Let us pray for common sense at the VA:
The Department of Veterans Affairs wants a dying Vietnam vet in Washington state to repay $6,300 in pension benefits even though its paperwork backlog was responsible for the overpayments.
Rob Arthur, 68, tells The Seattle Times he’s okay with the loss of his $1,000-a-month pension, but he shouldn’t have to pay back what the VA says he now owes. His wife agrees.
“They are mental abusers right now, is the way I look at it,” Debbie Shafer told the paper Thursday. “And that’s not a kind way to look at your government. We got knocked down, and now they are stomping on us. We don’t have the money to pay them.”
Arthur’s troubles with the VA started in January when he was diagnosed with brain cancer deemed terminal and married Shafer, his long-time girlfriend. They live in a trailer in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains.
Arthur notified the VA his marital status had changed along with his income. Shafer makes $22,000-a-year as a nurse’s aide.
It took six months for Arthur to hear back from the VA. The news was not good. The VA ruled he was no longer eligible for a pension because of the bump in income and would have to repay the benefits he received from January to June while his paperwork was being processed.
Arthur is now requesting a hardship exemption. “We simply cannot afford to survive should we be held responsible for this,” he told the VA.
The VA tells the Times federal law dictates their response.
“Cases like this, it kind of breaks our heart,” VA spokesman Randall Noller said. “But we don’t have the wiggle room.”
Arthur was 17 when he joined the Navy in 1964 and then served on an aging destroyer that cruised off the coast of Vietnam. Years later, destitute and no longer eligible to work, he began collecting a VA pension.
Recently, Shafer sent the VA a $5 check to begin paying off the debt.
“I don’t have time for all this. I want to spend my time with Rob,” she said. “I want him to die in peace.”
