Last week, U.S. Rep. Jacki Walorski sent a letter to President Barrack Obama requesting a plan to address the lack of timeliness for VA claims, particularly a decision about the electronic transfer of medical information between the Department of Defense and the VA.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs office in Indianapolis has a “horrible track record,” Walorski said, and claims filed through the office can take, on average, 443 days to be processed or 612 days for a first-time filer. “There is a backlog and we’re aware of that. Everybody’s aware of that,” said Ron Lundy, head of the Elkhart County Veterans Service Office.
Walorski also wondered about the potential impact of a controversial 2.3 percent medical device tax on military veterans needing, say, artificial limbs due to injuries suffered in combat. She and others in Indiana’s legislative delegation sent a letter to the Department of Veterans Affairs on May 1 asking for more precise information on how the department plans to deal with increased costs brought on by the tax, which went into effect Jan. 1.
Rep. Walorski presses VA Undersecretary Petzel about health care benefits for veterans.
