john999

I would keep workers compensation and VA claims as separate as possible. What happens is VA will say your inability to work is due to work injury and WC will say you are VA's problem.

I know good IME doctors in Tampa, Florida. One was an ex-VA shrink, but I doubt she is still in practice but these shrinks keep going until they are 90 years old so maybe. The IME she did for me was like a daisy cutter. It blew VA opinions into leaf matter.

I heard something like that as well from a vet at the VAMC who said I could get blood work done at the AFB near me. I have not tried it yet since getting on base is a pain nowdays.

If you have a VA rating for 20 years it cannot be reduced. Once you are rated by the VA for ten years your rating cannot be severed except for fraud or character of service.

My claim for an increase was on appeal from about 1997 to 2002 when I got the increase. What changed was an IMO and the fact I retired on disability from the post office and got SSDI. The VA based my increase on those facts and my effective date became 2002 for 70%/TDIU from a 30% rating. I felt cheated also since my claim was on appeal since 1997 and had been remanded back to VARO from the BVA for a new C&P exam. Things happened in this five year period. I got older and my condition got worse, but it was worse than 30% when I filed for the increase in 1997. I feel your pain.

AO claims go faster because all you need is proof of exposure to AO and one of the presumptive diseases. Claim development is much easier than normal claim. I might file on it now to preserve effective date. If you have had a heart attack you will probably high rating. Do you have a spouse?

You can't get SSDI?

That is great information.

It is good experience to get a win on a minor issue at the BVA. You may have a major issue one day and now you know what it takes to win at that level. If you are rated at less than 100% for a single issue it is very hard to get to 100% because the wall moves back as you approch it due to VA math. I am 90% and I need at least another 50% to get to 100% schedular. John

Maybe you guys are right. I will let my wife decide when to take it since she will anyway. I was thinking if she waited she could get more if I pre-croaked her.

If you have a spouse the age she/he applies for SSA may be important if she/he applies for SSA survivor benefits one day. If you have to apply for SSD so be it, but the longer your spouse can wait to apply for benefits (FRA+66 for most of us) the better. If non-disabled spouse can wait to apply until full retirement age there are all sorts of things you can do that will get you more money than if spouse takes SSA at 62. Actual break even age for 62 vs 66 retirement is 77. John

My wife is getting ready to apply for SSA at age 62. I was talking to her about possibly delaying it to age 66 so she could get a larger survivor benefit if I croak before her. There are a lot of options with spouses collecting SSA. They can collect on spouses benefits or their own and can even buy back time on SSA if they collect early. If you collect at aqe 62 you could turn around and repay SSA at age 66 for 4 years and then reapply at age 66 and get the larger benefit with no penalty. I took SSD years ago. I understand if my wife waited until age 66 she could either collect on my benefits, or her own and it would be at least half of what I get which is more than she will get just on her own. We don't need the SSA money for her now and there is every reason to hold off on collecting. Does my collecting SSD put a monkey wrench into this plan? If she lives until 77 that is the break even point where waiting until 66 to collect means she gets more money long term than if she collected at age 62. Her life expenctency is probably 88 years. That's 11 years of extra SSA money, but this is just a generalization since nobody knows how long they will live by statistics. John

Consider draftee or volunteer from Vietnam era who is discharged with zero disability. He/she files for compensation and gets 100% effective to one day after discharge. How is this possible? Did vet go from perfection condition to 100% disabled in 24 hours after discharge? I do think military disability discharge or retirement system is rigged or at least is was in my day.

I think the PD diagnosis the way the VA has written it up would undermine you getting TDIU. The VA is saying your most severe problem is a personality disorder. An IMO/IME shrink of your own to refute the controlling factor of the PD on your employability and overall mental health is necessary. I had C&P exams worse than that back in the day, and good IME's overcame truly awful military hatchet job and VA low ball rating. It sounds to me they whipped up this PD dx out of thin air. Plus they say you are faking some of your symptoms. This is bad. I had the same thing happen to me and IMO/IME overcame it.

I just had a tech from the cpap and mask provider tell me that none of their masks work for me. Between the Sleep doctor MD, the sleep lab I use, and the provider I am getting nowhere. I have a private doctor. Would the VA be any better? I get contradictory advice from the sleep lab, the doctor and my provider.

I got my C-File for my lawyer a few years ago. When we got to the BVA hearing the judge had a C-File on me about twice the size of what the VA gave me and my lawyer. My lawyer asked for a copy of what the judge had in his possession. Yes, you cannot trust the VA as far as you can throw them. "Discovery" is a basic right of any legal or semi-legal process. You and your adversary have to have access to the same evidence for a fair hearing. Not so with the VA I guess.

For me it is based on the doctor's schedule. Two months, three months for mental health appointmen that is just the way it goes. If I miss a dental exam I have to wait at least 6 months. The dermatologist sees patients on Wednesdays only at 8:30 am. My PCP referred me to him about potential skin cancer. Instead I went to private doctor near my house and he discovered possible melanoma. I would be a million bucks the VA would not have even looked for it. They would have looked only for my complaint which is my arms and not potential melanoma on my back I was not even aware of. John

Great wins!

If you die as federal retiree and your wife is not part of family plan for BC/BS or any other health plan she will not be able to get back on federal health insurance plan. This is in the fine print. My wife will be dropping BC/BS when she gets medicare since she has ChampVA. Otherwise, ChampVA would pay nothing since medicare will become primary, BC seconday and ChampVA final payer. Family plan for BC/BS costs me $433 a month which is OK for now, but it is only going to get more expensive.

I think it is only going to get worse when the pictures of war are off the news. It is easy to forget the vet in peace time. I believe the VSO's are all shrinking in size and clout.

Yes, seeing a provider for your injuries will help with a claim. This documents that your injuries happened in service. If you have permanent injuries as a young man I can tell you that when you are 50 it won't get better and may be much worse. I would see a provider as long as I have symptoms. Don't just shrug it off or tough it out now. I had a back injury when I was 15. I healed up, but 40 years later I began to have exactly the same pain in the same area except it will not heal. John

If you need sleeping meds take them with you. I have a hard time sleeping in a lab and did not sleep at all last time I had a test. I have had poor result with the machine and mask. I know that compliance with cpap's and bpaps is pretty poor long term so says my psychologist. I can see why. I have yet to find a mask that works for me with my setting.

Phrases like "outcome determinitive" and "undebatable" are things that the VA wishes to be objective criteria but they are subjective according to whom is looking at the evidence or law. For instance, if you submit an IMO that cost you $3000 and the VA totally disregards this IMO and makes their decision solely based on evidence from a QTC exam I would say that is an undebatable error, and would be outcome determinitive(depending on the evidence and its quality and the number of PH.D.'s and MD's your IMO has to his/her name).

Do you have your DD214? What about exit physical and entrance exams?

Remember that the c&p doctor does not determine your rating or even if a condition is SC. That is evidence one way or the other and the rating officer gets all information together and makes a rating. Do you have an IMO?