The March 2020 veterans disability benefits statistics report numbers are here from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Below, we’ll explain how VA disability compensation and pension claim numbers changed during the past 30 days.
March 2020 Veterans Disability Benefits Statistics: Claims Inventory Status
All currently unrated VA compensation and pension claims are listed in the March 2020 veterans disability benefits statistics report. On March 7, the VA’s claims inventory held 426,081 unrated applications. Continuing the trend from the prior two months, March’s inventory numbers are up compared to February:
- As of March 7, 2020: 426,081
- As of February 1, 2020: 413,032
- Difference: +13,049
- Daily churn: +652.5 claims
That’s a pretty significant jump compared to the previous few months. Just like last month, first-time applicants for disability compensation make up just 28% of unrated claims. More than 42% of claims this month are supplementary applications for new service-related conditions. Nearly 3% are from surviving spouses, children and parents of recently deceased veterans. Pension-related VA claims account for 3.1% of this month’s pending inventory.
March 2020 Veterans Disability Benefits Statistics: Claims Backlog Status
Pending benefit applications more than 125 days old automatically transfer into the VA’s backlog. Unfortunately, the March 2020 veterans disability benefits statistics report’s backlog numbers rose significantly compared to February:
- As of March 7, 2020: 73,284
- As of February 1, 2020: 69,933
- Difference: +3,351
- Daily churn: +167.6 claims added to the backlog
Nearly 47% of backlogged claims in the March 2020 veterans disability benefits statistics report are first-time applications. About 34% of the claims backlog comes from veterans filing initial VA disability claims. Next, let’s take a look at which service members currently make up March’s backlog:
- 32% are Gulf War veterans
- 28% are Vietnam veterans
- 22% served in Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11
- 13% served in peacetime between the Vietnam and Gulf War conflicts
- 3.3% are Korean War veterans
- 1.7% are WWII veterans
Despite these increased claims inventory and backlog numbers, the VA works hard to process benefit applications quickly. On average, it takes 96-103 days to process most VA compensation claims.
You May Qualify for Free Legal Assistance
More than 11% of veterans received the wrong VA rating on their claims within the past year, VBA data shows. If you’re worried about that happening to you, talk to a VA-accredited lawyer for free. It’s an honor to help veterans who earned benefits through service get every penny they deserve from the VA!
Last year, 4 in every 5 veterans who prevailed against the VA in court had lawyers representing their cases. What’s more, all VA-accredited attorneys in our network offer free, no-obligation legal consultations. That means they’ll charge you $0 unless their services help you win your case. And if you win, then you’ll only pay a small, one-time fee. If your appeal wins, you could also qualify for free legal assistance through the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA). This federal law requires the government to pay your fees if they mistakenly denied you benefits the first time.
Ready to see if you may qualify? Click the button below to start your free benefits evaluation now!
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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.