{"id":7226,"date":"2026-02-23T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7226"},"modified":"2026-02-23T16:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T16:00:00","slug":"va-benefits-claims-backlog-under-100k-for-first-time-since-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7226","title":{"rendered":"VA benefits claims backlog under 100K for first time since 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"tni-source-date\"><strong>Originally published:<\/strong> 2026-02-23T16:00:00+00:00. Historical source article: benefits, rules, amounts and deadlines may have changed. Check the official source for current information.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WASHINGTON<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 The Department of Veterans Affairs today announced that the backlog of VA disability compensation and pension benefit claims is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.benefits.va.gov\/reports\/mmwr_va_claims_backlog.asp\" rel=\"noopener\">consistently below 100,000<\/a>\u00a0for the first time since May 2020, during the first Trump Administration.<\/p>\n<p>Hitting this milestone means the department has now cut the backlog of Veterans waiting for VA benefits by 63% since Jan. 20, 2025, after it increased 24% under the Biden Administration.<\/p>\n<p>A VA claim for compensation or pension is considered backlogged once it has been pending in the claims inventory for more than 125 days. In 2013, 70% of claims were older than 125 days \u2014 the most ever \u2014 compared to just 17% today.<\/p>\n<p>Reducing the claims backlog is an urgent priority for Secretary Collins, as it was well above 100,000 from 2021 to 2024 and stood at 264,717 on Jan. 20, 2025. During President Trump\u2019s first administration, VA reached the lowest disability claims backlog Dec. 21, 2019, at 64,783 claims.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnder President Trump, VA is providing Veterans, families, caregivers and survivors all of the benefits they have earned as quickly and conveniently as possible,\u201d said <strong>VA Secretary Doug Collins<\/strong>. \u201cVA\u2019s claims processing productivity is the highest it has ever been, and we look forward to continuing to provide record levels of service to Veterans and VA beneficiaries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This milestone is one of many <a href=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/veteransfirst\/\" rel=\"noopener\">landmark\u00a0VA achievements during the second Trump Administration<\/a>, including:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SecVetAffairs\/status\/2025178927069614412?s=20\">Opening 33 new VA health care facilities<\/a>, expanding health care access for Veterans around the country.<\/li>\n<li>Processing more than 3 million disability compensation and pension claims in FY2025, an all-time high that shattered the previous record set in FY2024.<\/li>\n<li>Offering Veterans more than 2.2 million appointments outside of normal operating hours, which give Veterans more timely and convenient options for care.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/va-houses-largest-number-of-homeless-veterans-in-seven-years\/\">Permanently housing 51,936 homeless Veterans<\/a> across the country in FY2025, the highest total in seven years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>VA encourages all Veterans to visit <a href=\"https:\/\/choose.va.gov\/\" rel=\"noopener\">choose.va.gov<\/a> to learn more and apply for the care and benefits they have earned.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"tni-attribution\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/va-benefits-claims-backlog-under-100k-for-first-time-since-2020\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a>. Its Veterans is an independent publication and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Backlog of VA disability compensation and pension benefit claims is consistently below 100,000\u00a0for the first time since May 2020, during the first Trump Administration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":327,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,7,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-claims-appeals","category-u-s-veterans-disabled-veterans","category-trump"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>VA benefits claims backlog under 100K for first time since 2020 - Its Veterans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Backlog of VA disability compensation and pension benefit claims is consistently below 100,000\u00a0for the first time since May 2020, during the first Trump Administration.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7226\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"VA benefits claims backlog under 100K for first time since 2020 - 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