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VA needs bold change

When it comes to the vast and stubborn backlog of veterans benefits claims, Congress seems all too content to take a flyswatter to an elephant.

Among a pile of pending veterans-related bills is a proposal to require the Veterans Affairs Department to notify veterans when a claim is received.

VA already notifies veterans who file electronic claims; this proposal would only duplicate that for claims filed by mail.

It would do nothing to reduce the backlog and, in fact, it could worsen the process by forcing VA staffers to prepare and send out snail-mail notices for claims that are not received electronically.

That’s not helpful.

The claims backlog is 453,000 and growing. It takes an average of four to five months for VA to make an initial ruling. Appeals can drag out for years.

And even though VA has hired more claims processors, new claims among veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are pouring in at a rate of 80,000 per month, a 10 percent jump over last year’s pace. VA can’t keep up.

That’s why more expansive ideas for attacking the backlog are needed. One proposal — automatically approving claims from combat veterans and then using spot audits to monitor for fraud — has languished for years. Because most combat veterans’ claims are ultimately approved, the risk of fraud would be relatively low.

At a minimum, however, Congress should mandate deadlines for decisions — guaranteeing an initial ruling in, say, 60 days, and a ruling on an appeal within 180 days.

Even if VA could not meet those deadlines, the requirement would at least provide hard data on how many more claims processors may be needed to meet the requirement — something VA seems incapable of figuring out today.