it did not respond to his request, he said. In November, Janssen said, after months passed with no word on his case or assistance from Trajector, Janssen contacted the company to cancel his contract. "All they provided was a cut-and-paste canned response in a VA form for me to submit," Janssen said of what the company supplied last July. ![]() At the very beginning of the process, he said, it sent him what he thought looked like three boilerplate paragraphs describing his injuries. The problem was that the company had done virtually nothing to help him, Janssen said. But it cost him a bundle in both money and hassle. In pursuing a disability claim with the Department of Veterans Affairs for the tinnitus and back and shoulder problems he'd developed during his service, he signed onto a contract with Trajector Medical, a private company, to help him file last year. Glenn Janssen, who lives in Portugal, has worked as a government contractor since he left the Army in 2004. 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. 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. 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 structure the company outlined in 2022 congressional testimony. A higher rating means a higher monthly payment. ![]() The Department of Veterans Affairs assigns veterans a disability rating from 0% to 100%, depending on the degree of disability. To be eligible for disability payments, veterans must have an injury or illness caused or worsened by their military service. The CFPB and the VA jointly published a cautionary blog post in February, noting reports that "unscrupulous actors have misled some veterans into paying hundreds of thousands of dollars." "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, regarding the practices of some of these companies. Sometimes calling themselves "medical consultants" or "coaches," these businesses advertise their fee-based services to veterans, suggesting they can provide quick turnaround times on claims and higher benefit checks than if veterans choose a VA-approved representative. Unaccredited companies face no such restrictions. If they subsequently want to appeal a VA decision, the agency limits how much the approved representatives can charge. Under federal rules, veterans who use accredited assisters can't be charged a penny for help filing the initial claim. They can also tap into a network of thousands of service organization representatives, claims agents, and attorneys who have been vetted and approved by the VA to aid veterans. Veterans can apply on their own, filling out paperwork online, gathering and submitting their medical records, and undergoing a medical evaluation. The law added more than 20 conditions, from cancers to chronic respiratory illnesses, that the VA now automatically assumes were caused by serving in Vietnam and the Gulf War, or other postings. The Honoring Our PACT Act, enacted last August, made it easier for many veterans who had been exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances to qualify for health care and disability benefits. ![]()
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