Posted on 02/26/2026 2:53:53 AM PST by Libloather
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced that the backlog of VA disability compensation and pension benefit claims is "consistently" under 100,000 for the first time since 2020.
The last time the backlog was this low was in May 2020, during President Donald Trump's first term in the White House.
"Under President Trump, VA is providing Veterans, families, caregivers and survivors all of the benefits they have earned as quickly and conveniently as possible," Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins said in a news release.
This milestone means the department has now slashed the backlog of veterans waiting for VA benefits by 63% since Trump returned to office in January 2025 after it rose 24% under the Biden administration, according to the release.
The department said that reducing the claims backlog has been an urgent priority for Collins.
The claims backlog was well above 100,000 from 2021 to 2024 during the Biden administration and was at 264,717 when Trump returned to office. During Trump's first administration, the department reached the lowest disability claims backlog on Dec. 21, 2019, when it was at 64,783 claims.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
No doubt the VA itself is wallering in money as well. My solution would be to abolish the VA and use that money to pay disability claims. Problem solved.
There is no problem.
There’s not a single vet that wants your solution.
Butt out.
You’re not my real mother. You can’t tell me what to do. If there’s not a problem, what’s the whole point of the article?
“live-in caregiver” They may work for me someday.
Mariner is very patiently trying to answer your questions with accurate information.
This article is a good-news story for Veterans that have historically waited for years while the VA adjudicated servicemembers’ disability claims. That adjudication timeline is now down to months instead of years.
The same thing happened in Trump’s first term. Dem presidents like Hussein, Pedo Joe, slick Willie, et al. traditionally let the VA services languish - and build up years-long backlogs for claims.
Once a veteran has a service-connected disability approved, they are entitled to healthcare in the VA system, free of charge, for treatment of that disability.
Whether it’s a blown off limb, bad knees, TBI, messed up joints, or whatever.
When a service member separates from Active Duty, or National Guard or Reserve services, they can apply to the VA for disability compensation and care.
As I say, that process used to take years but, under Trump, it now takes months. That’s a good thing.
The VA healthcare system is particularly well suited to treat Veteran’s healthcare needs. Physical health, mental health, orthopedics, physical therapy, prosthetic, etc. Civilian healthcare can also, but they’re not always the best for Vets.
Abolishing the VA sounds to me like an uninformed opinion on your part.
As Mariner says, Veterans deserve excellent healthcare. Uncle Sam took their young bodies, abused them in ways unfathomable to most civilians, and promised us we would be taken care of when they were done.
The annual budget for the VA is running a bit over $400B. After 20+ years of recent wars, we have more living Veterans in this country since WWII ended.
You can research here: https://department.va.gov/administrations-and-offices/management/archived-plans-and-reports/
Hey ... that’s in our thoughts, too, now that we’re pushing 80.
I think they have that option. Trump implemented in his 1st term.
VA claims process is running at breakneck speed under PDJT.
I filed for some orthopedic-related disability upgrades last August. ‘Cause this body ain’t getting better!
Timeline:
Notification to file, EOM July.
Appointments started in August and ran through early December (about 22 separate appointments - from toes to neck).
Adjudicated in January. New payment just arrived yesterday for February.
For those in Rio Linda, that’s about five months from notification to file, medical evaluations, board approval, to payment.
For post-9/11 Veterans, I highly, highly, recommend Wounded Warrior Project. They have really cleaned up their act from the scandals a decade ago. Even if you’re not a Vet, you can support them financially and in other ways.
For pre-9/11 Vets, I highly recommend Disabled American Vets (DAV).
Both organizations will advocate for you with the VA. There’s a good bit of paperwork involved with submitting a new claim, or requesting an upgrade to an existing disability. These folks will walk you through that process - for free!
“...now that we’re pushing 80...”
Don’t push 80, pull 39 behind you. Just like Jack Benny. It will propel you forward!
Then you can be kissing 80 instead of pushing it.
Hah!
Abolish the VA. Cut out the middleman. Use the savings to get the money to our heroes in a more timely manner.
The point of the article: the VA's claims backlog was 264,717 when Trump took office in January 2025 and after a year of Trump the backlog was 64,783 claims. That's a backlog reduction of 200,000 claims.
You have an absolute right to your opinion, I’ll fight for that.
Did you find my post informative?
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