Benefits
Benefits
Posted on Sep 27, 2016
Report: Vets in prison received $100M in improper benefit | Military Times
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TITLE: Vets in prison received $100M in improper benefits payouts, report says
Imprisoned veterans received more than $100 million in improper benefits payments in recent years because Veterans Affairs officials were too focused on bringing down the first-time claims backlog, according to a new report from the department’s inspector general.
And that number could rise to more than $200 million in the next four years if changes aren’t made in how VA monitors and handles the problem.
Officials from the Veterans Benefits Administration said the problem lies with incomplete information from the Bureau of Prisons. Beth Murphy, director of VBA’s compensation service, said her department is working on fixes.
“We do not get the date of incarceration from (the Bureau of Prisons),” she told members of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee on Tuesday. “We have to follow up on this. There are manual processes and time lags in getting this information.”
By law, veterans jailed for more than 60 days are eligible only for compensation benefits equal to a 10 percent disability rating (for those already at 10 percent, it drops to 5 percent). Once veterans are released, they are eligible for their full benefits again.
But investigators estimate almost $60 million in overpayments to veterans in federal prisons from fiscal 2008 to fiscal 2015, and another $44 million to veterans in state and local jails in 2013 and 2014.
“We found that VBA did not process federal incarceration adjustments primarily because they did not place priority on incarceration adjustments, as they do not consider these non-rating claims part of the disability claims backlog,” said Mike Missal, the VA inspector general.
Reducing that backlog has been a major focus of the department in recent years, with the number of cases taking four months to process ballooning to around 611,000 in 2013. Today, that number is around 75,000 cases.
Murphy said part of that effort has been automating more VA systems and outside data, and officials hope to use those advances to correct the prison payouts problem moving forward.
Lawmakers called the findings unsettling.
“The veterans who received these overpayments have committed crimes, but the overpayments are not their fault,” said Rep. Ralph Abraham, R-La., chairman of the panel’s subcommittee on disability assistance. “Nothing excuses VA for failing to do its job.”
Veterans sent to prison are required by law to inform VA of their legal status, but both lawmakers and VA officials acknowledged that is a less-than-reliable system.
VA Inspector General reports have estimated total improper payments for all veterans benefits programs totaled more than $1.3 billion in fiscal 2015, with the prison issue a small segment of that. Murphy said incarcerated veterans make up less than 1 percent of the overall population of individuals receiving VA benefits.
Still, she conceded that the mistakes amount to a significant amount of lost taxpayer funds, and promised her agency will find solutions. Officials are working to recover some of those improper payments.
“We are focused on this now,” she said. “Going forward, I will be watching this.”
VA Inspector General reports have estimated total improper payments for all veterans benefits programs totaled more than $1.3 billion in fiscal 2015, with the prison issue a small segment of that. Murphy said incarcerated veterans make up less than 1 percent of the overall population of individuals receiving VA benefits.
Still, she conceded that the mistakes amount to a significant amount of lost taxpayer funds, and promised her agency will find solutions. Officials are working to recover some of those improper payments.
“We are focused on this now,” she said. “Going forward, I will be watching this.”
Imprisoned veterans received more than $100 million in improper benefits payments in recent years because Veterans Affairs officials were too focused on bringing down the first-time claims backlog, according to a new report from the department’s inspector general.
And that number could rise to more than $200 million in the next four years if changes aren’t made in how VA monitors and handles the problem.
Officials from the Veterans Benefits Administration said the problem lies with incomplete information from the Bureau of Prisons. Beth Murphy, director of VBA’s compensation service, said her department is working on fixes.
“We do not get the date of incarceration from (the Bureau of Prisons),” she told members of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee on Tuesday. “We have to follow up on this. There are manual processes and time lags in getting this information.”
By law, veterans jailed for more than 60 days are eligible only for compensation benefits equal to a 10 percent disability rating (for those already at 10 percent, it drops to 5 percent). Once veterans are released, they are eligible for their full benefits again.
But investigators estimate almost $60 million in overpayments to veterans in federal prisons from fiscal 2008 to fiscal 2015, and another $44 million to veterans in state and local jails in 2013 and 2014.
“We found that VBA did not process federal incarceration adjustments primarily because they did not place priority on incarceration adjustments, as they do not consider these non-rating claims part of the disability claims backlog,” said Mike Missal, the VA inspector general.
Reducing that backlog has been a major focus of the department in recent years, with the number of cases taking four months to process ballooning to around 611,000 in 2013. Today, that number is around 75,000 cases.
Murphy said part of that effort has been automating more VA systems and outside data, and officials hope to use those advances to correct the prison payouts problem moving forward.
Lawmakers called the findings unsettling.
“The veterans who received these overpayments have committed crimes, but the overpayments are not their fault,” said Rep. Ralph Abraham, R-La., chairman of the panel’s subcommittee on disability assistance. “Nothing excuses VA for failing to do its job.”
Veterans sent to prison are required by law to inform VA of their legal status, but both lawmakers and VA officials acknowledged that is a less-than-reliable system.
VA Inspector General reports have estimated total improper payments for all veterans benefits programs totaled more than $1.3 billion in fiscal 2015, with the prison issue a small segment of that. Murphy said incarcerated veterans make up less than 1 percent of the overall population of individuals receiving VA benefits.
Still, she conceded that the mistakes amount to a significant amount of lost taxpayer funds, and promised her agency will find solutions. Officials are working to recover some of those improper payments.
“We are focused on this now,” she said. “Going forward, I will be watching this.”
VA Inspector General reports have estimated total improper payments for all veterans benefits programs totaled more than $1.3 billion in fiscal 2015, with the prison issue a small segment of that. Murphy said incarcerated veterans make up less than 1 percent of the overall population of individuals receiving VA benefits.
Still, she conceded that the mistakes amount to a significant amount of lost taxpayer funds, and promised her agency will find solutions. Officials are working to recover some of those improper payments.
“We are focused on this now,” she said. “Going forward, I will be watching this.”
Report: Vets in prison received $100M in improper benefit | Military Times
Posted from militarytimes.com
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Disabled Veterans
Benefits
Posted >1 y ago
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That information seems very strange SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL.
How on earth would the VA not know that direct deposits were being sent to the Federal Bureau of Prisons or state prisons?
If the checks or direct deposits were sent to the next of kin or familily beneficiaries who not imprisoned then those would seem to be legitimate expenditures.
How on earth would the VA not know that direct deposits were being sent to the Federal Bureau of Prisons or state prisons?
If the checks or direct deposits were sent to the next of kin or familily beneficiaries who not imprisoned then those would seem to be legitimate expenditures.
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The whole idea of expecting the incarcerated vet to notify the VA is stupid. Frankly, I had no idea about this provision, and if for some reason I ended up in jail for 3 months, I would have had absolutely no idea that I was supposed to tell the VA or that I get paid for the first two months and not the last one. And I could just imagine the lag time that would be involved in that, so that by the time they turned it off, I would be entitled to get it again, and probably wouldn't be getting it.
And as the article said, given the backlog on processing current claims for vets not in jail, I'd rather they focus on those instead of making the noncriminals wait longer while they process the jailed vets paperwork. IMO they should just develop some sort of automated system where social security numbers or whatever number they use now for prisoners is matched to the VA database to look for people getting payments. But the notion that some vet in jail for years for a serious crime is going to self report himself to the VA is dumb.
And as the article said, given the backlog on processing current claims for vets not in jail, I'd rather they focus on those instead of making the noncriminals wait longer while they process the jailed vets paperwork. IMO they should just develop some sort of automated system where social security numbers or whatever number they use now for prisoners is matched to the VA database to look for people getting payments. But the notion that some vet in jail for years for a serious crime is going to self report himself to the VA is dumb.
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I think it's called integrity, and I would hope that an incarcerated vet had at least a shred of it left, enough to at least self-report.
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A "simple" fix would be to make anyone being incarcerated fill out a financial statement form on any income they are receiving. If they are receiving a govt pension, (or any other income for that matter) the cost of their incarceration and medical treatment) should be deducted from it.
Anything left over is theirs. I'm pretty sure nothing is going to be left.
Anything left over is theirs. I'm pretty sure nothing is going to be left.
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(Non-federal) inmates are wards of the state and most of the time, they earn between $0.10 and $0.75 an hour, if they have been assigned a job. No inmate is allowed to handle real money (for obvious reasons) so each state's DOC maintains "accounts" in the name of the inmate, where their earnings, plus any amounts sent to them by family/friends, or others, are kept. Most inmates keep their own records for the simple reason that deposits can go missing or commissary charges can be duplicated in error. Most states take a percentage from each deposit, ostensibly for account upkeep, but usually the funds are diverted to other uses. (Medical treatment is negligible at best and not provided by actual licensed doctors or nurses.) So, unless each state also returns its "cut," VA over-payments can never be fully recovered.
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1stSgt Eugene Harless
In my opinion state or federal prison system should be allowed to garnish VA pensions. When A VA pension is withheld it goes back into the hands of the Federal Government. The burden of housing, feeding and care of prisoners is now on the state.
The prisoners should pay for their own upkeep if they have any income. regardless of the source.
The prisoners should pay for their own upkeep if they have any income. regardless of the source.
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