Veterans Care, all states are not the same

There is confusion between what the states are responsible for and what the federal government is responsible for. This confusion comes from some states cutting back on VA budgets at the same time the federal government is pumping in a lot of money into the VA. This is what the Federal VA is responsible for followed by what the State of Florida is responsible for.

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When it comes to the issue of claims, there was already a problem in 2001. A task force was formed to see how bad the problem was and what could be done about it.

Task force issues report on VA claims processing
By Kellie Lunney klunney@govexec.com October 3, 2001
Poor planning and an overall lack of accountability by the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) are partly to blame for the agency's dismal claims processing record, according to a VA task force created to study the problem.

The task force, which was launched last spring and included representatives of the VA, industry and veterans organizations, submitted its final report to VA Secretary Anthony J. Principi on Wednesday.

Despite VBA's efforts in recent years to improve the timeliness and accuracy of claims, the agency has failed to provide its 57 regional offices with the proper leadership, guidance and training in handling claims processing, the 14-member task force concluded.

Its report included 34 recommendations for improving VA's claims process, ranging from providing better training to VBA employees to creating specialized regional offices focusing on one part of the overall claims process.

Principi pledged to "study and act" on the task force's recommendations "with urgency." "This report will not sit on a shelf gathering dust," he said.

The agency task force, led by Ret. Navy Vice Adm. Daniel L. Cooper, criticized VBA for failing to provide clear and uniform guidance to regional offices and keep them abreast of changes in VA policy. The confusion has resulted in an inconsistent claims process that varies widely throughout the agency.

"There may be a system, but it is improperly coordinated and less effective than it must be to ensure both fairness to the veteran and efficiency in processing claims," the report said.

On average, it takes VBA 194 days to process a claim, which includes requests by veterans for disability compensation, pensions, and survivors' benefits. There are more than 500,000 cases, excluding appeals, still pending in VBA's backlog. The agency hopes to eventually reduce those figures to 74 days and 250,000 cases, respectively.

The VBA's claims processing system has been repeatedly criticized in recent years as slow and inefficient. The agency has tried to improve its claims processing accuracy by using case management techniques and by reorganizing its field offices into clusters meant to collaborate with one another.

Despite its attempts at reform, VBA still reported errors in 41 percent of the claims it processed in fiscal 2000. The task force called on the VA to hold VBA officials at headquarters and the regional offices accountable for performance, rewarding those offices that reach their goals and cracking down on those that fail.

read more here

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1001/100301m1.htm

As you can see, the problems we see today with the claims is as huge as it is because problems found in 2001 were not corrected. The report last week on Houston Texas, should give you an idea of what we're heading into and it's not good.
Houston, We've got a problem! This time with veterans claims


You can go here for more information on what you are able to receive

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