VBA's Claims Accuracy Only 25% – Corrections Take Three-Four Years at BVA

According to the Vietnam Veterans of America and the American Legion, about 75% of all disability claims processed by the Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Benefits Administration are flawed in some manner, minor or serious, affecting the veteran's benefits. A 75% failure rate in aviation be mission-unacceptable, a certain suicide before completing two missions. Similarly, VA literally condemns many of us to a suicide mission while awaiting claims processing following by appeals at BVA to fix the VARO errors. This is troubling enough without contemplating VHA's determination to prevent C-123 claims altogether.

Claims appeals: Why they take forever
The American Legion - June 19, 2013

On June 18 2013 the House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs held a hearing to find answers as to why the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) appeal process for veterans’ benefits takes so long to complete.
According to a fiscal year 2012 report from VA’s Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA), it takes about 900 days from the time an appeal is filed to when a final decision is reached. The claims appeals of more than 45,000 veterans are currently pending at BVA.
The American Legion, which has 2,500 accredited service officers nationwide and about a dozen full-time national appeals representatives in Washington, submitted a statement for the record. From Jan. 1, 2010 to June 1, 2013, the Legion’s appeals representatives have represented 29,542 veterans and their dependents who were trying to get benefits claims from BVA. The Legion effectively demonstrated that VA had erred, or failed to fully develop a claim, in 21,632 (nearly 75 percent) of those cases.
On June 3, VA reported an accuracy rate of 89.6 percent for claims adjudicated over the previous three months. Yet, the Legion’s statistics indicate that VA regional offices (VAROs) are providing quality decisions in less than one-fourth of the claims processed. Admittedly, claims handled by the BVA are only a portion of those submitted. However, they are a sampling of work that reflects the quality of claims decisions at 56 VAROs nationwide.
Unquestionably, the appeals process proves to be time-consuming and frustrating for our veterans. By the time BVA renders a decision, a claimant will often have spent several years in the appeals process.