DAV offers idea to speed up VA claims

Vets group offers idea to speed VA claims

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Feb 8, 2010 17:27:16 EST

Veterans could receive disability benefits faster, with fewer errors, if new Veterans Affairs Department employees worked exclusively on simple claims and experienced employees handled everything else, says a Disabled American Veterans official.

John Wilson, DAV’s assistant national legislative director, said new employees take too long to process claims and are prone to mistakes. If VA wants to move faster and with more accuracy, he said, new employees should be restricted to processing benefits claims prepared with the help of a veterans service officer from one of the major veterans groups.

More experienced VA workers could handle claims that had not been pre-screened, Wilson said in an interview and in testimony provided to the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

Wilson’s suggestion comes as VA and Congress grapple with ways to handle an ever-increasing backlog of claims that leaves veterans waiting, on average, 160 days for an initial decision. Making the wait even more painful is the fact that the initial decision is often wrong, and a veteran can spend up to two years appealing a claim.
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Vets group offers idea to speed VA claims