Despite promises to improve, delays on veterans’ claims skyrocket

[unhappycamper]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/11/29/175915/despite-promises-to-improve-delays.html




Despite promises to improve, delays on veterans’ claims skyrocket
Posted on Thursday, November 29, 2012
By Chris Adams | McClatchy Washington

WASHINGTON — The time needed to process veterans’ disability claims shot up by nearly 40 percent last year despite years of effort by federal officials to streamline and shorten the process, records show.

The times necessary to process education benefits and burial benefits, as well as the time needed to wind through the Department of Veterans Affairs appeals process, also increased in fiscal 2012.

The disability-processing time is closely watched by Congress and veterans’ advocates as a measure of VA efficiency. In fiscal 2012, the average days to complete a VA disability compensation or pension claim rose to 262 days, up from 188 days in fiscal 2011, according to a recently completely VA performance report.

The 262-day average is the highest that measure has been in at least the past 20 years for which numbers were available.




unhappycamper comment: The two VA hospitals in Boston are super.b; the West Roxbury facility is tops in the VA system for spinal injuries. I suspect the problem is all those tea baggers that were elected in 2010.