According to a recent FOX News article, the VA’s efforts to reduce the huge backlog of Veterans disability claims as resulted in errors in disability payments made to thousands of Veterans. The VA reportedly issued disability payments to Veterans without verifying they were eligible. One official warned at a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing that unless improvements were made, the VA could end up issuing over $300 million in unsupported disability payments over the next five years.
VA officials have also reported occurrences of serious mishandling of disability claims. VA investigators at VA benefit centers found mail bins that were overfilled with disability claims that had not even been touched. One VA benefits center had mail bins that were filled with unprocessed claims dating as far back as 2011. There were also reports of claims being ignored or shredded in an attempt to reduce the backlog faster, as well as employees changing the dates of older claims to more recent dates to make them appear newer.
An inspector general reportedly blamed these occurrences on corrupt managers within the VA who had moved up into powerful positions “where they have the power to and continue to ruin people’s lives.” Until something is done to rectify this problem, more and more Veterans will not get the disability benefits they are entitled to when they really need them.
Consult with an elder law or disability attorney to see what can be done to ensure your claim for Veterans disability benefits is processed in a timely manner.
