Veterans continue to die waiting for benefits: report

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/veterans-continue-die-waiting-benefits-report-article-1.1259521

Veterans continue to die waiting for benefits: report
By Michael Walsh / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Saturday, February 9, 2013, 3:12 PM

Many veterans, who risked death overseas, are actually dying on native soil as disabilities claims stall in the vast abyss of a large ineffective bureaucracy, according to advocates.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs released a report Friday that confirms some of these advocates' most upsetting concerns. It reportedly takes about 272 days to process a veteran's disability claim - a 40 percent increase from 2011.

About 53 veterans die every day waiting for their benefits to kick in as the VA deals with that they call a huge backlog of claims that has piled up to about 900,000, reported The Daily Beast.

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"Veterans are justifiably frustrated at the deteriorating claims crisis," Sullivan said, "especially the lack of planning to fix it. Nearly one million veterans now wait nine months for a VBA decision that is wrong as much as 30 percent of the time. How many of our veterans will die waiting for a VBA claim decision that is often wrong?"