Filner urges quick approval of some VA claims - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Filner urges quick approval of some VA claims

The Veterans Affairs Department’s large and stubborn backlog of benefits claims could be reduced almost overnight if VA automatically approved any claims prepared with the help of a certified veterans service officer from a veterans organization or a state or local government veterans office, says the chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

The idea, floated March 26 by Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, is not new — and is not endorsed by all veterans groups.

Filner has been talking for several years about the idea of VA accepting some claims without a long review process and then doing spot-checks to look for cheaters, which he has described as similar to the way tax return audits are handled by the International Revenue Service.

His current initiative is somewhat different in that he is now talking only about automatic payment of claims that are prepared by people who have undergone VA training so they have some expertise in the requirements for a valid claim.

Veterans groups and VA are all in favor of speeding claims but are concerned about the potential for fraud by approving claims without verifying their accuracy. There is also some concern about requiring veterans who want quick payment to seek outside help for a function that should be the government’s responsibility.

“If a VSO signs off on it, I would just accept it, subject to audit,” Filner said in an interview, using the common abbreviation for a veterans service officer that can apply to those in nonprofit organizations or in state or county veterans service offices or bureaus.

“If there is a 1 percent error, and there could be, so what? You would be helping the 99 percent of veterans who are honest,” he said.

As of March 22, VA reports more than 510,000 pending benefits claims, including almost 200,000 that have been pending for more than 125 days. Average processing time has been about 161 days for original claims, and a tidal wave of new claims is coming early next year as a result of changes in eligibility for Vietnam veterans exposed to the herbicide Agent Orange, which could increase average processing time to 190 days or longer.

The process Filner is describing would cut VA’s processing time to a few days needed to get payment approved. But it could lead to a backlog of veterans seeking appointments with veterans service organizations and state and local veterans’ offices to get help preparing their claims.