AP Newsbreak: War vet widows wrongly denied help

AP Newsbreak: War vet widows wrongly denied help

By HOPE YEN
Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Widows of war veterans have been wrongfully denied up to millions of dollars in government benefits over the past 12 years due to computer glitches that often resulted in money being seized from the elderly survivors' bank accounts.

The Veterans Affairs Department said Saturday it wasn't fully aware of the problem. It pledged to work quickly to give back the pension and disability checks - ranging from $100 to more than $2,500 - that hundreds of thousands of widows should have received during the month of their spouse's death.

"This problem must be fixed," said VA Secretary James Peake. The department indicated in an "action plan" provided to The Associated Press that up to millions of dollars in back payments could be given to widows sometime after next February, once it can identify them.

To expedite matters, the VA said widows who believe they were wrongfully denied payments can call its help line at 1-800-827-1000.

Congress passed a law in 1996 giving veterans' spouses the right to keep their partners' final month of benefits. It instructed the VA to make changes as needed to comply with the law, which took effect for spouses of veterans who died after Dec. 31, 1996.

But the VA never updated its automated computer systems, which send out checks and notification letters. As a result, widows were either denied the final month of payment or asked to send the checks back. In many cases, if the checks were already deposited or spent, the U.S. Treasury moved to seize the money directly from the widow's account.

more...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/V/VETS_WIDOW_BENEFITS?SITE=CONGRA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

OMFG.

these glitches never happen to the admin who's supposed to be disbursing funds? :grr:

Unfortunately, there is no shortage of awful things that veterans and their families have to endure in this country to get what they are owed. They are claiming that the computers didn't get updated. You would think that they could have reprogrammed the computers for this new 1996 law sometime before 2008. This demonstrates total incompetence. I hope that Obama has some new insight into these issues and will act quickly to address them.