All of this comes in the wake of scrutiny the VA has taken as a whole around the nation beginning with the significant wait times veterans endure just to seek treatment. The “secret list” scandal was initially brought to public attention in early 2014. The VA identified several veterans who had died while waiting for care, specifically in the Phoenix VA office. This brought about an internal audit which found more than 120,000 veterans who were left waiting or never got care from VA hospitals.
The VA has certainly received a significant amount of press in the past two years. Both issues, the newest one being claims not being properly processed, and the old issue of not receiving treatment seem to be related to a lack of employees. It seems VA employees are so overworked they don’t have the time to provide the proper care so deserved by our veterans. As our military grows, so should the number of employees staffed to provide support for our veterans.
Maybe it’s time for the VA to look into the backlog of claims on appeal. The VA is boasting a decrease in processing times for initial claims. But what about the claims that were denied and are currently on appeal? Or the claims for a request to increase a rating decision?
