Community Corner

Connecticut Veterans: Where Are Our Benefits?

Veterans spoke publicly Thursday about nightmarish experiences, including home foreclosures, while they've waited in vain for the government to help them.

By Eileen McNamara

Connecticut veterans gathered in Hartford this week to discuss how the backlog in their benefits from the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department has created delays stretching back decades and forced some of them out of their homes. 

The Hartford roundtable discussion was organized by Connecticut U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal as a way to draw attention to the plight of the state's veterans, the website CT News Junkie reports.
“It’s been pretty hard,” said Mikell Kiersey, an East Granby resident who served during the Vietnam era said. “You serve your country and then they sort of forget about you.”

During the Thursday event veterans spoke of long delays, some stretching back decades, in getting medical claims processed through the Veterans Affairs Department. 

In Connecticut, Blumenthal said, there are a backlog of about 1,300 veteran claim cases. Blumenthal has filed federal legislation that seeks to streamline the claims process and chip away at the backlog. 


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