Question:
Called the Albuquerque VA Hospital Prosthetics Dept about my clothing allowance and was told all clothing allowance applications from New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Arizona was sent to VA in Long Beach. Know the reasons?
Jim's Reply:
No, I don't precisely know the logic behind a consolidation of claims to VA Long Beach...but I'll hazard a guess. I know that there's an effort to rein in clothing allowance benefits. There are a lot of ways the clothing allowance benefit can be abused and a lot of that abuse goes on. For example, if you use crutches, a cane and a wheelchair for mobility and you have to apply some wound ointment on a spot where it may soil clothing, you can tally up more than a single allowance PDQ. The question is always; Is that legit and should double or triple dipping - gaming the system - be allowed? Keep in mind that many rules governing rating were promulgated decades ago. Assistive technology has come a long way and VA hasn't kept up with appropriate ratings adjustments.
While VA can't say it as bluntly as I can, the short answer is that the clothing allowance benefit is being unofficially reduced or eliminated by increasing bureaucratic barriers to filing for and receiving the benefit. By sending your application off to another system is pretty much telling you to forget about it. I anticipate we'll see more of this sort of action for other alleged abuses of the system. For now, all you can do is wait it out.