Yes. It certainly concerned me to see that. When I think of veterans' cases, they're often very complex and nuanced. I think they require a lot of human understanding and empathy. It scares me to think there is some idea that an algorithm or a robot might be able to be part of that work. It scares the heck out of me, frankly. It's way too impersonal for what we need to be doing to serve our veterans.
I would ask if you could go back and see what you can find out about what that, in fact, means and provide some information to the committee on that. It certainly is concerning to me. I appreciate that you're not aware of what the intentions are, but if you could see what you can find out and get back to the committee on what those intentions are, it would sure be good to know.
I'll leave that there for a second.
I'll turn to Mr. McNeil or whoever would like to answer on behalf of the Veterans Review and Appeal Board.
I got a letter recently from a veteran. I'm going to quote from that letter, because it had an interesting observation. He said, “It would seem that VAC is systematically denying claims and forcing people to go through the appeals processes, and I would like to know why. I think all veterans deserve to know why. VAC is not supposed to be run like an insurance company, and it's supposed to always give the benefit of the doubt to the veteran.” He goes on to say, “I can say with certainty that people are routinely being denied and forced to go through the appeals process who match the criteria.”
Does that sound like something you've heard from veterans yourself? Do you think there's any accuracy to the comments this veteran shared with me?