Right now, it's six thousands
of our nation's heroes asking,
where's the money tonight?
They served our country, survived war,
and now just want to make sure
their families are taken care of.
That's part of a promise the
military made when they signed up.
But the federal government is
failing to live up to its end of
the bargain for too many veterans.
Our team identified a
backlog of 200,000 cases,
each one representing a veteran
who's waiting for decisions about
their monthly disability payments.
So this process, it can take months and.
Really, there's no guarantee
that they'll actually get paid 1
heartbroken veteran telling our Nate
Morabito how nearly half $1,000,000
hangs in the balance for him.
You name it, you see it when you
go across that water. The battle.
You don't know who's your enemy,
who's your friend. Ended decades ago.
We did a wartime funeral. But the war.
I've seen my unit get gassed.
The war is over. Continues here
in America. For Leroy Perry.
Come back to the states.
It was not the same.
A man whose pleasant disposition
is cover. Or a painful injury.
I have days when I have
meltdowns and. They hoard 4
years of service during the Gulf War.
Has followed the Army veteran ever since.
Now still don't go away.
It don't go away. In
return, he spent more than
a decade fighting the VA
I put my life.
Like for you,
for disability benefits for everything
from a knee injury to PTSD.
Thankfully, a pro bono
lawyer came to his defense,
helping the father of five finally
secure about $4000 a month for
him and his family moving forward,
but no retroactive pay.
So he filed an appeal,
the start of yet another fight with
the agency that committed to having
his back when he enlisted in 1989.
His case has barely budged.
If I ever moved nowhere in two years,
would I be alive to see if it do go through?
Almost 60,000 other appeals
are in front of him.
If you think that's bad,
imagine how it feels for those
at the back of the line.
There are another 140,000
cases behind him.
Typical military hurry up and wait.
Veterans who get sick or injured as a
result of their service are eligible
for monthly disability payments.
But first the VA has to approve their claim.
Decide how much they should receive
and when those payments go into effect.
That alone, on average, takes 110 days.
If a veteran disagrees with
any part of that decision,
they can file an appeal and ask a veteran's
law judge in Washington to review the case.
When there's a financial hardship,
terminal illness, or advanced age,
veterans can jump the line
and get priority status.
But for everyone else, it's first come,
first served, the VA reports.
Wait times, on average, stand at 405.
Days for the quickest appeals lane.
They're not accurate,
but attorney Amy Folklor says
in her experience,
it's taking much longer than that.
I can't protect when the VA is
going to respond to their case.
Folklore represents hundreds of
veterans desperate to secure money they
argue rightfully belongs to them all,
victims of an overwhelmed federal system.
I think it's a failure on
the VA's part to recognize.
The veteran as a person, folklore
would know. She once worked at
the Board of Veterans Appeals,
I think, politically. Congress has
not acted as quickly as they could.
Faced with an even bigger backlog,
Congress passed legislation in
2017 to speed up the broken process
and give veterans more options.
But it took a year and a half
to fully implement that new law.
In the years since, the VA has
greatly reduced the number of older,
so-called legacy appeals,
but more and more new ones keep coming in.
You can see
the blue numbers gradually
increasing exponentially
as a result the backlog.
Started growing again in recent years.
I think the VA could have reacted faster,
hired more staff, had them prepared.
There is more work to do.
The Board of Veterans Appeals
conceded shortcomings during
a 2021 congressional hearing,
but also pleaded for help.
I would like to be able to hold hearings
within six months and get decisions
of the door shortly thereafter.
I don't have the resources to do that at this
time. A spokesperson tells us
the agency now has approval
to increase staffing by more.
And a third part of an effort to build
capacity to meet expected demands,
once again acknowledging there
is still much work to do in
response to WCNC Charlotte's questions,
the Department of Veterans Affairs said
we remain vigilant in filling vacancies,
training, personnel and processing decisions
as swiftly and diligently as possible.
I think the VI is taking steps,
but it's going to be a long time
before we see any significant change.
I don't think it's fair
veterans like Leroy Perry can't help.
But ask haven't they
already waited long enough?
That's the stuff veterans
shouldn't have to go through.
Their war, it seems, never ends.
Nate Morabito, WCNC, Charlotte.
And WCNC Charlotte wants to
be a part of the solution.
So all the while,
while we're questioning lawmakers,
we also want to provide some answers,
some help. We've arranged for a
panel of experts who can potentially
answer some of your questions about
the VA disability benefits system and
perhaps give some resources to help.
So we do invite you to join this virtual
town hall that we're hosting tomorrow.
It's at 8:00 PM.
This will stream on all of
our social platforms.
It will be a place where you
can get some real time answers.
And you'll be able to ask
questions live during the event,
but you can also text your
questions beforehand the number
704-329-3600.