Kennebec Journal Says VA Disability Backlog Is Too Big; Maine Office's Ranking Notwithstanding

A previous post, Maine VA's 38% Disability Backlog Second in US, reported on the Central Maine Sentinel praising the Togus regional office for having the second-lowest backlog in the nation. However, the editors at the Kennebec Journal are not cheering.

The Kennebec Journal ran an editorial yesterday headlined, "Our Opinion: On disability claims, Togus is better than most, but not good enough":

As of Veterans Day, more than 400,000 disability applicants have been waiting more than 125 days for an answer from the federal government. That’s more than 400,000 veterans, many recently returned from Iraq or Afghanistan, waiting too long for compensation related to post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and other health issues.
Maine’s Togus office has the second-lowest rate of backlogged claims, 38.4 percent, behind the 32.6 percent rate of the Sioux Falls, S.D., office. However, eight regional offices report more than 65 percent of their claims are more than 125 days old, including the worst offenders, Baltimore (71.7 percent) and Houston (68.2 percent).

The Journal reported that one Afghan war veteran who waited over two years for his disability claim to be processed called the VA's suicide hotline on several occasions. While the number of people waiting has been reduced since publicity has brought the situation to light, hundreds of thousands of US veterans are still waiting for the disability pay that was promised them when they enlisted.

Maine VA's 38% Disability Backlog Second-Best in US

A November 8, article in the Central Maine Sentinel reports that Maine is second only to South Dakota in terms of the number of disability claims backlogged by the Veteran's Benefits Administration in the state. In Maine, the backlog -- defined as pending for 125 days or more -- is 38 percent of cases. The only office that's doing better is South Dakota's Sioux Falls' office, which has a 33 percent backlog.

This data is gaining attention due to President Obama's decision to try to eliminate VA disability benefits backlogs by 2015. According to the Sentinel article

Federal data compiled by the McClatchy newspapers this week said 38 percent of claims processed by the Togus regional office of the Veterans Benefits Administration are backlogged.... The national average, McClatchy reported, is still 58 percent. So the federal government has plenty of work to do to eliminate backlogs by 2015, a promise made earlier this year that veterans’ groups have been supportive, yet skeptical of.

The rest of the article focuses on skepticism among disabled veterans' groups about the VA being able to eliminate the backlog, Togus officials discussing their accuracy rate, and the backdrop of the national attention on the VA backlog. 

Maine has a disproportionately high number both of Veterans and of people with disabilities, so the process for Veterans to get disability benefits in the state is particularly important. No mention is made that a 38 percent backlog means that more than one-third of all disability cases take in excess of four months to process.

Dept of Transportation Requires Airlines to Increase Accessibility, Fines Airline for Lack of Wheelchair Access

According to an Associated Press article released on Monday, several new regulations by the US Department of Transportation are designed to make air travel more accessible to people with disabilities. The rulings involve improving accessibility of airline websites and automated kiosks that provide boarding passes and luggage tags. Folding manual wheelchairs will also be more readily transported on passenger flights.

The AP article also covers DOT's million-dollar fine of US Airways for failing to provide accessibility to its physically disabled travelers. DOT levied the fine after reading 300 complaints from disabled passengers.

Read the AP article here or here.

Do You Know about Disability.gov?

Last year, disability.gov emailed Ability Maine to tell us about one of their highlighted series of articles. At that time, disability.gov had been around for 10 years, yet I think most people with disabilities online have never heard of it. If you're not familiar with the website, here's what they have to say about themselves:

Disability.gov (www.disability.gov) is the federal government website for comprehensive information on disability programs and services in communities nationwide. Individuals with disabilities, their families, caregivers and others are connected to thousands of resources from federal, state and local government agencies; academic institutions; and nonprofit organizations. New information is added daily across 10 main subject areas – Benefits; Civil Rights; Community Life; Education; Emergency Preparedness; Employment; Health; Housing; Technology and Transportation.