Thousands of veterans had their benefits cut off after the Veterans Administration wrongly declared them dead, The Associated Press reports.
Florida Republican Rep. [crscore]David Jolly[/crscore] criticized the VA after several veterans from Florida informed him that their military benefits had been cut off. The veterans, 4,200 in total, were wrongly declared dead from 2011-2015, Danny Pummill, the undersecretary for benefits at the VA, admitted in a May 6 letter to Jolly.
Pummill stated that he did not know how or why the errors had occurred.
The VA is now reportedly implementing stricter protocols with regard to how veterans are declared dead, but Jolly says that the change is too little, too late.
“It’s a problem that should have been addressed years ago, as it has caused needless hardships for thousands of people who had their benefits terminated and their world turned upside down,” Jolly said.