Navigation Effective Date Issues with PACT Act Claims
The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promises to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act (PACT Act) was signed into law on August 10, 2022. Since that time, there have been hundreds of thousands of claims filed under the PACT Act.
Recently, a review of PACT Act claims by the VA Officer of Inspector General (OIG) found that roughly one-quarter (of grants) listed incorrect start dates which have resulted in improper payouts of about $6.8 million to some veterans and shortchanging an estimated 2,300 others.
In a report released April 15, the OIG concluded that the legislation’s complexity, along with inadequate guidance from the Veterans Benefits Administration, led claims adjudicators to assign the wrong “effective date” to an estimated 26,000 claims, resulting in overpayment by the government in the first year of the legislation. The OIG found that mistakes were made because: claims processors were not adequately prepared to determine correct effective dates and the automated tools created to provide assistance in determining a date “were unreliable.”
