100% Rating Reduced To 40%

[jhorak101]

I live here in Central Texas near Fort Hood and was talking with a Vietnam Vet a Marine veteran who told me he got a letter from the Waco TX VA regional office saying that they purpose to reduce his disability from 100% un employable to 40% I was under the impression that 100% was permanent and total and would never change I myself am rated at 80% overall with my highest disability rating at 30% then others at 20% and 10% The DAV told me that I have to maintain that rating for 20 years before it becomes permanent and total according to 38 CFR they already tried to reduce one of my disabilities from 30% to 0% because they say during a recent exam the VA medical doctor an neurologist at the Temple TX VA hospital said tat me condition improved ?? I had to go back a submit civilian health report form my Tricare provider at Hillcrest Baptist medical center in Waco to overrule the incompetent C&P evaluator. Now its this kind red tape that needs to get to the Top people in Washington i.e. the President and the VA secretary and congress. But my primary question has to do with my Vietnam Vet friend that the VA is trying to screw.

Thank You

Jim Horak, TSgt USAF Chapter 61 Disability Retiree

Belton Texas

[Tbird]

[jbasser]

The 20 year protection rule is a good rule. After 2o years, thee only way they can take it is if fraud was involved.

Regardless if a Veteran is P and T they can be reviewed.

It depends on his disabilities. If they have improved then they can take it. If not he has to battle.

J

[hawkfire27]

Surely he can cry CUE!!!

If he has a IMO that states his condition has not improved and that the C&P doc made a Clear and UNmistakable Error then it is very possible he could get this overturned. They tried doing this to my husband 2 months before he went 20 years (can you believe it!) but his VA doc never wrote anything about improvement in his notes and in fact he is much worse. The C&P doc does have some power, but they have less than the VA doc that has been treating you for years.....

Tell your Nam Vet friend to get his medical records from his VA medical Center or private doc, submit as evidence of Claim, stating you believe the C&P Doc was "inadvertently mistaken" in his determination. Provide all the notes you can, highlight the most important info that applies, write a contents page so the Adjudicator can find the info and cross your fingers. Don't let them take a benefit he has earned if he needs it! Tell him to get to a VSO or something, because it is extremely difficult to get back to 100% once you've lost it.

Good Luck

[carlie]

I live here in Central Texas near Fort Hood and was talking with a Vietnam Vet a Marine veteran who told me he got a letter from the Waco TX VA regional office saying that

they purpose to reduce his disability from 100% un employable to 40%

I was under the impression that 100% was permanent and total and would never change

I myself am rated at 80% overall with my highest disability rating at 30% then others at 20% and 10% [

b]The DAV told me that I have to maintain that rating for 20 years before it becomes permanent and total....

jhorak101,

1)

The very first thing your buddy needs to do is write a letter to VA

stating he disagrees with this proposal to reduce his benefits,

that he wants a personal hearing at his regional office and that

he requests no reduction take place prior to his hearing being held.

He needs to submit this to the RO and get a date stamped copy of it from them.

He needs to do this NOW not in a few days, NOW.

Please disregard the poster that stated your buddy can "cry CUE".

As no final Rating Decision has been promulgated on the issue, it doesn't

rise to the level required to even submit a claim for CUE.

2)

A vet can be rated as 100 percent service connected for decades and

still not be rated as P&T.

The claims issue of P&T must be adjudicated in a Rating Decision

just as all other claims issues are required to be.

3) Even if a vet has been rated at 100 percent SC for 20 or more years

the issue of P&T does not automatically kick in.

P&T must be granted in a Rating Decision.

Here are the 10/20 year rules of protection for you.

Hope this helps a vet.

carlie

Borrowed from elsewhere,

"10/20 Year Service Connection/Ratings Protection

The 10 year mark for is for service connection.

A condition that has been service connected for 10 years can not be severed unless fraud is involved.

The clock starts ticking for conditions based on the effective date(s). This does not mean compensation can't be reduced.

The 20 year mark protects ratings.

Absent fraud, disability ratings can not be reduced after they have been going 20 years.

See your award letter for effective dates on each disability. Combined ratings are also protected after a 20 year period.

Example: You have been rated 50% for Condition A since 1990. You apply for SC for 4 more conditions and VA grants them in 2007. Because of VA granting them your new combined rating is 100% as of 2007. Condition A is protected from severance in the year 2000 and protected from reduction in the year 2010. The new service connected conditions would be protected from severance in 2017 and reduction in 2027. The clock started ticking on your combined 100% in the year 2007 so it would be protected from reduction in the year 2027.

If you apply for an increase for Condition A and are bumped from 50% to 70%, the 50% number is still protected from 1990 but the new 70% would start a new clock ticking (using the dates above). Meaning until you have held that 70% rating for 20 years, the lowest they can reduce you is back to 50% based on the fact that it was in effect for 20 years.

Even if a rater plugged the wrong numbers and wrongly awarded a combined 100%, they still can't reduce. Again, this is all assuming no fraud is involved. You can do the math by using the effective dates on your award letters.

"P&T" can be established at any time regardless of how long ratings have been held (via 100% scheduler or TDIU). If VA plugs all of your conditions and there are no future exams scheduled, then entitlement to Ch. 35 and ChampVA will be granted. If VA determines that there is a chance of improvement, there will be a future exam scheduled and "P&T" will not be established."

[Berta]

He MUST respond in time to this proposed reduction with any evidence that will help him.

His decision will clearly statement why they are proposing to reduce.

I dont know what time frame to respond he was given but he must act fast and put them on the defensive.

From TDIU to 40%???? that is a big drop-we need more info here as to what the decision said in order to give more advise.

And to know what was his SC disability?

[john999]

Did this vet go back to work? If he is IU then how did they propose to reduce him if he still can't work?