“Background
SSA policy provides for disability claims filed by current and former military service members to be expedited. SSA identifies these claims as Military Casualty/Wounded Warrior (MC/WW) and Veteran 100 Percent Permanent and Total (VAPT) disability claims. MC/WW claims involve any current or former member of a military service who sustained an illness, injury, or wound; alleged a physical or mental impairment, regardless of how or where the impairment occurred (that is, in the United States or on foreign soil); and sustained the impairment while on active duty status on or after October 1, 2001…”
“Findings
SSA does not define “expeditious” for processing MC/WW and VAPT claims, have processing time goals, or perform regular analysis of the MC/WW and VAPT claims to identify trends. Therefore, to assess the MC/WW and VAPT processing times, we compared them to the average processing time for all disability claims at the various stages of review nationally and by State. We found the following…”
“Recommendations
We recommend SSA: 1. Define “expeditious” for processing MC/WW and VAPT claims and measure processing time pursuant to the definition. 2. Implement controls to monitor, track, and measure the processing of MC/WW and VAPT claims.
SSA agreed with our recommendations…” Access the full 24-page report here.
Source: U.S. Veteran Disability Claim Processing Times – July 12, 2019. Social Security Administration OIG.
