This isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned this “invisible” backlog that the Veteran Benefits Administration has created with their most recent policy changes. For some time now, the group has been hounded by policymakers and various activist groups around the country to get through claims faster so that disabled Vets can get the help they need without waiting for months or even years. Despite the best efforts of these groups, the VA’s backlog simply kept getting longer and longer and frustration with their system continued to grow.
Then, not long ago, the VA announced that they had made a huge dent in their backlog, cutting it down by upwards of a third. On top of this, they were continuing to modernize their claims process and improve their IT infrastructure. Initially, this was hailed as an immensely positive thing, but once people started looking at how the VA had made this “dent,” there was a backlash. Rather than truly getting through all of those backlogged cases, the organization simply redefined what constitutes a backlog, “ignoring appeals and dependent claims” entirely and making it harder to file a claim in the first place.