Swords to Plowshares

A new report by the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General [PDF Link] concluded that 76% of seriously disabled Iraq and Afghanistan veterans’ claims are failing the Veterans’ Benefits Administration (VBA) own goal of being processed within 30 days. 20% of the claims filed by seriously disabled vets exceed 181 day to process.

VAROs [Veterans Affairs regional Office] did not process 3,776 (76 percent) of 4,969 seriously disabled veteran compensation claims within VBA’s 30-day goal. Of the 4,969 claims VAROs processed, 3,776 did not meet VBA’s goal by an average of 114 days and as much as 504 days.

VAROs did not process these claims promptly because transition assistance controls did not ensure identification of all seriously injured OEF/OIF veterans’ claims and adequate case management of claims. Claim processing delays can cause veterans financial hardships by depriving them of compensation they may need to successfully transition from military service to civilian life.

Moreover,

VBA procedures did not ensure VAROs received the DOD data necessary to identify claims received from seriously disabled OEF/OIF veterans. As a result, only 1,049 (21 percent) of the 4,969 seriously disabled OEF/OIF veterans’ claims were placed on VBA’s OEF/OIF registry for case management. Although VAROs processed the remaining 3,920 claims (79 percent), VBA did not identify them as seriously disabled OEF/OIF veterans’ claims and, as a result, VAROs did not assign the claims the required higher processing priority.