Phoenix benefits mishap vexes veterans

by Ken Alltucker - Aug. 12, 2012 09:08 PM The Republic | azcentral.com

The federal agency that handles veterans benefits in Phoenix bungled nearly half the temporary-disability, traumatic-brain-injury and herbicide-exposure claims that were examined during a recent audit.

The Veterans Benefits Administration office in Phoenix mishandled 47 percent of the claims in those three areas, according to a limited audit by the agency's inspector general issued last month.

The mishandled claims frustrate veterans who must wait an average of nearly one year before the Phoenix office decides whether they are eligible for compensation. The Phoenix office has a backlog of more than 22,700 claims, with an average wait of 360 days before the cases are decided.

Veterans organizations say the report illustrates the challenges that both returning soldiers and veterans face when attempting to secure a timely and accurate decision on benefits for disabilities.

"This is something we have been struggling with for a very long time," said Tom Tarantino, chief policy officer at Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. "The disability evaluation system was obsolete even before the Iraq and Afghanistan (wars)."

The inspector general audit represented just a fraction of the total cases handled by the Phoenix office, and it focused on disability areas that are more likely to have a higher error rate, according to the report.

Representatives of the local VA benefits office declined to be interviewed about the errors and case backlog.

But the Phoenix office provided another internal report that showed it accurately processed 88 percent of all claims, which is slightly above the national average.

"While the (inspector general) may have found a high error rate in the intentionally limited selection of claims they reviewed, the overall picture of claims processing at the Phoenix (office) is much more positive," the agency's Phoenix office said in a statement.

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Phoenix benefits mishap vexes veterans