If the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) was a business, it would have shut down a long time ago. If you tried to obtain goods or services, and you had to wait more than a year to receive them, you would take your business elsewhere. Anybody would.
But for many military veterans, young and old, who seek compensation for a physical or psychological disability caused by their military service, they and their families often wait a year or more before the application for compensation benefits is decided upon.
It doesn’t end there, either. If the military veteran is denied compensation benefits, and the veteran believes that the VA made an incorrect decision, the veteran can appeal that decision. But again, it can take another year or more for the VA to grant or deny the appeal.
The catch in all this is that having a successful claim for VA disability compensation is often the gateway to VA medical care. No matter that VA disability benefits may be the veteran’s sole source of income. No matter that the veteran may have a serious medical condition.
VetsFirst, a project of United Spinal Association, believes it’s time to reform the VA to end these unacceptable backlogs of veteran’s claims for compensation and appeals cases. We seek the peoples help to stop the physical, mental, and economic damage caused by these backlogs to men and women who have served their country honorably. The Congress and the administration must provide the VA with the resources it needs to improve its business practices to wipe out the backlogs, to handle its increasing caseload, and to foster a “get it right the first time” mentality for claims for VA benefits.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 at 10:54 pm and is filed under United Spinal News, Veterans Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.