An IRS Approach for VA Claims?

That appears to be the thinking of the folks on the House Appropriations Committee, who think the Veterans Affairs Department could model its disability and pension claims process on electronic tax filing systems.

In its report on the fiscal 2010 VA spending bill, the committee said advances in technology may enable automation of even the most complicated of claims administration processes.

The report said commercial software has automated the filing of taxes and receipt of state and federal returns and suggested "such user-friendly technology may be adaptable for the administration of claims processing while also supporting the transition to electronic records," part of VA Secretary Eric Shinseki's grand plans to make the department as "paperless as possible."

I don't have any idea if TurboTax can be adapted to help veterans file claims with the VA, but any idea is worth exploring to help speed up a truly Dickensian process managed by 13,39 claims processors (with another 1,200 slated for hire next year) who shuffle around mounds of paper.

The VA must have a large green eyeshade bill.