Growing Claims Backlog Frustrates Veterans

[struggle4progress]

... VA workload reports for early February show that more than 600,000 disability compensation claims are waiting to be answered. In North Carolina, 23% of the 25,000 claims have been pending at least six months. In South Carolina, 12% of the 8,600 claims are also still pending after six months.

Veterans' advocates say the backlog means veterans must wait to get money and medical care owed to them that many desperately need. They blame staff shortages at the VA, the aging population of America's veterans, and the influx of claims from troops injured in the Iraq war. The National Service Director for Disabled American Veterans, Randy Reese, says older veterans are often waiting the longest.

"The average age of those veterans is way up there, and there's a lot of them who are dying while they're waiting for the adjudication of their claims," he said ...

http://www.wsoctv.com/specialreports/11053167/detail.html

[james101]

1. I put in a claim

about 4 or 5 months ago and I've only recieved 2 letters saying they recieved my claim. It's weird how Bush brags about increasing the VA
budget so much but for some reason there's less and less employees at the VA able to help.