WASHINGTON — More than a quarter of military veterans with disability cases before the Department of Veterans Affairs wait six months or longer for the agency's decision, creating financial hardships for them and their families, veterans advocates say.

Joe Violante, national legislative director for Disabled American Veterans, said even though the compensation isn't that much, the delay in getting it sometimes leads to bankruptcy and homelessness.

"Some veterans have died while their claims ... were unresolved for years at VA," Violante told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, which is chaired by Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i.

VA compensation for a single veteran ranges from $2,471 a month for someone rated as 100 percent disabled to $348 for someone considered 30 percent disabled.

"In many cases, that may be the only income they have coming in at the time," Violante said. "The longer that is delayed, the harder it is for them to get their lives back on track and to take care of their families."

Sen. John Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said he received a letter from a disabled Iraq war veteran who the VA told would not be receiving his first disability payment for six to eight months because the agency was running behind.

"My question is how am I supposed to survive until I start my disability pay," Rockefeller read, during a meeting yesterday of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. "I have rent, truck payments, utilities, food and child support to pay. Will I be evicted from my apartment and have to live in my truck until it's repossessed?"

401,000 PENDING CASES

As of March 3, the VA had almost 401,000 pending cases for disability compensation with almost 115,000 languishing for six months or more.

The numbers have been climbing in recent years with disability cases increasing by almost 29,000 since last year, partly because of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Those wars have seen more than 1.45 million active-duty, National Guard and Reserve troops deployed. Of those, about 685,000 have since been discharged.

"I think it is clear to everyone here that the system overall is struggling and some veterans are waiting far too long for decisions," said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, the top Republican on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

But the VA problems also are unrelated to recent news accounts about the Defense Department holding injured active-duty troops at Walter Reed Medical Center for long periods awaiting decisions from medical boards on their ability to rejoin the military and if not, their compensation.

To deal with its problem of delays, the VA wants to hire more caseworkers next year and continue its program to improve computer technology.

MORE THAN EXPECTED

But Akaka said he was concerned the VA budget was based on erroneous workload projections that didn't increase through the end of 2008. In reality, the VA received 8 percent more claims than expected in the final three months of 2006.

"Without prompt action, we will fail to keep our promise to provide timely and accurate decisions to veterans," he said.

One problem causing serious delays is the transfer of electronic medical files for veterans from the Pentagon to the VA.

The two departments are still unable to share electronic medical records through their computer systems, despite years of work now two years past deadline.

Craig said the U.S. military is the most modernized one in the world, but still can't share records electronically with the VA.

"I don't know what it takes to turn a battleship around, other than hit it with a torpedo, maybe," said a frustrated Craig.

HEAVIER WORKLOAD

James P. Terry, VA undersecretary for benefits, told the committee the delays were being caused by an increasingly heavier load of cases that have grown more complex to decide.

In 2000, about 579,000 disability cases were filed, increasing to 806,000 last year, Terry said.

"It is expected that this high level of claims activity will continue over the next five years," Terry said.

Terry said the VA is trying to deal with the increasing caseload by using new training tools, redistributing the caseload among regional offices and consolidating special cases at central locations to make better use of expertise.

OUTREACH PROGRAM

The VA also plans to expand an outreach program to active-duty military who will be discharged within six months to get their cases started.

"However, because it requires an average of two to three years for our decision-makers to become fully productive, increased staffing levels do not produce immediate production improvements," Terry said.

But he said seriously injured veterans from Iraq and Afghan-istan are getting priority service for their disability claims.

As of last month, that priority service was extended to all Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, regardless of their level of disability, Terry said.

But priority service comes at a price for veterans from other wars and could add to the delay in getting a decision on their cases, according to veterans advocates.

"If you squeeze a balloon in one place, it's going to pop out in another place," said John Rowan, national president of Vietnam Veterans of America.

Reach Dennis Camire at dcamire@gns.gannett.com.