You'd think North Carolina would treat veterans better

Why that title? Because while political sites love to point fingers, the truth is all states are not equal when it comes to taking care of their veterans. Ever wonder why one state does better than others? This is why.

North Carolina veterans waiting longer on Veterans Affairs claims
By John Ramsey
Staff writer
Mar 01, 2013

More than 7,000 veterans have been waiting at least a year for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs regional office in Winston-Salem to rule on their disability claims, according to a recent memo from the office to veterans service organizations.

For more than 700 veterans, the wait has dragged on at least two years.

The delays have worsened for veterans in North Carolina, who are waiting longer for claims decisions than they were six months ago even as the VA works to eliminate its growing backlog by 2015.

It takes an average of 341 days to process claims at the Veterans Benefits Administration's claims office in Winston-Salem, up from 329 days in September. The office, which handles most North Carolina cases including Fayetteville and the Cape Fear region, has the second-longest wait time in the agency's southeastern region behind Roanoke, Va.

In the past six months, the number of pending claims in Winston-Salem grew by about 570 veterans a month, from 33,606 to 37,051.
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