The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has been racing to eliminate its claims backlog as part of a broader government efficiency initiative that has also involved staffing reductions. The VA, one of the largest federal agencies, processes disability compensation claims that determine monthly tax-free payments and healthcare priority for millions of enrolled veterans. Yet veterans who depend on the agency are increasingly finding their claims denied — often due to what advocates and employees describe as avoidable mistakes.

As NOTUS reported, the case of Paul Rushing illustrates the problem. Rushing, 54, suffered a stroke and a pulmonary embolism despite having no significant prior health issues. The VA denied his claim on the grounds that his illness was not connected to his military service. According to NOTUS, "The denial letter mentioned medical issues entirely unrelated to his situation." Rushing believed the denial was a "copy-paste error" intended for someone else.

The Trump administration set out to clear a backlog of more than 400,000 claims and has reported reducing that figure to approximately 70,000 as of July. The difficulty, according to multiple sources, is that a growing proportion of those decisions contain errors — forcing veterans into a higher-level review or formal appeals process that can extend resolution by months or longer, during which they go without the compensation and connected benefits they may be owed.

"We're getting more decisions, but they're not good decisions," Wesley McCauley, an accredited agent who assists veterans with their claims, told NOTUS. He emphasized that the problematic cases are not inherently complex. "These are just very clear errors that just should not be missed with just a little bit of review," McCauley said.

NOTUS reported that the new Trump term has produced a 100 percent increase in requests for a "higher-level review" before the Board of Veterans' Appeals, which employs roughly 1,000 attorneys. Requests flooding the board involve "very basic errors" and "egregious" mistakes that "would have been caught in times past," according to one appeals board employee.

"The errors that we're seeing have just been exploding in the last year and a half," said Derek Debus, who operates a military and veteran law practice. His office emails adjudicators 10 to 15 times per week regarding items the VA has overlooked.

In Rushing's case, he corrected filing issues and submitted a doctor's note from a VA physician explaining the connection between his medical conditions and his service. The VA stipend would "allow me to focus on my health and not be out chasing dollars every day," Rushing said. "It wouldn't replace my income, but it would make life easier." He continues to work daily while awaiting resolution.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins pledged that the VA would clear the backlog in time for the "America 250" events marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. He increased processing targets and set quotas for claims processors. To implement these changes, he moved to terminate the VA's employee union agreements — a decision now being challenged in court.

Employees told NOTUS that the result has been burnout and a rise in mistakes. The report described "extraordinary pressure from their supervisors and VA headquarters to produce at all costs, likening VA disability claims to widgets that must be processed."

A Veterans Benefits Administration employee told NOTUS, "At the end of the day, the number one thing is making the numbers, making the secretary look good, because if you don't there's going to be a problem. Everyone is afraid."

Employees who fail to meet quotas face termination. Quotas must still be met in the event of IT outages, mandatory meetings, or training sessions, and employees taking maternity or paternity leave would similarly fall short. According to the report, accuracy is not the stated priority — the leadership's focus is on processing volume.

Debus noted that some personnel are using AI tools to help sort through claims and are not consistently spot-checking cases afterward.

According to the data, the Trump administration has increased the number of claims processed by 30,000 compared to the prior administration, but refusals have risen by 9,000 over the same period.