Part Of The Backlog Is Caused By The Economy

[JamesBreckenridge]

I thought that the reasons claims were up 14 percent was because we were fighting two wars for the past 8 years... but I'm told that the numbers don't bear that out. Lord knows that I only rarely get a Global War On Terror (GWOT) vet's claim. Almost all of my claims are Vietnam vets and retired peacetime vets, coming in for their first claim ever, or claiming every condition under the sun as secondary to their service connected condition.

I think it's the economy. Social Security is experiencing exactly the same thing we are.

<i>Applications for retirement benefits are 23 percent higher than last year, while disability claims have risen by about 20 percent. Social Security officials had expected applications to increase from the growing number of baby boomers reaching retirement, but they didn't expect the increase to be so large.

What happened? The recession hit and many older workers suddenly found themselves laid off with no place to turn but Social Security.

"A lot of people who in better times would have continued working are opting to retire," said Alan J. Auerbach, an economics and law professor at the University of California, Berkeley. "If they were younger, we would call them unemployed."</i>

From http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090927/ap_on_...y_retirements_8

I'm not trying to justify our backlog, but rather to shed some light on part of a multifactorial cause.

[LarryJ]

Ya know, James, we are very verrrry sloooow learners.

The reason I say that is this:

I was one of the folks on the "leading edge" of the so-called baby boomer generation (born in Nov of '44).

And, of course, the public schools took forever to figure out that there really were more kids entering grade school, junior high and high school, in lock-step with me getting older.

Then, of course, came college. My first year of college, the baby-boomers hit, and with that happening, it made for some interesting situations. For example, for my very first semester in college I had Early European Civilization at 0700 (lent NEW meaning to Early European Civ and, of course, the dining hall didn't open until 0700, then, on the same MWF that I had the 0700 class I had LATIN at NOON!

And, now I'm (along with everyone else) STILL, 40 years later, STILL fighting the effects of the baby-boomer generation!

Seems like someone would have taken a look at the census data and extropolated some figures and been PREPARED!

huh? :)

[carlie]

James,

Is another reson you have not personally dealt with many OIF/OEF

vets is due to the BDD system and MEB's and PEB's ?

car;ie

[Papa]

Jim,

There was a news story on TV today saying exactly the same thing about Social Security, and one can assume the same is true regarding the VA. However, we have had downturns in the economy before, so what was the VA's backlog records in other downturns? I work for an agency of DOD, and it seems like every few years we get a new director. This new Director, of course, wants to reorganize, redo everthing the previoud Director did, and just at the time we were getting use to his/her policies. Now, we will go through a big change that will take us up to the time he will retire. Basically, there is no stabability for the worker bee. Jim, maybe you go through the same thing, and could it be that the VA has gotten to big and unmanageable as a whole. I have always wondered if the the VA has all the Veteran's medical records in a database such as EDA or EDW. Please do not tell me that all this is done my hand :) .

Papa

[JamesBreckenridge]

Larry: You would think they would learn. Maybe they're not thinking past the next election cycle... I don't understand how anyone could be surprised by basic demographic data.

Carlie: Nope, that stuff just speeds up development. I still have to write a decision. I like those claims, they can be rated quick because all the evidence or lack thereof is right there close to hand.

Papa: The laws and regs change, but that's what they do. I can adapt to them. I try to keep my head down and avoid the politics of the situation; too many vets are depending on me making a decision on their claim. I'm scared to take a damn sick day because I've seen some awful things, and I'm scared that I might make a decision one day too late. And of course the older medical records are not computerized. I'm trying to read doctors heiroglyphics written 50 years ago on tissue paper. The new vets DO have computerized records (and of course I have access to everyone's VA hospital records back to some time in the 90s). Of course, this results in a TON of medical records, because what used to be a one page entry scrawled on a service treatment record is now a five page computer printout of the guys past medical history, current complaint, vital signs, meds, and the results of any lab tests and a final diagnosis. It's easier to read, but it's just that much more I have to go through... but like I said before, that's my problem, not yours.

[broncovet]

You want to blame the economy for the backlog? This sounds like one government agency blaming another government agency to me. The economy is the same for the IRS, yet the IRS gets millions of tax return checks out in a few weeks..regardless of the economy.

Did the word "planning" ever occur to the VA? Oh, I dont know, maybe they could plan for increased applications, say, due to a new GI bill? Or, how about "contingency planning"...in the event of a recession or otherwise an increase in applications for things like wars.

The backlog is not about the economy..its about bad management by the Department of Veterans affairs. It isnt the Veterans fault, it isnt the war's fault...maybe you could try blaming, oh, say..greenhouse gasses?

If Shinseki was a coach in the NFL he would be fired for poor performance. The "team" he took over, even tho it did have a dismal record, got much worse after his "watch".

The VA is managed by what we call "management by putting out fires". It is always a worst case senario. There is no planning, but a string of one fire to put out after another. The VA is rocked with scandal after scandal. The VA lost $342 million, just in the IT scandal. What has it done to improve it? Why it has rewarded these workers with $24 million in bonuses. Until/unless the VA changes its ways, it is going to get the same results as in the past. Shinseki has not only increased the backlog of disability claims by 16% but added a "new" category of backlogs..VA education backlogs. He has tried to implement a band aid approach to fixing that, too.

[jbasser]

This proves one thing.

We have never been prepared for anything.

2 world wars, we werent prepared.

We are a reactive nation. Proactivity does not exist within the parameters.

There lies the problem.

One man aint going to fix it. It will take a complete system overhaul.

J