Let’s dive into the latest VA claims data from the November 2023 veterans disability benefits statistics report. Once per month, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reports how VA claims numbers changed during the past 30 days. Learn how the VA’s latest report numbers may impact veterans and families waiting on benefits below.
November 2023 Veterans Disability Benefits Statistics: Claims Inventory Status
Our November 2023 veterans disability benefits report shows all VA benefit applications currently under review. It lists all pending claims for disability, pension, and survivor benefits the VA must approve for payment or assign ratings. On November 4, the VA’s claims inventory finally began to shrink for the first time since July 2022:
- As of November 4, 2023: 1,096,839
- As of October 7, 2023: 1,098,487
- Difference: -1,648
- Daily churn: -82.4 claims
Since January, the VA’s received a little less than 400,000 claims from veterans and their families. Today, veterans applying for benefits wait a little less than 150 days for the VA’s response. That’s at least 5 months!
Below are the slowest states and territories to process VA disability claims in the November 2023 veterans benefits report:
- Wyoming (177 days)
- Kansas (164 days)
- Oregon (163 days)
- District of Columbia (162 days)
- Nevada (158 days)
- Puerto Rico (158 days)
- North Dakota (157 days)
- Alaska (156 days)
- Pennsylvania (153 days)
And the following are the fastest states to process VA disability claims:
- Vermont (120.4 days)
- Delaware (127 days)
- Montana (128 days)
- Connecticut (130.5 days)
- Colorado (131.5 days)
- Virginia (132 days)
- Washington (132.6 days)
- Oklahoma (133 days)
- Hawaii (133.5 days)
As you can see, it’s impossible right now for the VA to process any claim in less than 4 months.
November 2023 Veterans Disability Benefits Statistics: Claims Backlog Status
The VA’s backlog holds all claims more than 125 days old in the November 2023 veterans disability benefits report. Thankfully, the backlog’s growing at a much slower pace than the overall VA claims inventory:
- As of November 4, 2023: 301,408
- As of October 7, 2023: 306,747
- Difference: -5,339 claims
- Daily churn: -267 claims cleared from the backlog
A little less than 2 in every 3 claims in this month’s backlog are supplemental in nature. In other words, the vets who filed these claims already get paid some VA benefits each month.
November 2023’s VA claims backlog breaks down in the following ways:
- 41% are for PACT Act presumptive disabilities
- 26% are AMA supplemental claim decision review requests
- 15% are for VA disability compensation and list no more than 7 conditions that need ratings
- 11% are VA disability claims with at least 8 unrated conditions
- 3% are survivor’s benefit claims from eligible family members
- 2% are Agent Orange-related claims
- 1% are veteran’s pension claims
Get Free Expert VA Claim Help by Phone
The VA admits it made the wrong decision on 13% of veterans’ claims filed during the past 12 months. Why settle for less monthly income than you deserve for selflessly serving and defending our country?Let us connect you with aVA-accredited attorney who can help you get the highest possible monthly payment.
Under federal law, your lawyer must charge you $0 unless you win your case. And if you do win, then you’ll only pay one small fee after you’re paid first.
Want free expert claim help by phone? Click the button below to start your free online benefits quiz and see if you may qualify:
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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.