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McCain, VA Touting Program To Speed Up Veterans' Disability Claims

Arizona’s senior senator is planning a series of events to help veterans get the services they need more quickly. 

According to a Center for Investigative Reporting analysis, the average wait time for Phoenix veterans filing new disability claims with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is nearly 600 days.

A VA initiative called the  Fully Developed Claims process aims to speed things up. It allows veterans or their survivors to submit a claim and all the material to back it up online and certify that they have no more evidence to provide.

Sen. John McCain and local representatives from the VA are hosting a series of town halls throughout Arizona to help guide servicemembers through the new system. The first will be in Lake Havasu on Friday. McCain said the VA’s goal is to process new claims within 90 days.