Report evaluates VA, DoD disability claims pilot program

Thursday - 12/9/2010, 4:24pm EST

Dan Bertoni, Director of Education, Workforce, and Income Security Issue, GAO

Click to hear the interview.

Download mp3

More than 40,000 servicemembers have been wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Department of Veterans Affairs and the Defense Department are facing a backlog in disability claims.

Both agencies have been conducting a pilot to speed up that benefit claim process. The Government Accountability Office has just published its assessment of that process

The Department of Veterans Affairs has improved its disability claims process, but the agency can still do better, says a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

The VA and the Defense Department started testing a disability evaluation system at 27 military facilities back in 2007. The plan is to eventually expand it across the military.

Dan Bertoni, director of Education, Workforce, and Income Security Issues at GAO and author of the report, joined the DorobekINSIDER to explain GAO's recommendations for the pilot program.

Click here for a report summary.
Click here for the full report.

Tags: Dan Bertoni, GAO, VA, DoD, Iraq and Afghanistan, pay and benefits, disability claims, Dorobek Insider