Lex Alexander has a post about the fiasco that is the VA disability program right now.  He points out that while the VA health care system is a good one, the VA disability system is in disarray and he provides some startling numbers to back up that assertion. It seems to be particularly bad here in the Winston-Salem area.  From his post:

First, it takes too long even for straightforward claims to be processed. As of a week ago today, the claim backlog stood at more than 422,000 cases nationally, up about 30,000 from a year ago. (Winston-Salem’s regional VA office, with a backlog of more than 21,000, had more cases pending than any other regional office in the country except St. Petersburg, Fla.) Nationally, more than 20 percent of cases had been pending for six months or more.

Lex later quotes Abraham Lincoln and I think the quote says it all:

As the Civil War was ending, Abraham Lincoln called on America in his second Inaugural Address to “care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan.” For the vets (and in some cases, their survivors) who depend on these payments, we need to do a better job.