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Some of the more prominent errors and problems seen in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in the past few years have related to accounting and reporting issues. Although there have been other problems that truly require legislative overhauls, and indicate the importance of more funding to ensure the VA has everything it needs to properly serve the veteran community, plenty have been obvious symptoms of poor accounting and information management policies. 

The VA has been under fire a lot of late, but is working to improve upon its strategies and capabilities with the help of various other government agencies. Now, it is in the process of correcting an issue that impacted thousands of veterans. 

Incorrect classifications
The Washington Free Beacon recently reported that the VA announced it had accidentally declared more than 4,000 veterans dead and subsequently terminated their benefits over the four years spanning from 2011 and 2015. This all came to a head last year, as the source pointed out that about one-quarter of the individuals impacted saw their benefits disappear in 2015. Making matters worse, the agency struggled to figure out which veterans had been wrongfully declared dead. 

"Although we are able to identify cases where benefits were terminated based on an erroneous notice of a beneficiary's death and subsequently reinstated, our computer systems do not collect information on the cause of the errors (e.g., VA employee error, erroneous information received through a data-matching program, incorrect identifying data provided by a third party, etc.)," VA Undersecretary for Benefits Danny Pummill explained, according to the news provider.

The VA accidentally cut off benefits to more than 4,000 veterans. The VA accidentally cut off benefits to more than 4,000 veterans.

Many of the challenges the VA has faced since the turn of the century have been unavoidable, but this is an example of an issue that can be easily remedied by improving accounting and reporting performance. The Washington Free Beacon noted that the initial admission of the error was disclosed to Representative David Jolly of Florida, who has since explained his concerns regarding this latest issue. 

"We simply cannot have men and women who have sacrificed for this country see their rightful benefits wrongfully terminated because the VA mistakenly declares them dead," Jolly affirmed, according to the source. "This creates tremendous financial hardships and undue personal turmoil for veterans, many who are seniors relying primarily if not solely on their VA benefits."

Making it right
Stars and Stripes reported that Jolly has confirmed that the error has been fixed for the time being, with all 4,200 veterans impacted seeing their benefits reinstated in a timely fashion. However, the source cited his comments on what will need to happen to avoid the issue from coming back again and negatively impacting the veteran community in the process. 

"It's a problem that should have been addressed years ago, as it has caused needless hardships for thousands of people who had their benefits terminated and their world turned upside down," Jolly explained.

The general policies and strategies used to govern benefits programs for veterans must be improved to keep the community supported.