By Leo Shane III - Blue Water Vietnam veterans are
getting their disability benefits paid out by the Department of Veterans
Affairs, but it might not be exactly how much they deserve, according to a new
watchdog report.
The VA Inspector General’s Office
found that while department staff have done a good job at getting benefits
flowing to newly eligible veterans covered by the Blue Water Navy Vietnam
Veterans Act two years ago, nearly half of the claims decisions investigators
reviewed from 2020 were “inaccurate.”
The mistakes total an estimated
$37 million: about $12 million in underpayments based on veterans eligibility
and $25 million more in excess payments to individuals.
“Employees did not always know
how to correctly process these claims, particularly determining accurate
retroactive effective dates for evaluations,” investigators stated in the IG
report, released late last week. “[Benefits officials] should increase oversight
to help ensure employees processing these claims clearly understand how to
correctly evaluate and decide them.”
Benefits for ‘blue water’
veterans finalized after years-long fight
The move ends a years-long fight
to get faster disability benefits for up to 90,000 Navy veterans who served in
Vietnam.
In a statement, VA officials told the Inspector General that they have improved training in recent months and put in place “special focused quality reviews” to address the problem.
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