Top Three Cities with the largest numbers of Veterans Affairs disability compensation claims pending overall/pending for more than 125 days
St. Petersburg, Fla.: 42,187/26,768
Winston-Salem, N.C.: 41,942/24,765
Atlanta, Ga.: 32,683/20,709
National: 648,698/376,431
As of Nov. 9
Top Five Cities with the largest numbers of Veterans Affairs disability compensation claims appeals pending
St. Petersburg, Fla.: 23,193
Houston, Texas: 16,790
Waco, Texas, 14,346
Atlanta, Ga.: 14,339
Winston-Salem, N.C.: 11,279
National: 262,007
As of Nov. 9
By the numbers
Veterans receiving service-connected disability benefits: 3.5 million
Top five most prevalent service-connected disabilities for veterans receiving disability benefits:
Tinnitus (ringing or buzzing in the ears), 971,990
Hearing loss, 774,384
Post-traumatic stress disorder, 572,612
Scars, general, 494,032
Diabetes mellitus, 377,946
Veterans receiving service-connected disability benefits by period of service
World War II, 167,724
Korean Conflict, 145,090
Vietnam Era, 1.2 million
Gulf War Era, 1.3 million
Peacetime, 664,806
*As of Fiscal Year 2012
Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Georgia veterans are struggling with one of the nation’s largest backlogs of disability compensation claims, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of federal records show.
At issue are tax-free monthly payments veterans are entitled to receive for diseases and injuries sustained or aggravated while on duty. Among the disabilities covered are post-traumatic stress disorder, diabetes and hearing loss.
Of the Veterans Benefits Administration’s 56 regional offices, Atlanta ranks third for backlogged claims — or those pending for more than 125 days — at 20,709. Only St. Petersburg, Fla., and Winston-Salem, N.C, have more. Atlanta also has the fourth highest number of appeals pending for such claims, at 14,339.
Alan Dempsey of Canton said he is still waiting for the government to resolve an appeal he filed in 2010. He said he got throat cancer from exposure to Agent Orange — a blend of herbicides used to eliminate enemy cover — while serving in Vietnam. The Army veteran has been filing claims and appeals for this illness since 2001. In August, he said, the Veterans Affairs Department confirmed his cancer is linked to Agent Orange, but the VA has not taken final action on his appeal.
“I’ve never seen any organization as bad as the VA,” he said.
Numerous factors are causing the massive backlogs in disability claims, according to the VA. Among them: decades of war and a growing number of veterans, more claims listing multiple medical conditions, and claims for traumatic brain injuries and other conditions that are more difficult to assess. On top of that, the government has started recognizing several medical conditions related to Agent Orange, PTSD and Gulf War illnesses, which has led to nearly a million new claims.
Atlanta’s backlog is among the biggest in the nation because it is home to one of the VA’s largest regional office, according to the VA. Georgia is also home to the eighth largest number of veterans among states at 776,205, according to VA estimates.
The agency said it is building a digital claims system to speed up its work and accuracy. The VA has announced a goal of eliminating the backlogs by 2015.
“The VA has completed a record-breaking 1 million claims per year the last three fiscal years,” the VA said in a prepared statement. “But too many veterans have to wait too long to get the benefits they have earned and deserve. That’s unacceptable, and we are implementing a robust plan to fix the problem.”
President Barack Obama highlighted the problem during a speech he gave on Veterans Day recently at Arlington National Cemetery.
“We’re going to keep reducing the claims backlog,” he said. “We’ve slashed it by a third since March, and we’re going to keep at it so you can get the benefits that you have earned and that you need, when you need them.”
Drew Early, an attorney who has helped Dempsey and many other veterans with disability claims, said the VA should consider opening another regional office in Georgia. He noted other states have two such offices.
“It’s a workload management issue,” he said. “I’ve been suggesting for years that maybe they relook at how their assets are utilized and put more assets where there is a need.”
Early has also represented Cary King, a Vietnam veteran from Brookhaven who experienced a 10-month wait to get his disability claim resolved for blood cancer connected to Agent Orange exposure. The VA, King said, approved his claim this year.
“It’s ridiculous,” said King, an Army veteran. “Why it took them 10 months, I have no clue. But I consider myself lucky because there are people out there who have been stuck for much longer periods of time and still don’t have a response.”
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