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Survivors Wrongly Lose Help

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The Associated Press

Published: December 14, 2008

WASHINGTON - Surviving spouses of war veterans have been wrongfully denied up to millions of dollars in government benefits over the past 12 years because of computer glitches that often resulted in money being seized from the elderly survivors' bank accounts.

The Veterans Affairs Department said Saturday it wasn't fully aware of the problem. It pledged to work quickly to give back the pension and disability checks - ranging from $100 to more than $2,500 - that hundreds of thousands of survivors should have received during the month of their spouse's death.

"This problem must be fixed," VA Secretary James Peake said. The department indicated in an "action plan" that up to millions of dollars in back payments could be returned sometime after next February.

The VA said survivors who think they were wrongfully denied payments can call its help line at 1-800-827-1000.

Congress passed a law in 1996 giving veterans' spouses the right to keep their partners' final month of benefits, but the VA never updated its automated computer systems.

Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, who chairs the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, confronted Peake about the problem in a letter after receiving a complaint from a widow. In response, Peake instructed the Veterans Benefits Administration to update its systems.

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