Problems with VA claims, more of the same, they wait

I am trying diligently trying to finish THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR, that I still hope to finish before April, a couple of days away, and getting really aggravated with the recent reports about how bad it is for our veterans. The issue with me is, not that it isn't happening, but that it has been happening all along. Some talking heads on TV get all hot and bothered about all of this for a while then they just move on to other things. The veterans can't just move on. Their problems do not go away just because reporters don't talk about them anymore and if we don't finally, once and for all, get this right, then we will read more bad reports like we did 7 years ago.

Lawmakers address problems with VA programs
CHRIS ADAMS
Mercury News
Mar 03, 2006

The VA's disability compensation program sends checks to 2.7 million veterans for injuries suffered during military service. Yet high error rates, lengthy appeals, backlogs and wide regional inconsistencies mean many veterans wait years for decisions. One result, detailed by Knight Ridder: Thousands of older veterans die with their claims still pending.

Although the Bush administration expects the backlog to continue rising, its 2007 budget proposal calls for decreasing the staff that directly handles such cases - 149 fewer workers, from the current year's 6,574.

The VA has long wanted to reduce its backlog to less than 250,000 claims. But the department's most recent projections have it rising to nearly 400,000 by the end of 2007.

In addition, the average time to process claims, which the VA had said would drop to 145 days, or 125 days, or even 100 days, is projected to increase this year and next, to more than 180 days.

Democrats and Republicans on the committee say the administration also needs to beef up its appeals division, generally the source of the longest waits for veterans. In 2005, the average response time for a board decision was 622 days - well above the department's goal of 365 days.

U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) June 16, 2006
"With an estimated one third of the 1.3 million Americans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan facing mental health challenges upon their return, I am concerned that they are not getting the services they need," Murray wrote. "It is unacceptable that they are encountering VA waiting lists that render mental health care 'virtually inaccessible.'