Va Claim Backlog, How Many?

[allan]

VETERANS FOR COMMON SENSE: VA CLAIM BACKLOG, HOW MANY?

Posted on October 22, 2009 by gordonduff

How Many and For How Long are Claims Pending at VA?

Written by Bob Brewin

The Veterans Affairs Department manages a whole bunch of claims -- for disability, education and even burial benefits. Until this month, the department presented data on pending claims in a relatively straightforward fashion in a spreadsheet called the Monday Morning Workload Report.But starting on Oct. 5, the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) said it reformatted the reports to provide a "more meaningful and transparent look" at the data. But veterans groups said the new and improved Monday Morning Workload Report does neither. The spiffy new format also omitted for the past three weeks data on pending education claims, which could lead anyone with even a mild case of paranoia to assume VBA was trying to hide this information due to the fact that it has botched claims processing and payments for vets going to school under the new post 9/11 GI

Bill.Katie Roberts, the VA press secretary, assures me that omission of educations claims data this month was due to a technical glitch and that information will be in the database next week.How could VBA not notice such key information was missing for almost a month?

Jerry Manar, deputy director for national veterans services at the VFW, told me that in his view the changes in the new VBA report format "seem more designed to confuse those who monitor the progress and problems at VA rather than shed fresh light on them."

Paul Sullivan, head of Veterans for Common Sense, said he found the new format "misleading and cumbersome" and does not have a grand total of all the claims pending at VA. "It's missing two key pieces of information: How many vets are waiting [to have their claims processed] and how long are they waiting."

Manar said under the old format, VBA reported on Sept. 26 that it had 750,538 claims of all types pending at its regional offices. Under the old reporting format VBA had a total of 200,000 claims under appeal.

Under the new format, that dropped to 176,415, with no explanation for the revised number, Manar said.I guess that's one way for the VBA to magically reduce its claims backlog: change the way it presents the data.This whole new format is about as transparent as an Abrams tank.

http://www.veteranstoday.com/article9078.html

Edited October 24, 2009 by allan

[broncovet]

Good Post Alan

Since the VA could not get us to believe that Shineski can reduce the backlog, now they are trying to get us to beleive that he Did reduce the backlog while it has actually grown about 16% under his watch.

It reminds me of the Funniest Home Video clip about the kid, caught red handed stealing cookies out of the cookie jar who started crying and shouted, "I didnt do it!" before he was even asked.

According to the numbers I beleive, there are about 4 times as many Veterans currently waiting on the VA to process their benefits NOW (about 1 million) than there are the TOTAL number of 100% disabled Veterans. (About 250,000).

In other words, the VA waiting list is about TWICE as long as ALL the LIVING Disabled Vets, Plus ALL the Living IU Vets, combined. Thats some more "VA fuzzy math" the VA wants us to beleive.

Edited October 24, 2009 by broncovet

[allan]

ncovet,

Whenever I hear the VA brag about how well they are doing to reduce the claims backlog, I only need to look at how my own claim has been handled by the DVA since 1995.

Ever watch the movie, "Used Cars"?

The VA is always trying to sell their agency like it's a new Caddy no matter who the secretary is, when in reality it belches smoke & is painted with water based paint. There's little they can do but scrap it for the junk it is.

Nothing they do reduces the backlogs. The more backlogs, the more vets will give up on their claims. So why bother to except evidence of entitlement, when delay & deny is the goal anyway? It's better to keep it all going just as it is & sell it to the country as the best thing this nation can do for its vets.

It works. The people of this nation will believe anything without lifting a finger to turn the page.

How many vets actually believe the VA really cares about them? How many of them will spend a decade waiting for their claims to be finalized?

It's an absolute shame to think of how many will get treated like I have.

Edited October 24, 2009 by allan

[john999]

The way vets are treated is the shame of the nation. The question is how do we vets get attention for our plight. Things have only gotton worse. Things are going to get worse in the future. I bet just about every vet coming back for Iraq or Afghanistan is probably filing a claim. They are not like the WWII vets or even Nam vets. They roam the internet getting information from others to battle the VA. I think the word has gotten out that if you have anything wrong with your to file a claim before you are discharged. That is good, but the VA is unprepared and uncaring. Heads need to roll at VA HQ. The Prez and Congress need to make it happen. We need to make them make it happen. I bet the number of 100% vets has remained steady for years. One gets on and one gets off (dies). If the backlog is a million then a million vets need to make their voices heard above the crooks on Wall Street and all the rest who hoot for attention and money. Who deserves the nation's gratitude more than us? Maybe active duty in combat, but no one else. Who gets the attention? The guys who never served a day in their life and have spent years getting rich while teenagers fight their wars.