The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is processing claims at the fastest pace in its history, with hundreds of thousands of veterans receiving medical care under the landmark Toxic Exposures Act passed earlier this year. I am applying for benefits and would like to avoid a large backlog.
Veterans established a record for online benefit applications submitted the day after President Joe Biden signed the Toxic Exposures Act into law, and by mid-November, he had more than 136,000 qualifying for benefits under the act. I submitted. The VA anticipates that over 700,000 veterans and surviving family members will apply in the upcoming months.
The VA is adding personnel to handle the influx of claims and offer medical care, but officials anticipate a short-term increase in the backlog.
As secretary of social services, Joshua Jacobs oversees the VA’s delegable responsibilities. He stated in mid-November that the VA was “more able to handle this extra burden” than he was in 2013. Allow at least 600,000.
He addressed the U.S. Senate during a session, saying, “For members who followed the claims backlog for so long, you may be asking, ‘Are we about to witness the same scenario unfold here today?’” “I’m glad to announce that we are better equipped to handle this extra workload today,”
In the months to come, hundreds of thousands of veterans are expected to apply for the health care and benefits included in the toxic exposure law known as the PACT Act, according to Jacobs, so switching to a paperless system and hiring thousands more staff members will help the VA avoid a significant backlog.
At a Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee oversight hearing, he stated, “We do foresee an increase to the inventory and the backlog in the short term as we continue to encourage more veterans and survivors to file for their PACT Act benefits.”
the VA has reduced the backlog of claims to less than 150,000 as of this month, the lowest level in years. Additionally, he stated that the organization is urging veterans and qualified surviving family members of fallen veterans who are now covered by the hazardous exposure law to submit applications before August. Visit the VA website or get in touch with your Veterans Services Organization Authorized Representative to learn more about the earliest effective date, which is October 10, 2023.