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FL Vet Disability Backlog at 22,000

Florida has the highest number of backlogged veteran disability claims in the country, according to the Miami Herald.

About 59.7 percent of veteran disability claims in Florida are backlogged, meaning they have been pending for more than 125 days. That’s more than the national average of 48.7 percent, the Herald reports.

The number of backlogged claims in Florida has dropped from 34,609 in 2013 to 22,134 in early August of this year, according to the Veterans Benefits Administration.

However, Rep. Jeff Miller, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and a congressman from Florida’s Panhandle, told the Herald he doesn’t trust those numbers.

Still, the VBA says it continues to reduce the backlog and aim to eliminating it entirely by 2015, according to the Herald.

Originally founded in December 2006 as an independent grassroots publication dedicated to coverage of health issues in Florida, Health News Florida was acquired by WUSF Public Media in September 2012.