Will California ban companies from charging vets to secure benefits? Some say it should

The $1,102 Adan Montalvo gets every month in disability from the Department of Veterans Affairs makes a difference for him, but he regrets the price he paid for it. 

Montalvo was able to obtain the benefit after signing a contract with a private company that compiles medical evidence to help veterans establish disability claims. The process worked, and Montalvo began receiving the money some 52 years after he left the Army with a bad knee. 

But there was a catch. His contract with Trajector Medical required him to pay five times the value of his new monthly benefit almost right away. That was $5,500 he didn’t have. 

“They wanted to collect all of it, and I told them how am I going to give you money I don’t have?” he said. 

For the second year in a row, California lawmakers are on the brink of banning fees for the kind of service Montalvo received. 

Critics of the paid services say the practice already is illegal under a federal law that says only accredited officers can help veterans file those claims, and that claims representatives can be paid only under specific circumstances. And, they note that veterans can get the same assistance for free from county veteran service offices, as well as from several veterans organizations that have long been accredited with the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

But the law banning paid services lost its teeth after a 2006 overhaul removed criminal penalties for violations,helping to spawn a burgeoning for-profit industry that now caters to veterans who want help with the VA’s notoriously slow claims process. 

That’s an affront to many former military service members who view the charges as a violation of the compact the nation makes with those who serve. Several of the companies have fee formulas similar to what Montalvo paid. That could result in a charge of $20,000 depending on the veteran’s disability rating. 

“We shouldn’t be charging veterans outrageous amounts of money to access their benefits, benefits they earned through their service,” said Sen. Bob Archuleta, a Democrat from Norwalk who sponsored Senate Bill 694 to ban unaccredited companies from assisting California veterans with disability claims. 

His bill passed the Assembly today is awaiting a final vote in the Senate. Its supporters, however, are not yet celebrating. A similar measure died last year late in the legislative process without a vote in an appropriations committee. One of the larger veterans’ claims companies also is making a concerted push to defend its business as a legitimate alternative to free services.

“We are serving veterans. Yes, we’re doing it as a business but just because we’re doing it as a business doesn’t mean we’re not providing an essential service,” said Bill Taylor, a former Army officer who is the cofounder of Veterans Guardian.

He became the face of the industry over the last four years as first Congress and then state legislatures took up bills to prohibit unaccredited veterans claims services. His company contributed $1.4 million to members of Congress and spent $1.9 million on federal lobbying in 2023 and 2024, according to the campaign finance website Open Secrets. In California this year, his company and another spent $235,000 on lobbying against Archuleta’s bill, according to the website California Lobby Search. 

“Maybe we were the only ones who recognized the existential threat to the industry.

I don’t have a choice; I have to be here,” Taylor said in an interview with CalMatters during a recent visit to Sacramento.

The result is something of a stalemate. Congress has neither passed legislation to reinstate criminal penalties for unaccredited veterans claims services nor passed a competing bill that would permit the companies to operate.

States adopt different policies

States are moving in different directions, too. Maine, New Jersey and New York passed laws to ban the for-profit consultants, while Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and South Dakota, passed laws to allow them, according to The War Horse, a news organization that covers veterans and the military. 

Taylor is urging lawmakers enact policies that would regulate the claims industry, such as by capping fees and prohibiting misleading advertising. He noted that his company has no shortage of clients, and the people often turn to it out of frustration with the VA or with free claims services. 

But Archuleta and the veterans groups supporting his proposal say it’s impossible to distinguish bad actors from responsible ones. They want California to step in with a state policy until Congress resolves whether the for-profit claims consultants can gain accreditation and be regulated by the federal government. 

“The point is here you should never take money from the veteran. That is absolutely scandalous that that is permitted,” William Swenson, a Medal of Honor recipient from the Afghanistan War who recently visited Sacramento to meet with lawmakers in support of Archuleta’s bill, told CalMatters. He now is working for a company that is developing a different approach to helping veterans with their claims.

Veterans unprepared for fee

Montalvo, 72, of Lamont was able to work out a payment plan with Trajector. It includes a small interest fee. He said he had his knee checked when he left the Army in 1973, but it didn’t result in a disability rating. 

He said Trajector reached out to him by a text message and a phone call, and he replied thinking it was worth a shot. Today, his monthly disability check helps with groceries, although he’s sending more than half of it to Trajector and he pays off his bill.

John Ryan, 68, had a similar experience with Trajector. “They were really polite and I was under the influence that they worked with the VA, as soon as I got the impression I felt relaxed. They asked me questions and they moved pretty fast. I was surprised they got results so fast,” he said.

His claim resulted in $171 monthly disability payment for hearing loss stemming his service in the Marines. He said he also was unprepared to pay Trajector’s full fee right away, although he has paid it off. 

Trajector spokesperson Steven Zenofsky said the company strives to make its fee structure clear to veterans before working with them. Like Taylor’s Veterans Guardian, Trajector also was co-founded by a veteran and its leaders view themselves as helping former military service members navigate a confusing process.

If a veteran receives $1,000 a month after working with a claims consultant, Zenofsky said, “That’s $1,000 a month tax free. From that perspective, many of our clients would say ‘The fee was for a valuable service provided that I wouldn’t normally get on my own, and for life.’” 

Sen. Archuleta wants to steer more resources to California’s county veteran service officers, who are accredited to work on VA claims and can help direct veterans to a wide range of services in addition to disability payments. 

David West, who served in the Marine Corps and is a Nevada County veterans services officer, has been an outspoken advocate for the bill. He was once homeless, and he said at one point in his life he would have signed a contract with a for-profit claims consultant. 

He would have regretted it, he said. 

“That’s not what my recruiter promised me,” he said “You’re 19. You come in, we’ll take care of you and you’ll never have to pay a thing.”

“We can’t allow for this middleman to show up and break that promise,” he said. 

This story was updated to include the Assembly’s vote on Sen. Archuleta’s bill to prohibit unaccredited veterans claims consultants, as well as more information about of states that have passed related laws.