Our Vets are still waiting too long to receive the benefits they have earned.
The USA Today reported yesterday that the benefits claims backlog within the Department of Veteran Affairs has continued to grow. Making matters worse is that there are accusations from Congress and Veterans groups that the VA knew a massive influx of claims would be coming, but failed to take action ahead of time.
The number of claims taking four months or more to process has increased from 200,000 in the last year to 450,000. The total number of pending claims has risen from 448,000 to 756,000. VA expects that Veterans submitting new claims will have to wait six months for their claim to be processed, and that next year, the estimated wait time will jump to eight months.
While 3,000 claims processors were hired last year - a move which brought the total to 14,000 - many were untrained and inexperienced, resulting in rampant administrative errors, causing even more problems in the system.
What this means is Veterans will have to wait even longer to receive compensation for their combat-related disabilities.
VA says there are three underlying reasons for the growing problem they are facing:
1) Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have more complex claims than in past wars, and that reviewing them takes more time.
2) Requirements for Agent Orange-related claims were recently relaxed, which meant there was a sudden spike in claims stemming from Vietnam-era soldiers who were in contact with the dangerous chemical.
3) Claims always increase during a bad economy.
Regardless of the reasons, there is a simple, incontrovertible fact—our soldiers are fighting an incredibly violent and dangerous war, and they deserve the benefits they have earned.
An article in Wednesday’s L.A. Times reported that the number of multiple-limb amputations has tripled, going from 21 in 2009 to 65 in 2010. While fatalities are thankfully lower compared to past wars, this means that surviving soldiers will need even more of VA’s help reintegrating back into society.
These factors have worked together to create a perfect storm where the VA is unable to properly help Veterans, and as more and more Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans are preparing to come home, the cycle stands to get worse.
Because we have an all-volunteer military, the number of troops is finite. As these wars drag on, soldiers are being kept in combat longer than originally anticipated and being asked to serve multiple tours of duty. All soldiers who endure the horrors of war are at risk for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and other combat-related injuries, and when one tour becomes four, the chances of being diagnosed with these conditions increase with each passing day.
The process of applying benefits claim is difficult enough as it is, and this arduous process can be made tougher when war-related physical and psychological injuries turn simple tasks like reading and writing into uphill battles. This delays the time in which a claim can be filled out. Once the paperwork has been sent to the VA, there are a multitude of technicalities which can stall a benefit claim from being processed. All the while, Veterans, our nation’s heroes, are left to fend for themselves for months on end.
For 25 years, the National Veterans Foundation has helped tens of thousands of Veterans navigate these waters so that they can receive the help they deserve. Among the many services we offer, NVF helps Vets access their local VA hospital and VA benefits administration office. In addition, we’ll help any Veteran in accessing and completing their benefits claim forms. Also, NVF provides invaluable assistance to Vets in helping them document their claims, as mistakes or losses in paperwork are a major cause for delay. We also help Vets in the appeals process, should their initial claim be denied.
The NVF works tirelessly to help our heroes, but we cannot do it alone. We are grateful for all the help our cherished network of supporters have given us over the years. With the struggles our Veterans are unknowingly coming home to, please consider making a donation to support our work today. Even $5, if everyone chips in, can make a world of difference.
The National Veterans Foundation and Veterans everywhere thank you for your support.
Reprinted from the National Veterans Foundation website
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