Reservists and National Guard members are prohibited from receiving VA compensation or pension benefits and military reserve pay (drill pay) at the same time, but the Veterans Benefits Administration did not timely offset 601 of 700 sample cases, the VA inspector general has said.
It said of the 601 offsets not timely processed, 553 were not processed and the remaining 48 were not processed within VBA’s timeliness standard. (VBA said processing compensation claims and clearing its backlog has taken precedence.)
According to the IG, the VBA also lacked an adequate tracking mechanism, a current cost-benefit analysis, and Systematic Analysis of Operations reviews of the drill pay offset process.
VBA’s unprocessed rate for fiscal 2011 and 2012 is not significantly different from the 90 percent unprocessed rate in a similar audit in 1997, the IG said, adding that it’s likely the agency has not processed hundreds of millions of dollars in offsets since then.
The IG projected that the VBA has not offset payments of about $48.9 million for fiscal 2011 and $95.7 million for fiscal 2012, and could recover about $623.1 million in improper payments through 2017.
The VBA agreed to implement corrective measures, process all offsets for fiscal 2011 and 2012, and to move effectively track and monitor offsets, update the cost-benefit analysis, and include drill pay offset processing in SAOs.
