Veterans' Benefits

In fiscal year 1993, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provided nearly $19 billion in nonmedical benefits to veterans and their families. In 1993, GAO surveyed 1,400 recent applicants for VA nonmedical benefits nationwide. Although most applicants were satisfied with VA's services, more than one-third were unhappy with VA's handling of their claims. The time it takes VA to process claims was by far the greatest source of applicants' dissatisfaction. Communication with VA was another major concern for applicants. Many customers said that they were dissatisfied, whether the communications were by mail, by phone, or in person. For example, 40 percent of those who visited a VA office said that they did not get the information they needed. The need to resubmit documents to VA also inconvenienced applicants. GAO's study pointed out two other factors that may hold significant implication for VA's efforts to improve customer satisfaction. First, applicants whose claims were denied represented a significant portion--36 percent--of VA's customers. VA knows very little about who those applicants are, why their claims were denied, or what it could do to help these people. Second, 60 percent of VA customers received service from sources over which VA has no authority, such as state and county veterans offices and veterans service organizations.

GAO found that: (1) over one-third of VA benefit applicants are dissatisfied with VA claims processing operations; (2) applicants frequently complain that VA does not timely process claims, does not adequately communicate with its customers, and requires many applicants to resubmit documents; (3) although VA recognizes the need to improve the timeliness of its claims processing operations, some applicants remain dissatisfied with the process; (4) 40 percent of the applicants that visited VA offices stated that they did not get the information they needed; (5) the most requested information concerned the services and benefits available, status of benefit claims, and the reasons for claim decisions; (6) 22 percent of VA applicants have to resubmit documents at least once which costs applicants time and money and increases VA workload and processing times; (7) although VA denies 36 percent of applicants' claims, it does not keep adequate information on these denied applicants so that it can improve services; (8) 60 percent of VA applicants receive services from other veterans' organizations; and (9) VA needs to improve communication with these other sources so that it can identify ways to improve customer satisfaction.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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