Pappas Applauds VA’s Effort to Reduce Claims Processing Times
Pappas has long fought to address VA inefficiencies hurting veterans
Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01), who serves as the Chair of Oversight and Investigations for the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, commended the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for making changes to effectively reduce their claim intake times.
Due to all VA claims being initiated through the mail, and requiring manual review, long processing delays have been responsible for creating severe financial hardship for veterans. In a hearing last year, it was discovered that these inefficiencies contributed to the generation and then collection of $1.6 billion of debt for veterans in fiscal year 2019. Overpayments as a result of mistakes in disability payouts, changes in eligibility, or simple accounting errors have resulted in financial hardship for hundreds of thousands of veterans, especially for those living on fixed incomes.
On Thursday, VA announced the implementation of new software that will automatically scan the contents of in-coming mail and route it to the appropriate department. This change is expected to reduce normal processing times from 10 days to one day.
"Many veterans rely on their earned benefits to make ends meet," said Chairman Pappas. "It is unacceptable that the VA's mistakes and inefficiencies are hurting the men and women the Department is supposed to serve, which is why I am glad the VA is finally taking concrete steps to reduce claims processing times. While a lot of work remains, I am pleased the VA is implementing digital solutions to speed up the delivery of benefits and services and I look forward to continue working with them to improve care for our veterans."
Pappas has been leading the fight to overhaul the VA's debt collection process since he was elected to serve as the Chair of Oversight and Investigations for the House Veterans' Affairs Committee. Pappas led an investigative hearing,a bipartisan letter calling on the VA to change the VA overpayment system,and introduced theSHIELD for Veterans Act to address overpayment and debt collection issues.