825,000 veterans await disability payments, inquiry finds

825,000 veterans await disability payments, inquiry finds
September 21, 2012
By Bill Heltzel
PublicSource

For more than two years, a former Marine gunnery sergeant from New Kensington has waited for a ruling on whether he is entitled to disability payments for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Matt Hannan, 35, said he filed the claim with the Veterans Benefits Administration before he was medically discharged in 2010, following 15 years of service and two tours of duty in Iraq.

"Every time I try to get an answer, I get no answer," he said.

Mr. Hannan is one of nearly 825,000 veterans nationwide stymied by a bureaucratic backlog that has delayed payments for war-related disabilities, according to a national analysis by the Center for Investigative Reporting.

Pittsburgh is one of the slowest regional offices in the country, ranking 44th out of 58 in early September, according to further analysis by PublicSource. More than 11,000 claims were pending and the average wait was nearly 10 months. Nationally, the wait time is more than eight months, and appeals can add years to the delays.
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