WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Department of Veterans Affairs announced today that they were hiring 27,000 additional workers as claims processors.
In a press release, the VA stated that the workers would join the ranks of the roughly 16,000 employees in the Veterans Benefits Administration who mostly "lose important paperwork, talk next to the water cooler, and occasionally process claims for pension and education benefits."
The announcement comes as benefits claims continue to rise. Some reports put the number at over 550,000 claims for disability benefits alone, with two-thirds of them still pending.
Although Secretary Eric Shinseki says that the hiring initiative is a good thing, he's hesitant to say it's enough.
