Navigation Veterans Receiving Disability May Have Been Underpaid
I’ve written before about the report made last year by the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG), which found the VA spent $1.4 million on unnecessary C&Ps from April through September 2023. Now, the OIG has released a new report regarding the VA’s Calculator for Special Monthly Compensation, showing that Veterans may have received lower monthly payments than they were entitled to, with missing amounts ranging from $132.74 to $4,170.59 in their monthly disability checks.
Special Monthly Compensation is added to a disability award for severe cases like an amputation, limb loss, loss of sight, or for those who are permanently bedridden or need help with daily basic needs like getting dressed or eating. To see the payment variations, you can review the VA’s website by clicking here.
The problem was once again the VA’s payment calculation system/program. The OIG found that the VA overly relied on the system, which most likely was the cause of the incorrect monthly payments. The VA has now taken the faulty program offline. The OIG recommended that the VA correct all of the calculator errors, develop a testing plan and certify the results to the OIG. The VA has told OIG that it completed initial testing of the defects, disabled the calculator and plans to report a testing plan to the IG by July 31.
