The Nation : Panel Focuses on VA Claim-Errors Rate

Suggesting that Congress end a 55-year-old prohibition and allow veterans who are denied benefits to appeal their cases in federal court, the House Government Operations Committee said Veterans Administration managers frequently make wrong decisions on veterans’ disability claims in their haste to “make themselves look good” and win pay bonuses. Committee investigators said the VA tried to cover up its mistakes by deliberately under-reporting the error rate. The VA doles out $11 billion in disability benefits annually to 2.5 million veterans, widows and children. While some veterans were improperly denied benefits under the VA’s error-plagued system, others may have received money to which they were not entitled, according to committee staffers.