January 2023 Veterans Disability Benefits Statistics Report Analysis

January 2023 Veterans Disability Benefits Statistics Report Analysis

Let’s kick the new year off with our January 2023 veterans disability benefits statistics report analysis. Every month, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reports on how many benefit applications they’re currently working on. This report shows all disability, pension, and survivor’s claims the VA needs to either assign ratings or approve for payment. Learn how the VA’s latest claim numbers for January may impact veterans and their families below.



January 2023 Veterans Disability Benefits Statistics: Claims Inventory Status

The January 2023 veterans disability benefits report lists all claim changes that happened during the past 30 days. On January 7, the VA’s claims inventory held slightly more than 709,000 total applications:

  • As of January 7, 2023: 709,131
  • As of December 3, 2022: 673,781
  • Difference: +35,350
  • Daily churn: +1,414 claims

It’s a leap in total claims since December’s report, which likely stems from the PACT Act’s 20 new presumptive disabilities. Supplemental claims for new conditions make up 73% of this month’s inventory. We’re guessing these applications mostly come from Gulf War vets, who filed 37% of January’s VA claims.

Unfortunately, this means it also takes even longer to process VA disability and survivor’s claims. Today, you can expect to wait about 4 months (117-128 days, on average) for the VA to process your claim. That said, it’s still well below the VA’s peak of 883,930 pending claims in July 2012.

January 2023 Veterans Disability Benefits Statistics: Claims Backlog Status

Any claim that takes more than 125 days to process appears in the VA’s backlog. According to the January 2023 veterans disability benefits report, backlogged claims are up to September 2020 levels again:

  • As of January 7, 2023: 200,456
  • As of December 3, 2022: 153,590
  • Difference: +46,866
  • Daily churn: +1,875 claims added to the backlog

Once again, Gulf War vets account for most of this rise in backlogged claims (34%). Vietnam vets filing Camp Lejeune-related claims likely account for another 33% of this month’s backlog. Veterans from all other service eras added together make up the final 33% of January’s backlog.

More than 1 in 10 vets (11%) get mistakenly denied VA benefits — or paid the wrong amount each month. Want an expert to look over your claim paperwork but don’t know who to trust? Our network of VA-accredited attorneys can give you free claim help over the phone.

Denied benefits you think you rightly earned from military service? Get expert help filing your appeal without paying any upfront costs. Veterans with attorneys had the best chance of winning their claim appeals in the past 12 months. If an attorney can’t help you secure VA benefits, then you owe $0 for legal assistance. And if you do win, then you’ll only pay a small, one-time fee after you first get your cash award.

Want to get expert claim help by phone free of charge? Click the button below to sign up for a free, private phone call with a nearby expert today:

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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.