Veterans Assistance Project
Observations & Issues
Although there are a number of organizations attempting to advocate for veterans' rights in the U.S., there are not nearly enough services to assist the growing number of veterans.
The Department of Veterans Affairs claims processing system is struggling to meet the needs of veterans—the current backlog is 600,000 claims and growing. According to the Government Accountability Office, it takes an average of 280 days to process an initial claim and 657 days to resolve a claim appeal. Hundreds of thousands of veterans apply for benefits each year with very few represented by an attorney, and, unfortunately, over 100,000 claims are decided wrongly every year.
This problem will only multiply as Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans file a projected 638,000 new claims over the next five years.
