Publisher's Synopsis
Veterans are deeply concerned about the VA's claims backlog. In March of 2013, there were over 896,000 claims in the inventory; of that number, more than 632,000 or 70 percent were backlogged or pending longer than VA's goal of 125 days. As of December of 2013, those numbers look very different. The number of claims pending longer than 125 days, or officially part of the backlog, has dropped to just over 395,000 claims or 57 percent of the total inventory. The origin of this problem goes back a number of years. Until 2008 there was no serious effort on the part of VA to move from the world of paper to electronics. The VA has also had to deal with a staggering number of new claims, for veterans who served in Afghanistan and Iraq. Furthermore, the VA has made sure that veterans who were impacted by Agent Orange in Vietnam also got the benefits to which they were determined to be eligible. Despite all of these factors, no veteran in the United States should have to wait years to have his or her claim adjudicated.
