Pappas Fights to Resolve VA Exam Delays and Backlogs Impacting NH Veterans
Pappas shared stories from NH veterans who have experienced difficulties scheduling VA exams, leading to delays getting their benefits
Today, Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01), a member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and Ranking Member of the Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Subcommittee, helped lead a bipartisan hearing examining how the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) administers disability medical exams, which are essential to determining a veterans’ benefit levels and eligibility. Pappas pushed Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) leadership to address the difficulties veterans have scheduling an exam, the growing backlog of claims filed by veterans as a result and shared stories of New Hampshire veterans who have been directly impacted.
Click here to watch the video of Congressman Pappas’s opening statement
“The C&P exam is a critical step in the disability claims process,” said Congressman Pappas. “C&P exam findings are frequently used to decide whether VA will grant a veteran disability benefits. Ensuring these exams are conducted accurately and in a timely manner is critical to ensuring that veterans have a streamlined and reliable process so they can receive their deserved benefits as soon as possible.”
“One veteran in my district said that a [C&P exam private contractor] simply told him that he needed to show up for an appointment on August 30, provided no additional information or location for the appointment, and it took a conference call between my office and the contractor to get to the bottom of this and get the veteran the information that they needed. One veteran in my district in New Hampshire talked about getting an appointment scheduled for him more than five states away in Illinois. Another constituent of mine submitted a claim but didn't receive a response for two and a half months,” said Pappas.
Pappas concluded: “Expecting a veteran to navigate this confusing process, or even travel halfway across the country is just ridiculous. And I expect better of VA and contractors in providing these exams.”
According to VA data, there are currently over 300,000 pending exams in their system with private, contract vendors conducting 90% of all exams. This is a major contributor to VA’s overall claims backlog, which includes any claim that has been pending for more than 125 days. Data the Committee has received shows that the VA claims backlog has risen to over 250,000.