September 2022 Veterans Disability Benefits Statistics Report Analysis

September 2022 Veterans Disability Benefits Statistics Report Analysis

The September 2022 veterans disability benefits statistics report is here from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). It lists all VA disability, pension, and survivor’s claims pending new disability ratings or pay approvals. See how the VA’s latest numbers may impact veterans now filing claims in our analysis below.



September 2022 Veterans Disability Benefits Statistics: Claims Inventory Status

The September 2022 veterans disability benefits report shows any claim currently waiting on the VA’s determination decision. As of September 3, the VA’s inventory increased by more than 30,000 claims compared to August:

  • As of September 3, 2022: 635,026
  • As of August 6, 2022: 603,050
  • Difference: +31,976
  • Daily churn: +1,599 claims

And as these claim numbers creep up, so does the average wait time to get VA benefits. Right now, it takes every veteran at least 124-145 days to hear back about a claim from the VA.

Who’s most affected by this jump in claims and increased wait times in order to get benefits? Here’s the breakdown from September’s report:

  • 72% are supplemental claims from vets getting VA payments each month
  • 23% are first-time claims for VA disability compensation
  • 2.35% are survivor’s benefit claims from families of deceased service members
  • 1.6% are Blue Water Navy claims (i.e., for Agent Orange-related injuries and illnesses)
  • 1.4% are first-time VA pension claims from retirees

September 2022 Veterans Disability Benefits Statistics: Claims Backlog Status

Once it takes longer than 125 days to process a claim, the VA automatically flags it as backlogged. The newest numbers show that the VA cleared more than 500 backlogged claims each day from their workload:

  • As of September 3, 2022: 152,560
  • As of August 6, 2022: 162,680
  • Difference: -10,120
  • Daily churn: -506 claims cleared from the backlog

It’s important to note that the VA tracks appealed claims in a separate database. So, all backlogged applications in the September 2022 veterans disability benefits report are either first-time or supplemental VA claims.

Wondering about how long it takes to process appealed VA claims? This is the approximate wait time for each type of appeal, per the VBA’s most recent update report:

  • 409 days for direct claim reviews with no new medical evidence (29% approved, 39% denied, 32% remanded)
  • 507 days for appealed claims that include brand-new medical evidence (33% approved, 34% denied, 33% remanded)
  • 594 days for appeals requesting a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (41% approved, 25% denied, 34% remanded)

At least 1 in 10 veterans gets the wrong benefit amount or denied payments they rightfully earned. Why not have a VA-accredited lawyer review your case for potential mistakes free of charge? Click the button below to sign up for a free, no-obligation phone call with a local contingency-based attorney today.

Unless the VA awards you benefits, you’ll pay $0 for legal assistance. And if you do 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.