The trouble with US veterans benefits isn't 'rampant' fraud - it's bureaucratic roadblocks, advocates say

Source: The Guardian

Tue 4 Nov 2025 05.00 EST
Last modified on Tue 4 Nov 2025 12.05 EST


In October, the Washington Post reported that it had uncovered “rampant exaggeration and fraud” in the US Department of Veterans Affairs’ disability benefits system. “Military veterans are swamping the US government with dubious disability claims … exploiting the country’s sacred commitment to compensate those harmed in the line of duty,” the newspaper reported.

But the Post’s claims about American veterans committing disability fraud are fundamentally flawed, according to government documents, legal experts, current and former VA officials, members of Congress, advocates and veterans themselves.

They say that the Post’s reporting fails to account for the physical and mental toll of sustained military conflict on service members – and improperly casts the actions of several dozen veterans convicted of lying about their disabilities as representative of widespread fraud.

Rather than providing evidence of a pervasive problem, experts say, the convictions show that the system for combating fraud is working. The American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Vietnam Veterans of America and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America have condemned the Post’s series of stories as misleading and insulting to veterans who have sacrificed for their country.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/04/washington-post-report-veterans-benefits