(SitNews) Washington, D. C. - As of January 2016, 400,000 about veterans have appeals pending with the Veterans Administration leading to new legislation now being introduced that will establish a new, voluntary five-year pilot program to help reduce the large backlog of appeals made by veterans to the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA).

Click here for Weekly Specials

“It is astonishing to me that an average veteran waits nearly 1,000 days – or almost three years – for the VA to resolve an appeal of one their benefit decisions. Proud veterans across the U.S. – including more than 77,000 in Alaska – should not have to endure these absurd, multi-year wait times just to see their cases resolved. I am hopeful that – with the support of my colleagues – this bill will create a less-bureaucratic appeals express lane through which the VA can resolve its growing backlog of appeals quickly and favorably for all of our nation’s veterans,” said U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK).

U.S. Senators Sullivan, Bob Casey, Jr. (D-PA), Dean Heller (R-NV), and Jon Tester (D-MT) introduced S. 2473, also known as The Express Appeals Act. U.S. Representative Beto O'Rourke (El Paso, Texas) authored The Express Appeals Act in the House, H.R. 800.

The Express Appeals Act would establish a new channel whereby veterans, upon receiving a decision on an original claim by the VA, would have the option to file an express appeal with the Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA), in lieu of the traditional appeals process.

The express appeals process would consolidate the traditional process aimed at reducing veterans’ wait times. First, the appeals pilot program would omit the remand process, in which the BVA sends a veteran’s appeal back to the VBA for additional evidence development, saving the veteran an average of 545 days.

Second, the veteran would submit a “Statement of Argument,” detailing how the VBA decided their original claim incorrectly, in place of the VBA’s own time-consuming development of a “Statement of Case,” saving veterans an average of 408 days.

Additionally, entrance into this program would be completely voluntary and a veteran would be able to exit the express appeals process at any time and re-enter the traditional pipeline at the end of the line with no adverse consequences.

U.S. Senator Bob Case said, “Veterans have performed dedicated service to this country and it is our obligation to make sure their benefits process is as seamless as possible. It is unacceptable that our veterans are waiting on average three years to receive a decision on their appeal. With nearly one million veterans in Pennsylvania, it is crucial that we work to ensure that veterans get timely and accurate decisions on their appeals. As co-chair of the Senate VA Backlog Working Group, I am proud to join my colleagues on this important bill which will streamline the process, allowing quick resolve for benefits appeals and addressing the ever-existent backlog that we have been trying to defeat."

“As Co-Chair of the Senate VA Backlog Working Group, ensuring Nevada and our nation’s veterans receive a decision on their disability claims in an accurate and timely manner has been a top priority for me in the Senate and on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee. The story is no different when a veteran appeals their claim decision," said U.S. Senator Dean Heller. "These heroes feel the VA has made a mistake and should not be penalized by having to wait two or more years for an appeal to be complete. This bill gives veterans more choice and flexibility to expedite their appeal while also preserving their rights, and I am proud to be a part of this effort to improve the process. I would like to thank my colleague Senator Dan Sullivan for his leadership on this important issue, and I am pleased to have Senators Casey and Tester right alongside as we fight for those who sacrificed,” said Senator Heller.

“While the VA is making progress on reducing the overall disability claims backlog, veterans who file an appeal are too often waiting years to get a final determination by the VA. By cutting bureaucratic red tape, this legislation provides veterans the option of having their disputes with the VA determined in a much more timely manner that reflects our commitment to them and their families. This is a common-sense bipartisan bill that will save the VA millions,” said U.S. Senator Jon Tester.

Garry Augustine, Disabled American Veteran Washington Headquarters Executive Director said, “DAV and other stakeholders have been advocating for Fully Developed Appeals (FDA) for quite some time now and strongly support S. 2473, the Express Appeals Act of 2016, to create an FDA pilot program. With over 400,000 appeals sitting in a growing backlog, it is imperative to move forward with commonsense reform proposals like the FDA that have broad support in Congress, VA, the Board of Veterans Appeals and the veterans community. We look forward to working with Senator Sullivan and the other Senate and House sponsors to pass this much-needed FDA legislation into law in order to help veterans get quicker and more accurate final decisions on their claims for benefits. DAV is grateful to Senators Sullivan, Casey, Heller and Tester for their leadership and continued commitment to this critical legislation."

The Veterans Benefits Administration has 56 regional offices. The VBA reports it currently serves about 4 million Veterans who receive compensation and pension benefits. In the past four years alone, VBA reports it has added more than 940,000 Veterans to the VBA compensation rolls, more than the active duty Army and Navy combined. In fiscal year 2012, VBA reported delivering $54 billion in compensation and pension benefits. As of January 30, 2016, the VBA reports 352.666 pending claims.

According to information provided on the Veterans Benefits Administration's website, in "2010, VA Secretary Shinseki made a decision that any claim in the inventory that was older than 125 days would be considered part of the backlog of claims. VBA built the Transformation Plan around their goal that in 2015 the backlog would be eliminated and all claims would be processed in 125 days at 98 percent accuracy."

The backlog of pending disability compensation claims peaked at over 611,000 in March 2013 and the Veterans Benefits Administration reported that backlog had been reduced by 44% in April 2014 with wait days decreasing by 119 days.

S. 2473 has been referred to the United States Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, of which three of the bill’s four sponsors are members.

In October 2015, a new Alaska Pilot Program was announced by Dr. Thomas Lynch, Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Health Clinical Operations, at a U.S. Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing on pending health care and benefits legislation. Lynch said the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) was creating this new pilot program in Alaska to address the failed implementation of the Veterans Choice Program in the state. The new Alaska Pilot Program would attempt to fix Alaska’s problem, in part, by putting the scheduling of appointments back into the hands of Alaskans.

The announcement of an Alaska VA pilot program followed a Veterans’ Affairs Committee field hearing held by Senator Sullivan in Alaska in August 2015.

According to Dr. Lynch, Phase One of this program – which involves a virtual presence in Alaska – is already in place and Phase Two, which involves additional employees and resources in the Alaska VA, was to be completed by mid-November 2015. A deadline that was not met.

In December 2015, Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK) changed his tone and lambasted the Deputy Secretary and the Undersecretary for Health of the Department of Veterans Affairs on the lack of progress on the Alaska Pilot Program for the Veterans Choice Program.

“When are you going to fix the problem in Alaska like you committed to when you were there in August?” Senator Sullivan asked VA Undersecretary Dr. Shulkin in December at a Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing. “On behalf on my veterans I'm pissed… By mid-November, it was all going to be done. It's not done.”

During the December 2015 hearing, the VA admitted that they had not met their mid-November deadline, despite agreeing to implement the second and final phase of Alaska’s Pilot Program by that time. According to the VA, no staff has been hired and they have yet to even create job descriptions.

Dr. Shulkin agreed that the program was taking longer than it should to implement.

“It is taking longer than you or I want and you're right to be impatient,” Dr. Shulkin told Senator Sullivan. “I know that the deputy secretary and I have spoken about this. He is committed to it, the secretary [of the VA] is committed to it…You have never deviated from this. We're not deviating from it…I don't want to be giving excuses. I only want to fix the problem in Alaska and we're going to stick at it.”

Source of News:

Office of U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan
www.sullivan.senate.gov

Congressman Beto O'Rourke
orourke.house.gov

Veterans Benefits Administration
benefits.va.gov/REPORTS/detailed_claims_data.asp

U.S. Department of Veterans - Alaska
http://www.alaska.va.gov

SitNews ©2016
Stories In The News
Ketchikan, Alaska

Articles & photographs that appear in SitNews may be protected by copyright and may not be reprinted without written permission from and payment of any required fees to the proper sources. E-mail your news & photos to editor@sitnews.us Photographers choosing to submit photographs for publication to SitNews are in doing so granting their permission for publication and for archiving. SitNews does not sell photographs. All requests for purchasing a photograph will be emailed to the photographer.