Joseph Schmitt is director of VA’s Debt Management Center and Jason Hoge is director of operations. The recently answered questions virtually. The focus was how Veterans can get debt management relief from VA due to COVID-19.
VA announced April 3 a number of actions to provide Veterans with financial, benefits and claims help amid VA’s COVID-19 response.
The financial relief actions include the following until further notice:
- Suspending all actions on Veteran debts under the jurisdiction of the Treasury Department.
- Suspending collection action or extending repayment terms on preexisting VA debts, as the Veteran prefers.
For benefit debts, Veterans can contact the VA Debt Management Center at 1-800-827-0648 to make arrangements.
For health care debts, Veterans can contact the Health Resource Center at 1-888-827-4817 to make arrangements.
The benefits and claims relief actions include giving Veterans the option to submit their paperwork late for the following actions:
- perfecting claims
- challenging adverse decisions
- submitting Notices of Disagreement
- submitting Substantive Appeals
- responding to Supplemental Statements of the Case
Veterans requesting claim extensions can simply submit them with any late-filed paperwork and Veterans do not have to proactively request an extension in advance. For added convenience, VA will also accept typed/digital signatures instead of wet signatures on its forms. Those with questions can call 1-800-827-1000.
