![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/money-gears-300x169.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
We’re all familiar with the most common VA complaint about money – that a legitimate claim was rejected. Or how the government, so slow to react or pay when they should, are speed-of-light collection bulldogs when you owe them.\u00a0 Me, I have a whole file of letters from the IRS due to them misallocating an advance payment – despite sending them copies of the check showing they received it (and allocated it to the wrong account), every two months I get a letter saying “we need another 60 days to investigate this”. Been going on years now. So slow to give, quick to take back, is the norm.<\/p>\n
This is a new one: in a screw-up dating back to 2011, VA says they found 9,900 recipients who were being overpaid due to discrepancies in their self-reported income levels. (So far, this sounds like their problem, right?)<\/p>\n
\nBut that work also uncovered about 30,000 additional beneficiaries who may have pension debts as well. VA officials are still sorting through their records to see how many individuals were overpaid.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany of these veterans and survivors are elderly, and all are low-income, so these debts represent a significant hardship,\u201d the department\u2019s statement said. \u201cRecognizing the hardship and distress that these pension debts may cause, VA has paused the collection of all established pension debts<\/em> and the establishment of new pension debts while we determine the path forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Note that no one is saying anything about whose fault this is – which probably means it is VA’s.<\/p>\n
\nOfficials plan on contacting the veterans and survivors in coming weeks to explain the situation and \u201cprovide as much pension debt relief as possible.\u201d Leaders also promised \u201ca review to understand why the data discrepancies occurred and why it took so long to address.\u201d<\/p>\n
The situation echoes problems uncovered by VA staffers in August and September. About 90,000 veterans who filed disability claims through the department\u2019s online portals, attempted to use the online systems to add dependents to their existing claims, or filed appeals applications had their cases lost in VA\u2019s computer systems.<\/p>\n
Some of those problems also dated back to 2011. In the wake of those discoveries, VA leadership appeared before congressional committees and promised system-wide improvements to ensure that veterans\u2019 cases will not be lost or ignored in the future.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n