For the “America 250” events, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Doug Collins pledged the VA would clear the disability compensation claims backlog.
Secretary Collins had inherited a backlog of 400,000 disability claims from the previous administration and as of July of 2026, the claims backlog had been reduced to approximately 70,000 claims.
Initially, the VA was part of an ongoing effort to make the government run more efficiently while eliminating staff. The first round was the elimination of all employees that did not complete their probationary period.
Employees that had worked for the VA for a length of time and had just received a “promotion” and were in their probationary period for the “promotion” were dismissed.
The goal of the VA’s Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) staffing was to process more disability claims with fewer employees.
Earlier this year, The Clermont Sun published a story concerning a VBA supervisor who had approved all veterans’ disability claims without even reviewing them. Each of his cases had to be located, reviewed and determined to be accurate.
But how had the VBA reduced the claims backlog from 400,000 to 70,000 in less than two (2) years?
According to a recent News of the United States (NOTUS) Podcast, this has been accomplished by “ramping up production” and setting higher quota goals for completion of claims. One method used is “to kill the VA’s employee union agreements,” although this is now in court.
The result of “ramping up” production has been burnout and mistakes, employees told the NOTUS Podcast. There was “extraordinary pressure from their supervisors and VA headquarters to produce at all costs, likening VA disability claims to “widgets” that must be processed,” said the Podcast.
“We’re getting more decisions, but they’re not good decisions,” Attorney Wesley McCauley reported to the NOTUS Podcast. Attorney McCauley is a VA-accredited agent. According to McCauley, “these mistakes being made aren’t complicated cases.”
“These are just very clear errors that just should not be missed with just a little bit of review,” according to the attorney.
When a veteran disagrees with a decision made by the VA, the veteran can appeal the decision for a “higher-level review.”
According to the NOTUS Podcast, in the last two (2) years, there has been “an 100% increase in requests for a higher-level review before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals.”
Another VA-accredited agent, Attorney Derek Debus, reported that “the errors that we’re seeing have just been exploding in the last year and a half.” His office handles ten (10) to fifteen (15) cases a week, “just because the VA missed something.”
One VBA employee reported to NOTUS Podcast, “At the end of the day, the number one thing is making the numbers, making the secretary (Collins) look good, because if you don’t there’s going to be a problem. Everyone is afraid.”
According to the NOTUS Podcast, “anyone who can’t meet their quotas can be fired. If there are IT problems or staff must attend meetings or trainings, they still must meet that quota.”
Also reported, “anyone who takes maternity or paternity leave also wouldn’t meet their quotas. Accuracy is not the goal. The VA leadership only wants to process the claims.”
My opinion: This is a disturbing article because it negatively impacts two (2) categories of veterans. First, the veteran whose claim was initially disapproved and second, the VBA processing employee who is a veteran.
The veteran, whose claim was disapproved, must now decide if an appeal is warranted and must now endure additional waiting time before the decision is reversed.
If the disability claim was processed through the County Veteran Service Commission or a veteran service organization (VSO), such as the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), there is no cost for the appeal process.
But if the disability claim was submitted by a VA-accredited agent, there may be an additional cost levied against the disability compensation eventually granted to the veteran for the extra work.
Second, for the veteran who is employed as a VBA processing employee, this is no way to treat a veteran, who has served their country, by using “sweat-shop” tactics.
A disability compensation claim is not a “widget,” that must be processed fast to “make a quota.” It deserves serious attention and a sufficient time to study and review the application.
In the military that I served in, sergeants took care of the enlisted, officers took care of their personnel and higher commanding officers took care of their command.
In this situation, it is the responsibility for VA Secretary Doug Collins to have a “one-day stand-down” and meet with VBA employees to discuss what is actually happening at the processing level of disability claims.
Hopefully, VA Secretary Collins will not take any negative action against any VBA employees, who voiced their opinion for the NOTUS Podcast.
And hopefully Collins will contemplate either revising his goal of eliminating the disability claims backlog or lowering the “quotas” by adding additional manpower to process the claims.
John Plahovinsak is a retired 32-year Army veteran who served from 1967 to 1999. He is the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Department of Ohio’s Hospital Chairman and Adjutant of DAV Chapter #63 (Clermont County).