November 12, 2008

Indianapolis, IN -  Raymond J. Ohlson, CLU, President and CEO of The Ohlson Group, a national insurance marketing and retirement planning organization, is “thrilled to announce a new, strategic alliance with The Veterans Legal Assistance Network” (VLAN) based in Nashville, Tennessee.  “VLAN,” Ohlson explains, “is a remarkable organization dedicated to serving the interest of America’s veterans and their families as a totally objective and independent voice before the Department of Veterans Affairs.”  The focus of this representation, according to Ohlson, is to pursue the veteran’s interest “aggressively, fairly, and honestly when seeking veterans’ disability relief.”

The path to qualifying for veterans’ disability benefits can be confusing and frustrating for many vets.  Finding the right disability program and determining if the vet is qualified for benefits often result in months and months of searching, calling, writing letters, sorting through myths and misinformation, and enduring more frustration.  In fact, VA Disability Programs as they relate to Long Term Care have been called “the least understood benefit” available to veterans and their dependents. 

In teaming up with VLAN, Ohlson hopes to take a lot of the confusion out of this often complicated and frustrating process and help vets find the right balance between government-sponsored benefits and private funding tools for off-setting the extraordinary medical costs vets often encounter, especially as they get older. 

VLAN has represented literally thousands of claimants seeking disability entitlements before the VA with an extremely high rate of success.  VLAN is the legal practice of Karl D. Warden, J.D., LLM, and Philip Perez, J.D.  Mr. Warden and Mr. Perez are attorneys accredited by the VA’s Office of the General Counsel.  This accreditation is required under Federal statute 38 USC, Section 5901 in order to legally assist veterans with their claims.  VLAN’s practice is limited to Service Connected and Non-Service Connected Disability claims (Compensation or Pension).  According to Dr. Glenn Osborne, Dr. App. Sc (Gerontology) who directs Veterans Educational and Advocacy Initiatives for VLAN, the vet’s “actual claim will be directed a VLAN attorney and assisted by a certified paralegal who will prepare, present, and prosecute the claim for VA disability benefits.”  VLAN paralegals have received many hours of training in applicable federal statutes, regulations, and VA claim development policy. 

Osborne further explains that “the Compensation Program provides compensatory financial relief for veterans who incurred disabling injuries or disease as a direct result of active-duty military service or a pre-existing medical condition aggravated by active-duty service.  The Pension Program provides similar relief for war-time veterans whose disability is not in any way related to active-duty service but who are rated as totally disabled. Both programs have special benefits that can substantially assist with the high cost of long-term care.” 

On the strategic alliance with The Ohlson Group, Osborne says, “We are excited to be dealing with a first-class organization that has the veterans’ best interests at heart.  It also doesn’t hurt that with Jim “Medicaid Mac” McHale on board, we are able to align with America’s premier Medicaid Planning experts!  We believe this alliance will allow deserving veterans to access their entitlements as well as insure that any steps taken today will not affect other Federal entitlement programs, such as Medicaid, in the future.”

Ohlson, who began selling life insurance while completing his undergraduate degree at Ball State University (Muncie, IN) in the early ‘70s, owns and operates The Ohlson Group, based in Indianapolis.  “Our mission,” Ohlson says, “is to help our associates – financial advisors – in the field provide solid answers to the thousands of clients we see each year, many of whom are veterans, some surviving as far back as World War II.   With this alliance between The Ohlson Group and Veterans Legal Assistance Network, we will be better equipped to handle any question the vet might have regarding Long Term Care issues and anything else related to his or her Veterans’ Disability Claims.” 

The two groups will begin training advisors all across the country soon, with a big kickoff in Indianapolis in January ’09.  Both firms are committed to an extensive and continual on-line and webinar based training program.

For more information, veterans and their family members are invited to visited both the Ohlson Group’s website (www.ohlsongroup.com) or VLAN’s website (www.veteranslegal.org).  Or, you may call Ohlson at 1-317-844-4411.

Contact:

Terri Gearlds
The Ohlson Group
510 E. 96th Street, Suite 185
Indianapolis, IN 46240
(317) 844-4411
tgearlds@ohlsongroup.com