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After seven months of delay, the Department of Veterans Affairs
finally approved World War II veteran James Alderson’s pension benefits
last week.
But it was not a cause for celebration or relief for Alderson, whose
life’s work was the farm supply store he founded near Chico after
returning home from the Battle of the Bulge.
The 89-year-old veteran had died three months earlier in a Yuba City
nursing home.
“My father was a very proud person,” Alderson’s son, Kale, said.
“Whenever I saw him, he would ask if I’d heard from the VA and whether
his money would hold up. It really took a toll on him.”
The VA’s inability to pay benefits to veterans before they die is
increasingly common, according to data obtained by the Center for
Investigative Reporting. The data reveals, for the first time, that long wait
times are contributing to tens of thousands of veterans being approved for
disability benefits and pensions only after it is too late for the money to
help them.
In the fiscal year that ended in September, the agency paid $437
million in retroactive benefits to the survivors of nearly 19,500 veterans
who died waiting. The figures represent a dramatic increase from three
years earlier, when the widows, parents and children of fewer than 6,400
veterans were paid $7.9 million on claims filed before their loved one’s
death.
These veterans range from World War II veterans like Alderson who
die of natural causes without their pensions to Iraq war veteran Scott
Eiswert, who committed suicide after his disability claim for posttraumatic
stress disorder was denied.
The ranks of survivors waiting for these benefits also have surged,
from fewer than 3,000 in December 2009 to nearly 13,000 this month.
Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Committee on
Veterans’ Affairs, said the data confirmed the worst fears of many veterans
and members of Congress.