Senator Hagan Concerned About Veterans Disability Backlog

Interview with Urban News reporter Moe White

On March 28 Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) wrote to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki about the current backlog at the Winston-Salem VA office, which has more than 7000 claims pending for more than a year, of which 700 have been waiting more than two years.

The office, which handles claims from Fayetteville and Cape Fear, as well as much of the center of the state, has the second-longest wait time in the southeast region.

Hagan noted that she is frustrated and upset by this backlog. She wrote, “It takes an average of 341 days to process claims…, up from 329 days in September.” She called on Shinseki “to take a personal interest in solving this issue and dispatch senior officials” to provide the resources needed to address the backlog and preventing its happening in the future.

The VA has moved many of the files into a new location for cataloguing, but has taken no action on the claims themselves. In a conference call with the media, Hagan asserted that “We’re heading in the wrong direction.”

Nearly a million North Carolina citizens are veterans, and the state has a reputation as the most military-friendly state in the country. Yet despite that reputation, a number of issues that negatively affect veterans have surfaced in recent years. The most egregious is the discovery of widespread water pollution at Camp Lejeune, where trichloroethylene, benzene, toluene, pesticides, along with other contaminants, have been identified.

Many of the polluting agents are linked to cancer, and studies have shown that numerous clusters of otherwise rare cancers have been diagnosed in former Camp Lejeune soldiers and their families who lived on the base. Among the illnesses and conditions for which all Lejeune veterans and family members between 1957 and 1987 are: esophageal, breast, kidney, lung, and bladder cancers; multiple myeloma, leukemia, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma; and renal toxicity, hepatic steatosis, and various fertility and neurobehavioral issues.

Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are returning with traumatic brain injuries (TBI), post-traumatic stress injuries, and a variety of newly identified illnesses arising from service in the Mideast (such as from inhaling the smoke from burning toxic materials and waste) that have not afflicted older generations of soldiers.

Thanks to better treatment protocols and advanced battlefield medical care, soldiers now survive such once-lethal injuries as loss of limbs and intense TBI caused by explosions of improvised explosives. As a result, those seriously injured veterans return to civilian life with problems that are far more difficult to overcome than in previous generations.

Hagan observed, “The wars in Iran and Afghanistan have resulted in a multitude of soldiers with PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injuries who live because of the extremely capable medical care they’re given. These injuries are in much higher numbers” than ever before, and she asserted that her understanding of the difficulties returning soldiers face has made her determined to plan ahead for future needs.

Those future needs include long-term care for many veterans, ongoing treatment, disability payments, and the related problems of families whose needs must be met, along with the likelihood that some illnesses, such as PSTD, often do not manifest right away. The numbers of veterans facing those problems will only grow.

Asked by The Urban News about sequestration and government budgeting for long-term veterans’ needs, Hagan said, “The Veterans Administration was exempted from sequestration, so our veterans will not be hurt by it. We can’t put the burden on those who have served their country to solve problems that politicians in Washington can’t figure out.”

But, she continued, “Senator Patty Murray of Washington [state] is the new Budget Committee chairman, and she is the former chair of the Veterans Affairs committee.” As a result, said Hagan, Murray will bring a thorough knowledge of veterans’ needs to her budget leadership. Hagan also emphasized that her work on behalf of Camp Lejeune veterans showed her commitment to “providing health care to those who lived on the base to be sure veterans are treated fairly.”

Shinseki has announced that the new computer system the VA is implementing should cut the time for processing claims to 125 days by 2015. Hagan insisted that she is dedicated to cutting waiting times for veterans. “Our soldiers, who have dedicated themselves to serving our country, should be able to make a seamless transition from their service to the VA system. Having to wait even six months is unconscionable.”