Blue Water Navy Outreach Requirements Were Met, but Claims Processing and Procedures Could Improve

Since 1991, veterans who served in the Republic of Vietnam are presumed to have been exposed to herbicides such as Agent Orange. The Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019 extended this presumption to include veterans who served within 12 nautical miles of Vietnam. The objective of this OIG review was to determine whether Veterans Benefit Administration (VBA) employees (1) notified Navy veterans of their potential eligibility to receive medical benefits under the act; (2) correctly determined the eligibility of the veterans who filed claims for benefits; and (3) made accurate decisions on claims. The OIG found that VBA met the outreach requirements outlined in the act. VBA employees also generally determined Blue Water Navy veterans’ eligibility for benefits correctly. However, VBA has not established procedures for its employees to follow when the computer search tool they use to determine ship locations during claimant service dates returns unlikely results (for example, providing an inland location in a search for an aircraft carrier). In addition, VBA employees inaccurately decided approximately 46 percent of veterans’ claims (2,100 of 4,600) from April through June 2020, which led to about $37.2 million in improper payments to veterans ($25.2 million in overpayments and $12 million in underpayments) during that period. About 95 percent of these errors resulted from VBA employees deviating from policies governing disability-rating decisions. The OIG made three recommendations to the under secretary for benefits: (1) establish procedures to follow when the ship locator tool provides unlikely results based on deck log coordinates, (2) ensure VBA employees understand how to accurately decide and evaluate herbicide-related medical conditions, and (3) begin periodic local reviews of rating decisions involving such medical conditions to mitigate error trends identified.