McGill and Noble, LLP

02/27/2026

VA has retracted its recent regulation, issued Tuesday, requiring medical examiners to consider the impact of medication and treatment when making VA disability ratings decisions.

VA's announcement of the rule “and the manner in which it was initiated, as a final decision” made veterans and advocacy groups furious, “drawing criticism from individual veterans online and organizations such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, American Legion and Paralyzed Veterans of America.”

Some veterans and advocates disavowed the regulation based on it providing a dangerous incentive for veterans to decline medication and treatment, while others simply explained that “treatment to alleviate symptoms of a service-connected condition, including medication, should not be used in a way that decreases compensation for that disability”—noting that such a rule could set a precedent where some disabled vets are considered less disabled simply because they are able to use a wheelchair to get around.

According to the regulation, it would have affected 350,000 claims and over 500 conditions.

Read more from Military Times:

The VA will continue collecting public comment on the rule but it “will not be enforced at any time in the future," VA Secretary Doug Collins said.

02/10/2026

In a late January report, Senate Democrats said wait times for mental health care at VA have increased and worker morale has sharply fallen due to actions taken by Trump, VA Secretary Doug Collins, and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the last year.

The report says that mental health care appointment wait times for new patients "now average 35 days and have grown in 15 states to more than 40 days — twice the VA's standard — with veterans in Maryland waiting the longest with an average of 54 days." The VA's workforce has also shrunken by 40,000 employees in the past year, and in December, the VA announced plans to eliminate 26,000 more jobs through attrition this year.

Senate Democrats say the staggering job losses and disruptions to treatment and services have generated a harmful impact that will be felt for years to come.

You can read the full article in Marine Corps Times:

The VA has lost 40,000 employees in the past year, 88% of whom worked in the Veterans Health Administration, according to the report.

02/02/2026

Partial government shutdown update from SSA's website:

"Due to the Federal Government Shutdown, Social Security offices are open with reduced services. Hearings offices remain open to conduct hearings before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ).

Social Security and Supplemental Security Income payments to beneficiaries will continue with no change in payment dates.

[SSA] will only provide the following services at local Social Security offices:

Help you apply for benefits
Assist you in requesting an appeal
Change your address or direct deposit information
Accept reports of death
Verify or change your citizenship status
Replace a lost or missing Social Security payment
Issue a critical payment
Change a representative payee
Process a change in your living arrangement or income (SSI recipients only)
Issue new or replacement Social Security cards

If your visit involves any Social Security-related service not listed above, we regret we are unable to assist you. We cannot provide the following services:

Replace your Medicare card
Issue a proof of income letter
Update or correct earnings record

Our Online Services will remain open. You can request a replacement Medicare card or request a proof of income letter with your online my Social Security account."

Important Information About the Federal Government Shutdown Due to the Federal Government Shutdown, Social Security offices are open with reduced services. Hearings offices remain open to conduct hearings before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ). Social Security and Supplemental Security Income paym...

01/26/2026

A new study by Scientific Reports looking at the long-term effects of burn pit exposure finds that post-9/11 veterans exposed to military burn pits and diagnosed with lung disease have three times the level of carbon particles in their airways as those of a healthy person.

The VA’s records show that millions of veterans deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere after 9/11 were subjected to toxic smoke from burn pits used to “incinerate large volumes of waste, including plastics, chemicals, medical supplies, batteries, tires and unexploded munitions, among other hazardous items.”

The new research is one of just a few studies so far seeking to quantify particulate matter from burn pits in veterans’ lung tissue.

Read more from Stars & Stripes:

01/21/2026

DOGE's mishandling of Social Security data confirmed:

Some DOGE personnel had more access to data than previously acknowledged, according to a court filing.

12/18/2025

According to a new memo, VA could be cutting as many as 37,000 unfilled healthcare positions in addition to the 30,000 positions already lost this year. While VA spokesperson Peter Kasperowicz claims the positions being eliminated are simply no longer necessary, Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal counters that eliminating these jobs will "stretch thin a staff already struggling to meet rising workloads—leading to longer wait times and reduced access to care for veterans.”

VA Secretary Collins and others who dismiss concerns about these cuts and advocate for outsourcing veteran care to the private sector claim that veterans can seek care through the Veterans Community Care Program (the VA's private-sector provider network). However, as mental health leaders have pointed out, there are few qualified private-sector specialists in the community who accept insurance, leading to inaccessibility and delayed care. When the Prospect called the 12 neuropsychologists listed on the Community Care provider website as accepting VA patients in the area, the response was dismal: "One listed number was for an airline lost-and-found department, another was out of service, and yet another was answered by a psychiatry clinic for children and teens. Several others were for general psychiatry clinics. Only two of the 12 numbers listed were to actual neuropsychology providers. One offered appointments ten weeks out, while the other explained that there was a six-to-eight-month wait for an appointment."

Up to 37,000 positions may be dropped, with the VA transformed into a facilitator for outsourcing, sources tell the Prospect.

12/05/2025

A multi-billion dollar project to upgrade all Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals' computers, set to expand in 2026, is plagued with critical issues affecting patient safety and system reliability according to medical staff who currently use the program. Among the program's most serious reported problems are the disappearance of crucial patient notes, incorrectly logged prescription dosages, and a patient erroneously listed as deceased.

The latest iteration of the Federal Electronic Health Record Modernization program, launched in 2018 to replace the older computer system used across VA's health care network, has been beset with errors since the system went live. In 2023, in response to a FOIA request, VA disclosed that “the new records system played a role in more than 4,400 cases of ‘known harms,' ranging from ‘minor' to ‘catastrophic.' VA has subsequently confirmed those cases included six deaths.”

With plans to expand the program to medical facilities in five more states in 2026, VA officials say many of the problems have been addressed and that the system now works. However, “more than a dozen medical professionals” across six “VA hospital networks using the new system said in interviews that many problems that have plagued the rollout persist, slowing care and in some cases, threatening patient safety.”

Read the full article from The Spokesman-Review:

On the eve of a major expansion, a multibillion-dollar project to upgrade the computer systems of all Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals is beset with problems, according to some medical staff who already use it. Critical patient notes disappear. Prescriptions log the wrong dosages. One nurse....

11/20/2025

SSA Ditches Plans to Hinder Older Americans' Access to Disability Benefits

From the Washington Post:

The Social Security Administration has abandoned plans to block thousands of older Americans from qualifying for disability benefits after an uproar that reached senior officials in the Trump White House, according to people familiar with the decision.

The agency is also halting a plan to use modern labor market data to help judge whether disability claimants can work, a project that has cost the federal government more than $350 million so far. The new data would have replaced a long-outdated jobs database that until recently included obsolete occupations such as nut sorters and telephone quotation clerks. [...]

Jason Turkish — an attorney representing disabled people and co-founder of the advocacy group Alliance for America's Promise — said SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano and other administration officials assured him in meetings over the past week that the proposal would not move forward. A former Social Security executive familiar with the disability program confirmed that Bisignano has scrapped the proposed rule. […]

The policy would have fundamentally altered who qualifies for the two federal disability programs by eliminating or limiting a person’s age as a factor to consider.

11/07/2025

VA has said that the ongoing federal government shutdown is impacting services for about a million veterans. While core healthcare programs and VA benefits have not been affected, according to the department, "more than 900,000 veterans are currently unable to reach the GI Bill Hotline because that service has been suspended" and "counseling and case-management services through the Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR & E) program are also paused," impacting over 100,000 veteran enrollees. Additionally, in-person veteran services have been severely affected, with 56 regional benefits offices closing to the public. The shutdown is also interrupting transition services for those nearing separation as well as national cemetery upkeep.

The full article is available from Newsweek.

The VA detailed a number of significant interruptions to services due to the federal government shutdown.

10/24/2025

From NOSSCR:

"Today, Social Security announced a 2.8% benefit increase for 2026. This will increase the average monthly Social Security benefit for disability beneficiaries from $1,586 to $1,630. The COLA will take effect beginning in January 2026.

You can view additional information about these changes on SSA's 2026 COLA Fact Sheet.

The Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) threshold will increase from $1,620/month to $1,690/month for non-blind individuals, and the Trial Work Period (TWP) threshold will increase from $1,160/month to $1,210/month.

The SSI Federal Payment Standard will increase to $994/month for an individual and $1,491/month for a couple. The SSI Resource limits are fixed by statute and will remain unchanged.

While it has not yet been announced, an increase in the "user fee" assessed to representatives receiving direct payment typically follows any COLA announcement, and we will update you as soon as that information becomes available."

09/23/2025

The VA has not yet explained why as many as 35,000 veteran homeowners with VA-backed mortgages recently received letters from VA stating they were at risk of foreclosure. The VA has also not confirmed whether veterans who received such letters are indeed facing foreclosure.

Congressional Democrats sent a letter to VA requesting an explanation “of how the incident occurred, what steps have been taken to resolve the issue, and how it can be prevented in the future. They also asked that the VA contact each veteran with an explanation and give them an up-to-date summary of their mortgage status.”

In May, the Biden-era Veterans Assistance Servicing Program, whose aim was to help over 40,000 veterans avert foreclosure, officially ended. About the program’s closure, the VA commented that it is “not set up or intended to be a mortgage loan restructuring service.”

Read more from Task & Purpose:

Thousands of veterans received "erroneous" letters warning that the homes, financed with VA Home Loans, were in danger of foreclosure.

09/09/2025

While VA no longer plans to cut 80,000 employees, the agency will reduce staff by 30,000 and is setting new limits on staffing levels and future hiring. VA secretary Doug Collins will establish a baseline number of approved employees, which will lead to major departmental offices cutting positions that exceed these new thresholds. The expectation is that VA will focus on eliminating positions that are unfilled rather than those that are currently staffed.

Read the full article from Government Executive:

The Veterans Affairs Department secretary is creating a new "baseline" that cannot easily be exceeded, according to internal memo.