The Veteran Thread

[Toughy]

Originally Posted by Wolfsong

Mid-June? That IS good. When did you first file?

I saw a thing on CNN where veteran's were waiting 600 days for claim approval and over than 900,000 veterans are stuck waiting.

This is 2013 right?

"After 10 years of war, three VA secretaries, and an increase in the overall department budget of 40% since 2009, an incredible 97% of veteran's claims are still on paper......

The VA has reported that the average claim wait time was 273 days. For the first claim filed, it's longer: 316 to 327 days. In Los Angeles, that figure is 619. In New York, it's 642. In Indianapolis, it's 612 days. And vets with first-time claims in Reno, Nevada, wait 681 days.

The VA has testified that it has hired 3,300 new claims processors, but it has failed to report that, because of staff turnover, the net increase in processors is only 300 since 2010. And, in Chicago; Waco, Texas; and Oakland, California, the overall number of claims processors has gone down." (Paul Rieckhoff, 2013)

Rachel Maddow has done several segments about the backlog. She has been on this for a long time. She helped first bring attention to this mess.

I filed in Mar 2011, heard from them around Nov, sent in what they wanted, got another letter in about a month, sent more papers and then they disappeared. The Oakland VA Regional Office is rumored to be one of the worst in the country. I talked to them (in person) several times and each time they gave me the wrong information. I hate those people....lol

I let it go as I was on serious opiate pain meds waiting on a hip replacement and did not have the brains, energy or desire to follow up. Besides the longer they take the fatter my check will be.....<g>....claims are retroactive to date filed.

fast forward to end of april 2013 and I get 2 letters in 3 days.....one saying my case was transferred (NE) and the other with dates for medical evaluation (shrink and physical--shrink is done (yesterday) and physical is the 29th). MY paperwork is all computerized at this point. Truth is I'm not sure what is actually in there as I don't trust the Oakland folks. From what the doctor told me, his shrink report and the physical report is critical...

We shall see what they will do............hopefully I will just get the (deserved) 100% service connection and be done with it. But I should have an answer in 2-3 weeks and if I don't like it, then the appeal process begins.