none of those had existed prior to the bodett case. also because decisions had been governed under regular clinical appeals, clinical appeals in the v.a. do not require justification. they simply can be listed as approved or denied. and so with the bodett decision, the v.a. did undertake -- sen. kelly: can you describe the bodett decision? ms. sawyer: sure. it's a court decision that basically said a veteran and spouse leave the v.a. and said we weren't eligible for the program but we don't really know why because the letter you sent us doesn't tell us why and we don't have a right to appeal that we would in other situations. so the bodett decision then created those extra avenues for appeals and it created the need for the eight-point letter. the eight-point letter is a letter the veteran gets that basically mirrors the process within the v.b.a. or the veterans benefits administration that explains exactly why a veteran is denied. so with the setting up of the supplemental claims and higher level reviews, this is something unique to v

none of those had existed prior to the bodett case.ecisions had been governed under regular clinical appeals, clinical appeals in the v.a. do not require justification. they simply can be listed as approved or denied. and so with the bodett decision, the v.a. did undertake -- sen. kelly: can you describe the bodett decision? ms. sawyer: sure. it's a court decision that basically said a veteran and spouse leave the v.a. and said we weren't eligible for the program but we don't really know why because the letter you sent us doesn't tell us why and we don't have a right to appeal that we would in other situations. so the bodett decision then created those extra avenues for appeals and it created the need letter. the eight-point letter is a letter the veteran gets that basically mirrors the process within the v.b.a. or the veterans benefits administration that explains exactly why a veteran is denied. so with the setting up of the supplemental claims and higher level reviews, this is something unique to v.h.a. they had never done before. s