October 21, 2024 • 17 mins
Heidi Hrabcak graduated from Capital Law School in 2003. After being sworn in Heidi practiced law in the areas of employment law and civil litigation. Through this experience, she gained extensive trial advocacy skills and learned to effectively fight for client’s rights.
After litigating cases at the state and federal level, Heidi found her passion for advocacy was leading elsewhere. She wanted to help people and give them a voice.
In 2009 her father, a former interrogator during the Vietnam War, wanted assistance with his VA claim. His appeal had been pending for over five years. Heidi didn’t have any experience in VA law, but decided to take on her dad’s appeal. Through the process she found that her skills in litigation blended nicely with those required of a veteran’s law attorney.
After ten years of practicing veteran’s law she is familiar with the VA system and knows what the VA commonly misses in veteran’s claims. Her vision is to win veteran’s claims by using due diligence, listening and implementing an artful strategy. Not one case is the same, and that is what she likes most about veteran’s law.
She is licensed to practice law in the States of Ohio and West Virginia and accredited by the VA to represent Veterans world-wide. She represents Veterans before the VA Regional Office, Board of Veterans Appeals and the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.
After litigating cases at the state and federal level, Heidi found her passion for advocacy was leading elsewhere. She wanted to help people and give them a voice.
In 2009 her father, a former interrogator during the Vietnam War, wanted assistance with his VA claim. His appeal had been pending for over five years. Heidi didn’t have any experience in VA law, but decided to take on her dad’s appeal. Through the process she found that her skills in litigation blended nicely with those required of a veteran’s law attorney.
After ten years of practicing veteran’s law she is familiar with the VA system and knows what the VA commonly misses in veteran’s claims. Her vision is to win veteran’s claims by using due diligence, listening and implementing an artful strategy. Not one case is the same, and that is what she likes most about veteran’s law.
She is licensed to practice law in the States of Ohio and West Virginia and accredited by the VA to represent Veterans world-wide. She represents Veterans before the VA Regional Office, Board of Veterans Appeals and the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Columbus in Central Ohio have a rich history of companies
being headquartered here, everything from technology, manufacturing, retail, insurance, and more.
But what about the leaders behind these companies? What makes
them tick? How did they get their start? This is
where you get to meet the captain of the ship.
Welcome to CEOs You Should Know and iHeartMedia Columbus Podcast.
(00:20):
Welcome back to another edition of CEOs You Should Know.
It's an iHeartMedia Columbus podcast. I am your host Boxer.
This week we're talking with the CEO of the Lawyers
for American Vets and it's a dedicated law firm that
is committed to advocating for the rights and benefits of
US veterans. I'll be honest with you, I didn't even
know there was such a thing. And I want to
(00:41):
welcome the CEO who put this all together, Heidi Rabcheck.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Hi Heidi, Hi Boxer. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Yeah, I'm so glad that you took the time to
come in on what I would imagine is a very
busy schedule with what you're doing for veterans. First of all,
in your words, tell us what the Lawyers for American Vets.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
It's a veterans law firm, meaning we only handle veterans claims.
It's one hundred percent veterans work, day in and day out.
We help survivors and veterans receive compensation, disability compensation from
the VA. We help survivor benefits, We help them with
cause of death benefits as well as the disability compensation.
(01:21):
And we start from the regional office, through the board level,
and then all the way.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Up to the federal court, so throughout the whole clas process.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Heidi Rabcheck is with us. She's the CEO of Lawyers
for Americans Vets. Heidi, I know you have a personal
connection here, your your father Vietnam VET. What started this, Like,
how did you think, well, this is the law I
want to get into.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Well, that's a great questions, actually a great story. So
I was doing civil litigation work with my husband and
we had had a daughter and decided we both cannot
be litigators based upon the work schedule that's required for
that job.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
So I took a few.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
It's overwhelming, right, I didn't mean to cut you off.
But if you're in litigation, it's a lot of preparation, right, Yes, it's.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Not an eight to five job.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
So we both decided, okay, I took a step back,
took a few years off to get our daughter into kindergarten,
and decided what's next. Along the same Around the same time,
my father was pursuing his disability compensation claim himself. And
I knew my father's story. I knew he was a
Vietnam ve didn't know the extent of it. He didn't
talk a lot about it. And he came to me
(02:29):
one day and he said, I need you to handle
my compensation claim because my attorney is retiring. And I said, well,
I do not do that type of work, and he said,
you do now. So he handed me his claims file
and I started kind of diving in, and I've found
out that was the first time I had found that
(02:49):
my father was actually an interrogator in Vietnam. Wow, I
can tell you that would have made a lot more
since in my childhood had I.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Known that he was an interrogator.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
It all started to make sense, it did, It.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Started coming together.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
So I helped him through that claims process, got him
to where he needed to be, and realized, Wow, I
really like this type of work. It's a schedule that
I can do at my own pace. It is like
putting together a giant puzzle, and that's kind of how
the process started. And from there I started getting a
few more of his acquaintances and his friends.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
And started developing this niche and.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Then realized there's a small group of veterans advocates and
lawyers out there. Became associated with the National Veterans Advocates
Organization and really grew.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
The practice from that.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
And so it's probably taken me five to seven years
to grow with the practice. And here we are today
now serving veterans all over the country and even overseas.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
That's incredible, Heidi. Would you say the other laws and
litigations that you did versus what you're doing now, is
was the VA type of law learning? Curve?
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Because it is administrative law, so you're learning the administration
puts together their own rules and regulations and you have
to learn those. And I think that's been a but
with any type of law, you dive in and you
figure things out. Another difference between litigation work and what
I do now. So in litigation, you follow what's called
the rules of civil procedure and the rules of evidence
on how you get your evidence into court. From the
(04:24):
VA side, it is you can use whatever creativity you
want to use, and by that I mean you can
use statements from folks that served with you, you can
use photographs. One veteran we had had a claimed that
he received this medication while he was out in the field,
and the VA kept saying, no, you don't, this isn't
in your record. You weren't treated for this. And he
(04:46):
actually had the bottle from service where the medic had
thrown him a bottle of this antibiotic, and we were
able to use a picture of that bottle to help
substantiate his claim. So in the VA world, your evidence
is whatever you can come up with, which I think
is it's very helpful, but it's very different from litigation,
(05:09):
where it's very formal and there's a series of authentication
you have to go through. But in VA world, anything goes.
And so I think that's another big difference between you're
able to use your creativity now versus following a strict
set of rules from litigation.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
What's one of the biggest issues that you're seeing are
the problems.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
So I think one of the main things I see
not only am I an attorney licensed in the state
of Ohio. But I'm also accredited with the VA that
gives me the ability when I sign a vetter and
I get electronic access to their CE file OHK, and
so I can see everything the VA sees when they're
making a decision. I see all of their rating decisions.
I see all of the service treatment records. I see
(05:49):
all of the personnel records. So I'm able to kind
of see those in real time and see what's going
on with that person's claim.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
So what I see as.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Issues are there's many people touching a claims file, and
it's not just where that person lives. It can be
sent to various different regional offices and I think multiple
people touch it. Sometimes it gets put into a national
workqueue and it could sit there for months. So you're
really trying to make sure the claim is moving forward
and that you're staying on top of the folks within
(06:20):
the organization, within the administration make sure that claim is
moving forward.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah, it forgive me, But the phrase are are there
too many cooks to the kitchen? Yes?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Something there is, yes, yes, And then at your initial level,
I think they're untrained. I think they have too many people,
they're not trained. While we have issues with just getting
claims filed and getting tagged the right way. I've had
people come to me where claims have sat there and
it looks like it's open, but on the my end,
it's showing as closed. So we work within the regional
(06:51):
office to depending on where that person lives, their regional office,
to see if we can get those claims processed and
moving forward.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah, Hotei, we've heard some of the and read about
some of the negative stories of the VA in the past.
Are we and since you've come on board a few
years ago in doing work with the VA, are we
seeing better progress and going in a better direction now
with how we serve our veterans.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
I believe the claims process is improving. Twenty nineteen, President
Trump put in together a new piece of legislation that
went in called the Modern Modernization Appeals Act that changed
the way claims were processed. That certainly has shortened the
time that folks are waiting on claims to be to
reach a rating decision. So we know what the next
step is. So we're headed there, but we've got a
(07:36):
long ways to go.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah. Heidi Rabcheck is with us. She is the CEO
of Lawyers for American Vets. She's this week's guest on CEOs.
You should know, Heidi, if you don't mind, what was
life growing up for you? I mean you were born
to race here in central Ohio? Right, No.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
I was raised in southern Ohio, oh is southern Ohio,
Marietta area.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Was born and raised there, went to high school there,
went to college at Marietta Comedge, came up to Columbus
for law school, and I've been here ever since.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
All right, And you went to Capital, I did, yep.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
I went to Capitol Law School, and you know, I
enjoyed the experience. It was a great program to be
a part of it.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
When a little background for you, Heidi, when you were
doing litigation, if you remind me asking what kind of
litigation were you doing?
Speaker 2 (08:20):
We did well.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
I specialized in employment law, but I also did civil
litigation work, which was contract work, dispus with minority shareholders,
business relations, corporation issues. It was a little bit of
a mixed bag, but anything on the civil side I handled.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
When it comes to veterans and just what is the
toughest thing trying to get into the VA, the claims
part of it is it the paperwork, Is it trying
to get an appointment, Because that's another thing that I
hear all the time, is just the length it takes
just to get into get an appointment. And maybe that's
improved now.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
It has improved, but you still have a few folks
that are still waiting a long time. I think the
most difficult part on my end is probably just managing
the paper and making sure that the correct evidence is
submitted at the correct time so that we're not waiting.
We're not waiting on a decision for something that we
could fix in the interim, so veterans will come to me.
I'll be able to look at their file and say,
(09:19):
here's where kind of it went amiss, here's what we
can do to fix it, and then we just come
up with a strategy on how to attack the issues.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
That's interesting, And you mentioned that you do this type
of work for all over the country. Now you represent
veterans all over.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
All over the country and even overseas. I have a
few overseas as well.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
That's amazing. But I just want to clarify too, it's
it's just the claims that you take care of, right
or are there other things you also help with when
it comes to veterans.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
I well, I only handle I'll say I only handle
one hundred percent claims because that's what I'm trained to do.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
That's the most experienced I have.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Sure, do I know a little bit about aid in
attendance and educational if it's Chapter thirty five benefits, Yes,
But my primary focus is getting the veterans through the
appeals process and helping them get their disability come.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Yeah. So if a veteran is listening and they feel like, boy,
I could really use some help in this, especially obviously claims,
they can come to you. This would be something that's
right up your alley.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
The only requirement the VA has is that it's very
similar to Social Security that they have a denial first.
So the only requirement the VA has is that there's
been a rating decision within the last year and then
we can get on board.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
That's interesting. So they actually have to go through the
process and do the paper work, they get a rejection,
and then that's when they can come to you. Is
that right correct?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
The VA states that they want the first opportunity to
give the benefit to the veteran, and so we honor
that we honor that commitment.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Now, if I'm.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Representing a veteran and I'm looking through their file and
this happens a lot, we'll I'll look through their file
and say, Okay, well, you've got these certain issues that
happened in service. It looks like you're having issues with those.
Now do you want a file? I'll help them with
that claim process. Yeah, but that's once i'm in, once
I'm actually signed as a representative.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Yeah, Heidi's knowing what you've done so far. What's the
vision for the future for your law firm?
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Wow, that's a great question.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
I would like to be able to provide multiple types
of services for the veterans. I would like it to
be a place where they can come and if they
need help with education, but if it's I have someone
who specializes in that handles that exclusively, someone who needs
help with aid in attendance, we can help you set
up something for aid in attendance and really kind of
(11:35):
make it an all inclusive place where they can get help.
Because I think a lot of veterans are not aware
of the services that are offered. They're not aware of
what they're entitled to. A lot of them are confused.
They think if I only had to be a combat
veteran or I had to be deployed, and that's not
necessarily the case. And so I like for veterans to
know all the benefits that are available to them.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Yeah, how do you brought up such a great point,
Because I've met and we're proud supporters here of our
veterans and do what we can for them. But I've
met a few who will say I didn't know I
had these benefits or I didn't know I had this
or that, And why is that? Why are there so
many veterans who don't know about the opportunities or the
(12:18):
benefits that they've earned and certainly deserve.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
I don't think it was shared with them when they
left service, especially my older veterans. Now, I know that
there's programs in place now towards the end of the
person's term that they right before discharge, they have to
take a course or tells them certain benefits that are available.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
But our older.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Generation are just not aware, and a lot of them
feel like maybe someone else deserves the benefits more.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Than they do.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
And so that's another struggle they have, thinking that there's
other folks that are worse off than me, and so
I should not take from this fund.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Yeah, I've heard that one. I've heard that one countless times.
I'm not that bad of shape. There's someone else that
definitely needs it. But what do you say to that
veteran if they're thinking.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
That, I tell them that they especially for my veterans
who signed up, I'm listed. It's regardless if you were
deployed or not. You are entitled to these benefits. You
served our country. You were willing to go when some
folks were not willing to go, and because of this,
you're entitled to this benefit that our great country needs
(13:27):
to give back to you for the dedication and the
service and the bravery that you shown by demonstration of
your service.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Yeah, Heidi, is there a group or an era of
veterans that you're seeing right now that you tend to
be helping more than another group? Like? Is it Vietnam?
And I know we've lost so many of our World
War two? But is there a group like that that
you're taking care of more than others?
Speaker 2 (13:51):
A lot of them right now are golf war bets.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Okay, Yes, I have a special place in my heart
for my Vietnam bets obviously because of my father's issues
and what he went up against and the technology issues
or not, or a struggle for my Vietnam vets too.
A lot of this, A lot of the services the
AA offers, they want you to schedule online, they want
you to submit your claims online. Well, a lot of
(14:14):
these vets are not going to do that. Everything needs
to be done through the mail or they need to
stop in and so I my heart goes out to
them for sure, because they need the extra assistance.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Yeah, we are so grateful, by the way, to your
father and his service to our country. How's he doing,
by the way, My.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Father's doing great.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Yeah, he's doing great. So he's up in Sunbury. I
was just with him yesterday. Oh yeah, And you know,
certainly he's paved this way for this started my interest
in this pursuit, which I greatly appreciate.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Yeah, and I was I was just thinking too, what
you know, I tell veterans all the time that what
am I big? If I had any regret, it was
the fact that I didn't serve which is why I'm
so big. I'm wanting to to help out with the
USO and just every chance I can get to help veterans.
But I'm guessing that this has got to be just
(15:08):
a gratifying field that you're in, Like every day you
know that you're giving back to our veterans and you're
helping them.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
I do take great comfort in the fact that I'm
providing something for I for veterans. I started getting into
law because I wanted to help people. That was I
think a lot of I think a lot of attorneys
would say that we can get into it, so we
want to make a difference. And what I kept finding
with litigation is it just kept it kept being more
about the funds that someone has, the means they had
(15:38):
to continue on their pursuit for litigation, and it got
very daunting, very challenging sure to keep pursuing that. And
what I'm finding with this type of work is then
I'm actually making I'm changing people's lives, really and they
thank me on a regular basis, and I'm thankful for
them and they're.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Thankful for me. So it's a great way to spend
your day.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
It doesn't even really feel like work because you're really
you're in this relationship where you're both feel very thankful
and blessed and so I'm just thrilled to be a
part of it.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Yeah, i'd for those that are interested in reaching out
to you, maybe they've been dealing with some issues, they've
gotten rejections from the VA. Best way to get a
hold of you in your law firm, well, the phone.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Number is six one four seven nine nine Vets which
is seven ninet nine eight three eight seven. We also
have a website which is www dot Lawyers for American
Vets dot com. We are on Facebook as Lawyers for
American Vets. We also have an Instagram account where we
try to We also try to educate veterans on tips,
things they can do to help their claims. If they
(16:44):
want to pursue their claims theirself, we're more than happy
to let them do that and help them do that.
And then we take the more challenging cases, the ones
where it's very difficult to get service connected, are very
difficult to get them into the right rating. So we
want to not only support, we want.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
To think as well.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
All right. Heidi Rabchak, who is the CEO of Lawyers
for American Vets, really appreciate you spending some time with
us and really opening up an area that I don't
think a lot of us knew about, so thank you
for your time.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Well, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
CEOs You Should Know is hosted and produced by Brandy Boxer,
a production of iHeartMedia Columbus
Columbus in Central Ohio have a rich history of companies
being headquartered here, everything from technology, manufacturing, retail, insurance, and more.
But what about the leaders behind these companies? What makes
them tick? How did they get their start? This is
where you get to meet the captain of the ship.
Welcome to CEOs You Should Know and iHeartMedia Columbus Podcast.
(00:20):
Welcome back to another edition of CEOs You Should Know.
It's an iHeartMedia Columbus podcast. I am your host Boxer.
This week we're talking with the CEO of the Lawyers
for American Vets and it's a dedicated law firm that
is committed to advocating for the rights and benefits of
US veterans. I'll be honest with you, I didn't even
know there was such a thing. And I want to
(00:41):
welcome the CEO who put this all together, Heidi Rabcheck.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Hi Heidi, Hi Boxer. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Yeah, I'm so glad that you took the time to
come in on what I would imagine is a very
busy schedule with what you're doing for veterans. First of all,
in your words, tell us what the Lawyers for American Vets.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
It's a veterans law firm, meaning we only handle veterans claims.
It's one hundred percent veterans work, day in and day out.
We help survivors and veterans receive compensation, disability compensation from
the VA. We help survivor benefits, We help them with
cause of death benefits as well as the disability compensation.
(01:21):
And we start from the regional office, through the board level,
and then all the way.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Up to the federal court, so throughout the whole clas process.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Heidi Rabcheck is with us. She's the CEO of Lawyers
for Americans Vets. Heidi, I know you have a personal
connection here, your your father Vietnam VET. What started this, Like,
how did you think, well, this is the law I
want to get into.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Well, that's a great questions, actually a great story. So
I was doing civil litigation work with my husband and
we had had a daughter and decided we both cannot
be litigators based upon the work schedule that's required for
that job.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
So I took a few.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
It's overwhelming, right, I didn't mean to cut you off.
But if you're in litigation, it's a lot of preparation, right, Yes, it's.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Not an eight to five job.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
So we both decided, okay, I took a step back,
took a few years off to get our daughter into kindergarten,
and decided what's next. Along the same Around the same time,
my father was pursuing his disability compensation claim himself. And
I knew my father's story. I knew he was a
Vietnam ve didn't know the extent of it. He didn't
talk a lot about it. And he came to me
(02:29):
one day and he said, I need you to handle
my compensation claim because my attorney is retiring. And I said, well,
I do not do that type of work, and he said,
you do now. So he handed me his claims file
and I started kind of diving in, and I've found
out that was the first time I had found that
(02:49):
my father was actually an interrogator in Vietnam. Wow, I
can tell you that would have made a lot more
since in my childhood had I.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Known that he was an interrogator.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
It all started to make sense, it did, It.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Started coming together.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
So I helped him through that claims process, got him
to where he needed to be, and realized, Wow, I
really like this type of work. It's a schedule that
I can do at my own pace. It is like
putting together a giant puzzle, and that's kind of how
the process started. And from there I started getting a
few more of his acquaintances and his friends.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
And started developing this niche and.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Then realized there's a small group of veterans advocates and
lawyers out there. Became associated with the National Veterans Advocates
Organization and really grew.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
The practice from that.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
And so it's probably taken me five to seven years
to grow with the practice. And here we are today
now serving veterans all over the country and even overseas.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
That's incredible, Heidi. Would you say the other laws and
litigations that you did versus what you're doing now, is
was the VA type of law learning? Curve?
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Because it is administrative law, so you're learning the administration
puts together their own rules and regulations and you have
to learn those. And I think that's been a but
with any type of law, you dive in and you
figure things out. Another difference between litigation work and what
I do now. So in litigation, you follow what's called
the rules of civil procedure and the rules of evidence
on how you get your evidence into court. From the
(04:24):
VA side, it is you can use whatever creativity you
want to use, and by that I mean you can
use statements from folks that served with you, you can
use photographs. One veteran we had had a claimed that
he received this medication while he was out in the field,
and the VA kept saying, no, you don't, this isn't
in your record. You weren't treated for this. And he
(04:46):
actually had the bottle from service where the medic had
thrown him a bottle of this antibiotic, and we were
able to use a picture of that bottle to help
substantiate his claim. So in the VA world, your evidence
is whatever you can come up with, which I think
is it's very helpful, but it's very different from litigation,
(05:09):
where it's very formal and there's a series of authentication
you have to go through. But in VA world, anything goes.
And so I think that's another big difference between you're
able to use your creativity now versus following a strict
set of rules from litigation.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
What's one of the biggest issues that you're seeing are
the problems.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
So I think one of the main things I see
not only am I an attorney licensed in the state
of Ohio. But I'm also accredited with the VA that
gives me the ability when I sign a vetter and
I get electronic access to their CE file OHK, and
so I can see everything the VA sees when they're
making a decision. I see all of their rating decisions.
I see all of the service treatment records. I see
(05:49):
all of the personnel records. So I'm able to kind
of see those in real time and see what's going
on with that person's claim.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
So what I see as.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Issues are there's many people touching a claims file, and
it's not just where that person lives. It can be
sent to various different regional offices and I think multiple
people touch it. Sometimes it gets put into a national
workqueue and it could sit there for months. So you're
really trying to make sure the claim is moving forward
and that you're staying on top of the folks within
(06:20):
the organization, within the administration make sure that claim is
moving forward.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah, it forgive me, But the phrase are are there
too many cooks to the kitchen? Yes?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Something there is, yes, yes, And then at your initial level,
I think they're untrained. I think they have too many people,
they're not trained. While we have issues with just getting
claims filed and getting tagged the right way. I've had
people come to me where claims have sat there and
it looks like it's open, but on the my end,
it's showing as closed. So we work within the regional
(06:51):
office to depending on where that person lives, their regional office,
to see if we can get those claims processed and
moving forward.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah, Hotei, we've heard some of the and read about
some of the negative stories of the VA in the past.
Are we and since you've come on board a few
years ago in doing work with the VA, are we
seeing better progress and going in a better direction now
with how we serve our veterans.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
I believe the claims process is improving. Twenty nineteen, President
Trump put in together a new piece of legislation that
went in called the Modern Modernization Appeals Act that changed
the way claims were processed. That certainly has shortened the
time that folks are waiting on claims to be to
reach a rating decision. So we know what the next
step is. So we're headed there, but we've got a
(07:36):
long ways to go.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah. Heidi Rabcheck is with us. She is the CEO
of Lawyers for American Vets. She's this week's guest on CEOs.
You should know, Heidi, if you don't mind, what was
life growing up for you? I mean you were born
to race here in central Ohio? Right, No.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
I was raised in southern Ohio, oh is southern Ohio,
Marietta area.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Was born and raised there, went to high school there,
went to college at Marietta Comedge, came up to Columbus
for law school, and I've been here ever since.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
All right, And you went to Capital, I did, yep.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
I went to Capitol Law School, and you know, I
enjoyed the experience. It was a great program to be
a part of it.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
When a little background for you, Heidi, when you were
doing litigation, if you remind me asking what kind of
litigation were you doing?
Speaker 2 (08:20):
We did well.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
I specialized in employment law, but I also did civil
litigation work, which was contract work, dispus with minority shareholders,
business relations, corporation issues. It was a little bit of
a mixed bag, but anything on the civil side I handled.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
When it comes to veterans and just what is the
toughest thing trying to get into the VA, the claims
part of it is it the paperwork, Is it trying
to get an appointment, Because that's another thing that I
hear all the time, is just the length it takes
just to get into get an appointment. And maybe that's
improved now.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
It has improved, but you still have a few folks
that are still waiting a long time. I think the
most difficult part on my end is probably just managing
the paper and making sure that the correct evidence is
submitted at the correct time so that we're not waiting.
We're not waiting on a decision for something that we
could fix in the interim, so veterans will come to me.
I'll be able to look at their file and say,
(09:19):
here's where kind of it went amiss, here's what we
can do to fix it, and then we just come
up with a strategy on how to attack the issues.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
That's interesting, And you mentioned that you do this type
of work for all over the country. Now you represent
veterans all over.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
All over the country and even overseas. I have a
few overseas as well.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
That's amazing. But I just want to clarify too, it's
it's just the claims that you take care of, right
or are there other things you also help with when
it comes to veterans.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
I well, I only handle I'll say I only handle
one hundred percent claims because that's what I'm trained to do.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
That's the most experienced I have.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Sure, do I know a little bit about aid in
attendance and educational if it's Chapter thirty five benefits, Yes,
But my primary focus is getting the veterans through the
appeals process and helping them get their disability come.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Yeah. So if a veteran is listening and they feel like, boy,
I could really use some help in this, especially obviously claims,
they can come to you. This would be something that's
right up your alley.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
The only requirement the VA has is that it's very
similar to Social Security that they have a denial first.
So the only requirement the VA has is that there's
been a rating decision within the last year and then
we can get on board.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
That's interesting. So they actually have to go through the
process and do the paper work, they get a rejection,
and then that's when they can come to you. Is
that right correct?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
The VA states that they want the first opportunity to
give the benefit to the veteran, and so we honor
that we honor that commitment.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Now, if I'm.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Representing a veteran and I'm looking through their file and
this happens a lot, we'll I'll look through their file
and say, Okay, well, you've got these certain issues that
happened in service. It looks like you're having issues with those.
Now do you want a file? I'll help them with
that claim process. Yeah, but that's once i'm in, once
I'm actually signed as a representative.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Yeah, Heidi's knowing what you've done so far. What's the
vision for the future for your law firm?
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Wow, that's a great question.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
I would like to be able to provide multiple types
of services for the veterans. I would like it to
be a place where they can come and if they
need help with education, but if it's I have someone
who specializes in that handles that exclusively, someone who needs
help with aid in attendance, we can help you set
up something for aid in attendance and really kind of
(11:35):
make it an all inclusive place where they can get help.
Because I think a lot of veterans are not aware
of the services that are offered. They're not aware of
what they're entitled to. A lot of them are confused.
They think if I only had to be a combat
veteran or I had to be deployed, and that's not
necessarily the case. And so I like for veterans to
know all the benefits that are available to them.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Yeah, how do you brought up such a great point,
Because I've met and we're proud supporters here of our
veterans and do what we can for them. But I've
met a few who will say I didn't know I
had these benefits or I didn't know I had this
or that, And why is that? Why are there so
many veterans who don't know about the opportunities or the
(12:18):
benefits that they've earned and certainly deserve.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
I don't think it was shared with them when they
left service, especially my older veterans. Now, I know that
there's programs in place now towards the end of the
person's term that they right before discharge, they have to
take a course or tells them certain benefits that are available.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
But our older.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Generation are just not aware, and a lot of them
feel like maybe someone else deserves the benefits more.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Than they do.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
And so that's another struggle they have, thinking that there's
other folks that are worse off than me, and so
I should not take from this fund.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Yeah, I've heard that one. I've heard that one countless times.
I'm not that bad of shape. There's someone else that
definitely needs it. But what do you say to that
veteran if they're thinking.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
That, I tell them that they especially for my veterans
who signed up, I'm listed. It's regardless if you were
deployed or not. You are entitled to these benefits. You
served our country. You were willing to go when some
folks were not willing to go, and because of this,
you're entitled to this benefit that our great country needs
(13:27):
to give back to you for the dedication and the
service and the bravery that you shown by demonstration of
your service.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Yeah, Heidi, is there a group or an era of
veterans that you're seeing right now that you tend to
be helping more than another group? Like? Is it Vietnam?
And I know we've lost so many of our World
War two? But is there a group like that that
you're taking care of more than others?
Speaker 2 (13:51):
A lot of them right now are golf war bets.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Okay, Yes, I have a special place in my heart
for my Vietnam bets obviously because of my father's issues
and what he went up against and the technology issues
or not, or a struggle for my Vietnam vets too.
A lot of this, A lot of the services the
AA offers, they want you to schedule online, they want
you to submit your claims online. Well, a lot of
(14:14):
these vets are not going to do that. Everything needs
to be done through the mail or they need to
stop in and so I my heart goes out to
them for sure, because they need the extra assistance.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Yeah, we are so grateful, by the way, to your
father and his service to our country. How's he doing,
by the way, My.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Father's doing great.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Yeah, he's doing great. So he's up in Sunbury. I
was just with him yesterday. Oh yeah, And you know,
certainly he's paved this way for this started my interest
in this pursuit, which I greatly appreciate.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Yeah, and I was I was just thinking too, what
you know, I tell veterans all the time that what
am I big? If I had any regret, it was
the fact that I didn't serve which is why I'm
so big. I'm wanting to to help out with the
USO and just every chance I can get to help veterans.
But I'm guessing that this has got to be just
(15:08):
a gratifying field that you're in, Like every day you
know that you're giving back to our veterans and you're
helping them.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
I do take great comfort in the fact that I'm
providing something for I for veterans. I started getting into
law because I wanted to help people. That was I
think a lot of I think a lot of attorneys
would say that we can get into it, so we
want to make a difference. And what I kept finding
with litigation is it just kept it kept being more
about the funds that someone has, the means they had
(15:38):
to continue on their pursuit for litigation, and it got
very daunting, very challenging sure to keep pursuing that. And
what I'm finding with this type of work is then
I'm actually making I'm changing people's lives, really and they
thank me on a regular basis, and I'm thankful for
them and they're.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Thankful for me. So it's a great way to spend
your day.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
It doesn't even really feel like work because you're really
you're in this relationship where you're both feel very thankful
and blessed and so I'm just thrilled to be a
part of it.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Yeah, i'd for those that are interested in reaching out
to you, maybe they've been dealing with some issues, they've
gotten rejections from the VA. Best way to get a
hold of you in your law firm, well, the phone.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Number is six one four seven nine nine Vets which
is seven ninet nine eight three eight seven. We also
have a website which is www dot Lawyers for American
Vets dot com. We are on Facebook as Lawyers for
American Vets. We also have an Instagram account where we
try to We also try to educate veterans on tips,
things they can do to help their claims. If they
(16:44):
want to pursue their claims theirself, we're more than happy
to let them do that and help them do that.
And then we take the more challenging cases, the ones
where it's very difficult to get service connected, are very
difficult to get them into the right rating. So we
want to not only support, we want.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
To think as well.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
All right. Heidi Rabchak, who is the CEO of Lawyers
for American Vets, really appreciate you spending some time with
us and really opening up an area that I don't
think a lot of us knew about, so thank you
for your time.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Well, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
CEOs You Should Know is hosted and produced by Brandy Boxer,
a production of iHeartMedia Columbus
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