VA Claims: Same Old Problem, No New Solution

VA Claims: Same Old Problem, No New Solution

The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee held a hearing Wednesday, July 9, on VA claims processing delays.

Chairman Daniel Akaka (D-HI) told Acting VA Under Secretary for Benefits Patrick Dunne that VA claims will only increase as existing veterans age and more veterans return from Iraq and Afghanistan. He said the VA needs to find a fix for the backlog or claims processing delays will only worsen.

Currently most claims are completed within 185 days, a full two months beyond the 125 days VA says is their target. All senators present and Sec. Dunne agreed that’s wrong. Even the 125-day target is "much too high," said Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT).

Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), the committee’s ranking Republican, said the current 390,000-claim backlog is the highest in ten years. He expressed concern that there’s been little progress in reducing it despite significant increases in the VA budget and staffing in recent years.

Sen. Burr was adamant that a fix be found. "Throwing more money and more personnel is clearly not helping," he said. "The VA’s explanation for this enormous backlog is basically the same as it was ten years ago."

Sec. Dunne said switching to an electronic claims process will help to eliminate some of the delay, citing an IBM recommendation that the VA should move to an electronic, paperless environment. Burr observed dryly that the Committee had been recommending that for years.

MOAA and all military and veterans groups are extremely frustrated with intractable VA claims delays. For many seriously disabled veterans, the VA claim is their main source of income. The country simply must do better in delivering timely compensation members whose military service caused them such extreme sacrifice.

MOAA intends to push hard to sustain full staffing and to accelerate implementation of electronic exchange of DoD/VA data and automated claims processing.