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MILITARY SAYS NEW HIRING WILL CLEAR BACKLOG OF

DISABLED VETS' RETRO PAY -- DFAS says contractor processing

claims will hire 61 new workers and eliminate backlog by April.

For more background on this issue, use the VA Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearch.php?q=dfas&op=and

Story here... http://www.cleveland.com/news/pl
aindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1198057461320050.xml&coll=2

Story below:

-------------------------

DFAS says hiring to clear backlog of disabled vets' benefits claims

Sabrina Eaton
Plain Dealer Bureau

Washington- The federal agency that processes pay for military retirees pledged Tuesday that its contractor will hire an extra 61 workers in Cleveland to clear a backlog of more than 48,000 benefit claims from veterans who are disabled by combat injuries.

The director of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service promised Cleveland Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich that the backlog of claims - some of which date to 2003 - will be eliminated by April with the extra push from contractor Lockheed Martin.

"Federal benefits are meaningless if the intended beneficiaries do not receive them," said Kucinich, who called it a "tragedy" that so many veterans have waited for years to get money they're entitled to under a pair of programs for disabled veterans.

The payments stem from a law enacted in 2003 that ended a ban on veterans simultaneously receiving military retirement pay and disability compensation for health problems traceable to military service. Before 2003, veterans had to choose

Disabled veterans have to apply for the simultaneous payments under the "Combat-Related Special Compensation" and "Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay" programs. After they are approved, veterans can get back pay to the date their eligibility began.

DFAS and the Department of Veterans Affairs have already processed more than 130,000 of the cases and paid out more than $220 million, says DFAS spokesman Thomas LaRock. Average payments to veterans under the program have been $1,700, he said.

LaRock said the easiest claims were handled first. The more-complex cases were delayed because they require manual computations. He said many of them are affected by special circumstances, like changes in the veterans' disability level.

"These are complicated cases that are left, and we are processing them as soon as we can," agreed Lockheed Martin spokeswoman Emily Simone.

One of the many veterans who has been lobbying DFAS, retired Army pilot Wavie Sharp of San Antonio, Texas, says payments have been handled in a "painfully slow manner," and he noted that some older veterans have died waiting for their money. He blames the problems on DFAS for failing to demand progress from Lockheed Martin until Kucinich intervened.

"I'm angry," said Sharp, who figures he is personally owed between $10,000 and $31,000. "They've been dragging their feet for four years. This is a long time to ask for patience. Thank God for Mr. Kucinich. Everyone else gave us lip service."

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
seaton@plaind.com , 216-999-4212

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Larry Scott  --

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