Filing a VA Disability Claim from Guam

The substance of a VA disability claim does not change on Guam: the rating schedule, the evidence rules and the appeal routes are federal and identical. What changes, in Guam's favour, is the examination. The Government Accountability Office described how compensation and pension examinations reach territory veterans. In the Pacific, VBA-contracted examiners "can be located on island, such as in Guam," or may travel to the territory, as in American Samoa, and in some cases the veteran is asked to fly elsewhere, such as from the Northern Mariana Islands to Guam. Guam is the place the examiners are, and it shows in the numbers. Average days for VBA to process a disability claim requiring a medical examination, for veterans living in Guam: 232 in fiscal 2020, 185 in 2021, 209 in 2022, 214 in 2023. Over the same years American Samoa ran 415, 318, 267 and 233 days, and the Northern Mariana Islands 306, 272, 222 and 227. Guam was the fastest territory in the Pacific in three of the four years, and in fiscal 2021 at 185 days it was the only Pacific territory to come close to VA's stated goal of 125 days or fewer. It still missed it. In fiscal 2023 VA's examination contractors met their 36-day goal for delivering exam results in the freely associated states but not for any U.S. territory. Claims are processed by the Veterans Benefits Administration regional office in Honolulu, which works a national queue covering all fifty states and the territories, with on-island VBA representation in each territory through permanent or travelling staff. Contacting VBA has been a Pacific-wide problem. GAO reported that the call centre number was not toll-free from parts of the region, that as of December 2023 a new toll-free number had been established and tested in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa, and that callers connected in all three, though those in American Samoa were still being charged long distance rates. Time zone difference remains a barrier that local VBA officials named in its own right. Scale. VA's population model estimated 13,323 veterans living in Guam in fiscal 2020, 13,054 in 2021 and 12,800 in 2022, by far the largest veteran population in the Pacific territories. In fiscal 2023, 4,631 veterans living in Guam received disability compensation, 39 received pension, and 255 received education benefits. GAO flagged that it could not confirm the accuracy of VA's territorial population estimates, so treat those as working figures. Locally, 10 GCA § 67102(c) directs the Guam Office of Veterans Affairs to assist every Guam veteran, dependent and survivor with initial claims, across a listed set that includes disability compensation, pension, dependents' indemnity compensation, burial benefits, vocational rehabilitation and education, and waivers of indebtedness. The office's notarial service is free under § 67103(d). For an appeal rather than an initial claim, an accredited service organization is the route, and representation costs nothing.