VA secretary visits veterans in Lincoln amid rapidly growing backlog of benefits claims

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — The secretary of veterans affairs came to Lincoln on Thursday to meet with student veterans.

Secretary Denis McDonough talked at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln about the implementation of the PACT Act.

The legislation expanded health care services for millions of vets who served at bases contaminated by toxic smoke from burn pits.

President Joe Biden signed the bill last year, leading to a rapidly growing backlog of benefits claims.

The VA received nearly 786,000 disability claims under the legislation as of August.

The Associated Press reported that the backlog was expected to grow to 450,000 this month, before surging to 730,000 in April.

McDonough said the VA regional office in Lincoln processed 2 million claims in the first year of the law, a 50% increase from the prior year.

“We’ve seen that facility grow just in the course of last year by a considerable number of employees,” McDonough said. “We’ve seen its performance grow at an even faster rate. They processed 50% more claims this year than they did last year, and last year was a record number of claims processed for them.”

But even hiring new staff hasn’t been enough to keep up with the historic influx of claims.

“We anticipated this surge in claims because of the act, we prepared for it, and we have a plan to address it,” McDonough said. “We’ll make sure that we’re communicating directly with vets as they file their claim.”