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Does IU automatically qualify you for SMC?

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allansc2005

Question

Brother was just awarded IU, and has other conditions not associated with the IU that add up to 70%, using hadit.com scale.

 

Will the P&T IU itself meet the requirement for 100% needed to qualify for SMC?

 

Allan

2-2-0 HUAH!

 

 

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That qualification for SMC seems to be a big question in many people's minds. Some say ONE condition has to be 60% or more, others say that it can be a combined 60% or more...

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2 minutes ago, allansc2005 said:

That qualification for SMC seems to be a big question in many people's minds. Some say ONE condition has to be 60% or more, others say that it can be a combined 60% or more...

Right?  and in my case I guess the VA says it doesn't matter anyway lol.

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I found the most recent BVA SMC  “S” explanation I could- this is from a BVA 2016 decision:

"B.  SMC

 

VA has a "well-established" duty to maximize a claimant's benefits.  See Buie v. Shinseki, 24 Vet. App. 242, 250 (2011); AB v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 35, 38 (1993); see also Bradley v. Peake, 22 Vet. App. 280 (2008) (finding that SMC "benefits are to be accorded when a veteran becomes eligible without need for a separate claim" and remanding, pursuant to VA's duty to maximize benefits, for VA to determine whether the veteran's posttraumatic stress disorder, rated 70 percent disabling, would entitle her to a TDIU and, therefore, to SMC).

 

Special monthly compensation is payable where a veteran has a single service-connected disability rated as 100 percent and (1) has additional service-connected disability or disabilities independently ratable at 60 percent, separate and distinct from the 100 percent service-connected disability and involving different anatomical segments or bodily systems, or (2) is permanently housebound by reason of service-connected disability or disabilities.  This requirement is met when a veteran is substantially confined as a direct result of service-connected disabilities to his or her dwelling and the immediate premises or, if institutionalized, to the ward or clinical areas and it is reasonably certain that the disability or disabilities and resultant confinement will continue throughout his or her lifetime.  38 U.S.C.A. § 1114(s); 38 C.F.R. § 3.350(i).

 

Subsection 1114(s) requires that a disabled veteran whose disability level is determined by the ratings schedule must have at least one disability that is rated at 100 percent in order to qualify for the special monthly compensation provided by that statute.  Under the law, subsection 1114(s) benefits are not available to a veteran whose 100 percent disability rating is based on multiple disabilities, none of which is rated at 100 percent disabling.

 

The Court has held that although a TDIU may satisfy the "rated as total" element of section 1114(s), a TDIU based on multiple underlying disabilities cannot satisfy the section 1114(s) requirement of "a service-connected disability" because that requirement must be met by a single disability.  In this case, the Board has awarded the appellant a 100 percent evaluation based solely due to her PTSD as of March 15, 1997." 

 

 

https://www.va.gov/vetapp16/files4/1631393.txt

If your disabilities warrant  consideration of SMC and the VA fails to consider SMC, that is a CUE and I won a CUE on that over their" lack of consideration of SMC in a 1998 decision", and I also provided them with the SMC mandate- I can't find the mandate here ( I sent them a page from the VBM that states it and it is definitely in M21-1MR...I will try to find it.)

They awarded the CUE for SMC S under 100% plus 60 and also under Housebound but only paid for one "S" award , which was correct.

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Here is a link to the mandate in M21-1MR:

I sent them that M21-1MR printout as well as the VBM (NVLSP) page that explains the statutory mandate.

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