Wilmington, N.C. ? Only a fraction of wounded veterans who could get better benefits have applied in the two years since Congress, acting on concerns the military was cutting costs by downplaying injuries, ordered the Pentagon to review disputed claims.

As of mid-March, only 921 vets have applied out of the 77,000 the Pentagon estimates are eligible, according to numbers provided to The Associated Press by the Physical Disability Board of Review. The panel was created in 2008 but started taking cases in January 2009.

More than 230 cases have been decided, about 60 percent in favor of improving the veteran’s benefits, while an additional 119 case were dismissed as ineligible.

Advocates and even board members themselves want the review panel to do a better job of getting the word out.

“Quite frankly, I would like to see more opportunities for us to reach out to these people,” said Michael LoGrande, president of the three-member board that has a staff of 10. “But we are doing the best we can with the limited people and resources we have.”

LoGrande said the board is trying to reach eligible vets mainly through veterans groups.

At issue are disability ratings based on an injury’s severity and long-term impact. Veterans rated below 30 percent disabled with less than 20 years of service receive a one-time severance payment instead of a monthly retirement check. Also, their health care switches from the military to the strained VA system, and their families lose military health insurance.

A rating above 30 percent means monthly income and military health care for the family.

A disabled service member’s severance pay and monthly retirement is based on active-duty pay, years of service and if the service member’s injuries are combat-related.

Congress created the board after investigations found inconsistencies in how the military assigns ratings for the level of disability that soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines have before they are discharged. Veterans advocates protested that the military was manipulating disability ratings to save money.

Orin Higgins, 30, injured his back while he was stationed in Korea. The Army discharged him on medical grounds in May 2006 with no benefits, even though the injury hampers everyday chores.

“Tying my shoes is difficult,” said Higgins, from Mountain Grove, Mo. “I can’t get a job because all I know is construction and roofing and you can’t do that with a bad back.”

Higgins appealed his Army rating to the Physical Disability Board of Review in May 2009 and was approved for a higher rating by the board in February.

“I think they’ve righted a wrong,” he said.

The panel is managed by the Air Force and charged with reviewing appeals from former members of the armed forces who received disability ratings of less than 30 percent from Sept. 11, 2001 to Dec. 31, 2009. Before Congress created the streamlined process, veterans could appeal but were subjected to a lengthy review by a military panel that rarely changed the ratings.

“I think flat out that we’ve done exactly what the Hill wanted and what (the Office of the Secretary of Defense) wanted,” LoGrande said, “and it has resulted in a bump in the number of people that flip to a disability retirement.”