Indiana Accident News

Backlog Of Veterans’ Disability Claims Doubled In The Past Year

Politicians, veterans, and government workers have been shocked and saddened to see that the number of backlogged veterans’ disability cases has more than doubled in the past year, from 200,000 disability cases that take longer than 125 days to process a year ago to 450,000 cases this year. Critics say that the Department of Veterans’ Affairs should have seen the emerging problem and taken steps to fix the issue months ago.

Currently, there are 756,000 disability claims pending at any given time – up from 448,000 a year ago this month. 

Why is the backlog of veterans’ disability applications growing so rapidly? Experts say that there are several reasons. As large numbers of soldiers return from Iraq and Afghanistan with disabilities, the number of applications grow. At the same time, different standards for some combat-related health issues, such as Agent Orange exposure, mean more veterans are seeking support. In addition, aging veterans from the Vietnam War are seeking medical support while a poor economy has those without jobs looking falling back on disability payments to get by.

The Department of Veterans’ Affairs believes that the average Veterans’ disability benefits case will take eight months by 2012. The most troubling part of this growing problem? Veterans’ Affairs has not said what they will be doing in order to improve the process and speed up claims. Until then, some veterans are going months without payment, while others are dying of their conditions before receiving relief. While the VA has hired 3,000 new employees to help with the backlog, many are inexperienced and the new workforce has done little to put a dent in the growing mountain of cases.

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