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VA Processes Nearly All Disability Claims Pending Over 2 Years, Moves to Complete Those Older Than 1

WASHINGTON 6/20/2013 – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced today that as a result of the initiative launched in April to expedite disability compensation claims decisions for Veterans who have a waited a year or longer, more than 65,000-claims – or 97 percent of all claims over two years old in the inventory – have been eliminated from the backlog.

Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) staff will now focus their efforts on completing the disability claims of Veterans who have been waiting over one year for a decision, while completing the final batch of oldest claims in progress.

“Over the past two months, VA has been dedicated to providing earned benefits to the Veterans who have waited the longest,” said VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki. “Thanks to our hard-working VBA employees, we have completed nearly all claims that have been pending two years or longer. We’ve made great progress, but know much works remains to be done to eliminate the backlog in 2015.”

“The success of this phase of the effort was due in part to the implementation of mandatory overtime for the Veterans Benefits Administration’s (VBA) claims processing staff, as well as the dedicated support of physicians from the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), who expedited exams to provide medical evidence needed to rate these pending claims,” said Under Secretary for Benefits Allison A. Hickey.

The remaining two-year-old claims will be finalized in the coming days except for those that are outstanding due to unique circumstances, such as the unavailability of a claimant for a needed medical exam, military service, vacation, or travel overseas.

In May, VA announced that it was mandating overtime for claims processors in its 56 regional benefits offices to increase production of compensations claims decisions, which will continue through the end of FY 2013. Today, VA has the lowest number of claims in its inventory since August 2011 and has reduced the number of claims in the VA backlog – claims pending over 125 days – by 10 percent since the initiative began.

Under this initiative, VA claims raters may make final or provisional decisions on the oldest claims in the inventory, which will allow Veterans to begin collecting compensation benefits more quickly, if eligible. Veterans are able to submit additional evidence for consideration a full year after the provisional rating before VA issues a final decision. If no further evidence is received within that year, VBA will inform Veterans that their ratings are final and provide information on the standard appeals process, which can be found at http://www.bva.va.gov/. If a Veteran disagrees with a final decision and chooses to appeal, the appeal is entered into the appellate processing system, and is not reflected in the claims inventory.

VA continues to prioritize disability claims for homeless Veterans, those experiencing extreme financial hardship, the terminally ill, former Prisoners of War, Medal of Honor recipients, and Veterans filing Fully Developed Claims, which is the quickest way for Veterans to receive a decision on their compensation claim (http://www.benefits.va.gov/fdc/).

Claims for Wounded Warriors separating from the military for medical reasons will continue to be handled separately and on a priority basis with the Department of Defense through the Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES). Wounded Warriors separating through IDES currently receive VA compensation benefits in an average of 61 days following their separation from service.

VA’s inventory is comprised mostly of supplemental claims from Veterans already receiving disability compensation who are seeking to address worsening conditions or claim additional disabilities. Regardless of the status of compensation claims, Veterans who have served in combat since Nov. 11, 1998, are eligible for five years of free medical care for most conditions from VA. This eligibility was enacted through the National Defense Authorization Act of 2008.

Veterans can learn more about disability benefits on the joint Department of Defense/VA web portal eBenefits at www.ebenefits.va.gov.

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Military Prepares Leaders for Humanitarian Response Missions

MAY 25, 2022 – “The Indo-Pacific region is the most disaster prone region in the world,” said Lt. Col. Patrick Blankenship, G9 Director of Civil Affairs with I Corps. “It’s not a matter of if it’s going to happen but when.” Although natural disasters are to be expected, they still leave a lasting effect on […]

Is the Army Reserve Calling You?

APRIL 27, 2022 – Graduating high school is a momentous achievement culminating in years of hard work and dedication. It also presents one of the most challenging questions many people will face in their life, “What do I do now?” Many high school students struggle with what they should do next, joining the workforce or […]

NEXCOM’s NEXT Gen Scholars Program Support Students

MAY 17, 2022 – The Navy Exchange Service Command’s (NEXCOM) NEXT gen Scholars Program offers qualified students the opportunity to win $2,500, $1,500, $1,000 or $500 each quarter for earning good grades in school. The next drawing is at the end of June 2022. To enter the drawing, students must be full-time with a “B” […]

How to Live as a Civilian After Active Duty

MAY 20, 2022 – When you were on active duty, money might not have been a huge issue. You lived on base, ate at the mess hall, and didn’t have any outstanding debt. Life was far different than what you lived prior to entering the service. But now that your time in the military is […]

DoD Authorizes Temporary Increase to 2021 BAH Rates

SEPTEMBER 27, 2021 – The Department of Defense has temporarily authorized increases in the 2021 Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) rates for 56 housing markets (commonly referred to as Military Housing Areas, MHAs) across the U.S. Uniformed service members who have incurred increased housing costs above their current BAH may be eligible to apply and […]

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