john999

I would say "NO" as well. If you don't have it in writing you don't have it with the VA.

It is very hard to get 100% scheduler unless you get it for one condition. I am 90% and I got one 70%, 60% and five 10%'s. I need another 50% to get to 100% due to VA math.

Now I am hating myself! I used to hate myself because of guilt and feeling like a failure. Now I have realized that it is everyone else's fault, and that I am just a victim of circumstance.

I would take a trip to the VARO and show them your evidence. Then file the NOD. It is probably sitting in your C-File under their nose. Things like this have happened to me many times at St. Pete VARO.

Good question! I don't think it has ever been asked before that I know of on Hadit. You are breaking new ground.

Hey, I felt sort of the same way when my pal got 100% with SMC "S" before me and we both used the same psychologist and IME's. We had sort of a competition going on with this VA thing. I guess we both won if you consider being disabled and getting 100% compensation winning? Getting 100% or TDIU is the least the government should do. John

It took me about 18 months to get TDIU after I became unemployable. I got SSDI before I got TDIU. I even got federal worker's compensation before TDIU and OWCP is a real bastard. They make the VA look like Santa Claus. I waited three years to get my OWCP claim accepted via a trip to the top appeal level.

I am going on 8 years but I will gladly pay the lawyer 20% if he can get me 100% retro back to 1971.

There are a lot of haters. They hate you because of your race, your age, vet status, money in your pocket, religion, politics etc. I live in the beautiful, sunny south and there is as much racial hatred here as there was 50 years ago. It has just gone underground. John

If you just have VA that is enough for Obama Care. Obama Care is just for those who don't have any sort of adequate insurance. If you have Tricare or medicare or VA care you don't have to worry. Obama Care only affects about 15% of population. Why is everybody so nervous. Too much watching Fox! Some Obama hater was spreading rumor that Obama Care would bring back beheading as punishment. Does anyone believe this stuff? John

If you don't use the VA you may not be able to fill your scripts there. Do you have other insurance that is decent? You don't need to use the VA but you should stay in treatment with private doctors. You want a doctor who understands your needs and will be wiling to stand up and say your condition is service connected and is getting worse and back it up with medical evidence.

I get heart and DMII meds via the VA. That is about all they are good for I think. I am 60% for heart and I have never seen a cardiologist at the VA. I have a private one. I will not let the VA cut on me even for minor surgery. They wanted to do ingrown toenail surgery on me and I would not let them. I am afraid of staff infections. I had one already for very minor surgery which led to big surgery.

VA will provide your medications and combination of VA and medicare should take care of the rest. You might be able to buy a medigap policy just for yourself that would be less than Teacher's plan. That is some Teacher's Retirement plan you have. I would call it piss poor. I went to work for the feds just because of the medical plan which used to really be good. Not so good now I think especially for treatment of mental health issues.

You can stop seeing the VA doctor but you should see a neurologist on a regular basis. Don't stop treatment or you put your rating at risk. I have been getting treatment for anxiety and depression for 40 years. It just does not go away and neither will your Parkinson's or IHD. John

If he gets SSDI his OPM will be offset by 60% of his SSDI until he reaches 62. If he only worked for the feds for 5 years his pension will be small.

He can get OPM disability since he has been a federal employee via the VA. Plus he can get SSDI and his 100% from the VA. That is what I got more or less.

C-Files are paper. The VA has not hired temporary unemployed to feed our paper files into a computer storage device. They could hire long term unemployed and this would keep a million people employed for a few months just getting C-Files in order by date and putting them into computer format. Then entire C-Files could be at finger tips of vets, VSO's , lawyer and the VA. When my lawyer finally got my C-File he was appalled at the condition of the file. He had been doing SSDI claims where the files are nice and neat. John

What is your effective dates on your claims for increase since you have been on appeal since 2010 if I understand? VA cheats many a vet on the effective date of an increase or even original claims.

I have found that if you concentrate on one claim that can get you 100% that is the way to go. Get 100% and then as a hobby you can pursue other claims. Every RVN vet can pursue agent orange claims because we are all going to die from it eventually.

When I was in Vietnam on perimeter guard a dog handler came up to the bunker I was snoozing in while the other guy stood guard. The dog got away from the dog handler and jumped into the bunker with me. The dog handler screamed at me to freeze. No problem with that since I was looking into the eyes of a 140 lbs wolf/dog. Dog handler said he was sure I would be killed and that I was a lucky SOB because he got the dog under control before it attacked me. I almost got killed by accident a dozen times. Life in a combat zone. I did always think of PTSD as combat, but I guess I am wrong and I can see that. John

The thing I learned about traveling BVA boards is that they are little more than in-take sessions. The judge get the basic facts of the case and any brief you may have written up at the hearing. Then the case is sent off to underlings to do the actual legal work and come up with some kind of decision. This takes another six months. My traveling board took all of 15 minutes and I had a lawyer. The judge just scanned my lawyer's brief and mentioned he was not used to dealing with lawyers. He asked my lawyer a couple of questions and that was it. Then we waited for about six months and got a denial and off to CAVC. John

I think there is an annual limit of around 1500 bucks. This will not even pay the cost of a root canal and a crown. You get a better deal from American dental plan which just directs you to dentists that give you a break on costs. If you get one implant that is about $3000 if you go to a qualified dentist and not some hack. John

AskNod and Megh I think I mentioned it already but the reason I was getting these messages that my claim for increase for DMII was delayed was due to 5103 Waiver Request Review whatever the heck that means. I called the Gimp at the 800 # and he told me it was due to the fact that I had not answered a letter from the VA asking if I had any other evidence to submit. I never got this letter. I told the guy at the 800 number that I had no more evidence. He typed it into my record and had me swear that it was true. He said this would get my claim off the dime because they had been waiting since July for an answer to the letter they did not send me. I mean I have been at the same address for 25 years. This is the kind of crap that f**ks up the whole system. What does it matter if they have automated claims system if they make such mistakes? I had asked via IRIS and on the phone twice before and they could not tell me anything. They did not know what 5103 Waiver Review Request meant. This claim will not break or make me but the VA made dumb mistakes just like this when I was trying to get TDIU. They could not find my DD214. They did not have proof of my final day at work etc. They had all this stuff in my file but were to lazy to look inside the file. I had been SC for 30 years and yet no DD214. Then at one point in my AO claim they questioned if I had been "boots on the ground in Nam". Thank God it was right on my DD214. Dumb and Dumber even with Ebenefits. Really , should be angry with the VA personnel who tell me these things, but I am just grateful like a dog that they may finally get it right. First they take away my ability to earn a living and then they take my peace of mind, and I end up being grateful they have not F'ed up worse. I know the actual people of the USA respect and want to help us vets, but the institution set up to do this treats us like dogs and cats. NO, dogs and cats have the ASPCA. We just have the VSO's. John

Requesting a reconsideration and a NOD are not the same thing. You can send in a reconsideration request, but the NOD clock is still running. This is the conclusion most of us have come to over the years on Hadit. The NOD is the first step in the formal appeals process. I do think you must say you disagree with the decision and state you intend to appeal to the BVA or that you want a DRO. With the Reconsideration I believe that you should print in bold caps RECONSIDERATION REQUEST across the top of the page, so the VA does not get it mixed up with a NOD.

Iceturkee I pretty much agree with Phil. I would send in the employment questionnaire certified mail/return receipt. If the VA is going to reduce you they have to send you a letter proposing it with your appeal rights. Make very sure the VA has your correct mailing address. Once you send the questionnaire back to the VA it takes them weeks to get it into the record here in St. Petersburg RO. I called yesterday about the questionnaire I sent them. They have not gotten it in the record yet. Like I say the VA has not sent me the questionnaire in about ten years, but I send it to them after I download it. Both of us are about 64 so what do they expect us to do. I am 90% SC with TDIU. John