I’ve spoken a lot here about backlogged veterans disability claims for Vets and how much this can slow down your claim. Most Veterans find themselves waiting for months and months to hear back on their claim, and for way too many it can even take years.
With so much time spent waiting, you might start asking yourself just how many backlogged claims are out there? Well, you don’t have to wonder any more. Recently, the Veterans Benefits Administration announced that number via the Military Times: roughly 398,000 VA claims are currently backlogged. Essentially, that means that when you put in your claim, you’re “in line” behind about 400,000 other people.
Number 400,000 in Line – Good or Bad?
Well, obviously there’s very little that’s good about being stuck behind several hundred thousand people – especially when you’re talking about trying to get disability benefits that you need to support yourself financially and help you live a more normal life. But that doesn’t mean that the news is all gloom and doom.
Though much more needs to be done, the VA is making inroads at improving its IT infrastructure and streamlining the claims process, which should help to get more people processed faster. There is quite a bit of debate about whether all of these changes are actually helping Vets (many – including me – have argued that the VA is deliberately ignoring some claims and trying to make it harder for Veterans to file a claim in the first place), but the general idea of processing claims faster is a good one.
The VA also continues to say that it still believes it can completely erase the backlog by 2015, which would be a huge boon to former soldiers who need help because of something that happened during their service. Because of all of these changes, though, and the VA’s desire to slash backlog numbers quickly, it’s vital that anyone filing a claim makes sure that they don’t do anything that allows the organization to dismiss and deny them.
You can get help understanding the Veterans Disability claims process by reading our eBook (it’s free!) or calling us to set up a free consultation.