Let’s review the December 2020 veterans disability benefits statistics report from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. This monthly statistical report covers all outstanding disability compensation, pension and survivor’s benefits claims. Learn how VA claims data changed during the past 30 days and what it means for veterans below.
December 2020 Veterans Disability Benefits Statistics: Claims Inventory Status
The December 2020 veterans disability benefits statistics report lists all unrated claims pending the VA’s decision review. On December 5, the claims inventory held more than 481,000 unrated claims. More than half of all first-time pending claims are taking more than 125 days for the VA to process (51.5%):
- As of December 5, 2020: 481,752
- As of November 7, 2020: 480,004
- Difference: +1,748
- Daily churn: +87.4 claims
Blue Water Navy claims for Agent Orange-related disabilities make up less than 4% of December’s claims inventory. About 1 in every 5 first-time claimants (21%) requested VA disability ratings for up to seven different conditions. At least 1 in 10 vets applying for VA disability listed a minimum of seven different health issues requesting ratings.
December 2020 Veterans Disability Benefits Statistics: Claims Backlog Status
If the VA takes more than 125 days to finish processing any claim, it automatically transfers into the backlog category. Unfortunately, this month’s backlog grew quite a bit, likely because the VA’s still underwater with in-person exams:
- As of December 5, 2020: 208,047
- As of November 7, 2020: 203,550
- Difference: +4,497
- Daily churn: +225 claims added to the backlog
Not surprising, really, since December’s report also indicates that 98% of outstanding claims are “pending evidence.” In other words, the VA’s still trying to work through its backlog of in-person C&P exams for older claims. If we had to guess, we’d expect this bottleneck to take at least 6-12 months to resolve. Since the pandemic’s still going strong, we doubt the VA backlog will fall back below 100,000 claims before 2021 ends.
You May Qualify for Legal Assistance
Need claim assistance, but unable to get anyone from the VA on the phone or make an in-person appointment? Let us match you with a local VA-accredited lawyer to help you over the phone within one business day. You’ll get confidential answers that apply to your specific situation without ever having to leave your home.
All VA-accredited attorneys charge $0 for legal assistance if you don’t win a cash settlement. And if you win, then you’ll only pay a small, one-time fee.
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Lori Polemenakos is Director of Consumer Content and SEO strategist for LeadingResponse, a legal marketing company. An award-winning journalist, writer and editor based in Dallas, Texas, she's produced articles for major brands such as Match.com, Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, Xfinity, Mail.com, and edited several published books. Since 2016, she's published hundreds of articles about Social Security disability, workers' compensation, veterans' benefits, personal injury, mass tort, auto accident claims, bankruptcy, employment law and other related legal issues.