john999

Maybe you ought to get AskNod on the case. He is the expert on SMC.

SSDI law is a scam. Everyone gets paid including lawyers, judges and even the guy who does the transcript. The disabled person is the only one who gets screwed. They make disabled people wait years to get a small amount of money. Then you wait another two years to get medicare. What is person with no income supposed to do for a couple of years while these assholes decide to be decent people.

The thing is the only real way to win claims with the VA is just to persist and never give up as long as you have even a small chance. It took me 30 years to get a decent rating from the VA. I kept trying and I got discouraged at times, but I got over in the end. The VA was shaking WW11 vets loose right after the war to save money. They never give up trying to restrict the number of vets who are successful with their claims. It is war.

I went to the Court after being in VARO and BVA for a TDIU retro claim going back to 1972. I had good lawyers and I still lost so you did good. I don't have much faith in the Court especially on a CUE. My claim was so obvious but with all the technical BS they got over on me. I was in the position of trying to prove a negative. I was in position of trying to show VA did not consider all my evidence back in 1973. It was impossible as I found out.

If you have SSDI already you might try to use the date you got SSDI as your date for TDIU. I think your TDIU should be pretty easy since you got SSDI. Was SSDI for your service connected disability? If so TDIU should be a slam/dunk.

If you have a mental disability like ptsd, depression, panic disorder, bipolar it is easier to get SSDI. Nobody can xray your brain to determine your level of disability. If you have serious physical disability then you probably suffer from some sort of depression. Depression would be a secondary condition to your physical problem. I got SSDI in about 4 months after I applied because I had a DX of bipolar disorder. I had a good shrink and SSA just threw in the towel after asking me if I would submit to an exam. Of course, I would submit I replied. The SSA just granted my SSDI. The problems that really made working so hard were physical and job related. I got worker's compensation as well. I knew people that had VA 100%, worker's compensation and SSDI with certain offsets.

Have you applied for SSDI? If you get SSDI then TDIU is not that hard and you can prove that you are disabled and unemployed and unemployable. I got SSDI a year before I got TDIU. I think getting TDIU is getting harder than it was for me back in the day. Too many vets are getting it and the VA DON'T' LIKE THAT.

You should consider you age when thinking about giving up TDIU after getting some training or college. If you are over 50 you are just about unemployable anyway no matter college or training. Now if you could start your own business then you might make a go of it. When I went out on TDIU I was 51 years old. I hated being unemployed, but given my disabilites I knew I would never be able to work. In the long run it has been good financially for me. Think about your retirement! If all you have is SSA then TDIU or 100% is like gold. Millions of Americans retire on SSA and are really poor. If all you have is VA money then you are poor, but combined with SSA it is not bad. We need a hell of a lot more for VA compensation to be above poverty IMO. Think carefully about violating VA rules. They are unforgiving.

Hadit is a great site for vets. Before I got on Hadit I did not know what TDIU meant. After a year reading and posting here I had TDIU. I went for years being low balled by the VA. I just did not know how to do my claims. DAV and VFW were a disaster. I trusted those clowns and lost every time. Berta is a genius. Considering that she is not even a disabled vet she knows more that most of us for sure. Tbird created this site so "All Hail, Tbird". Chip in and give her five bucks every month. 400 times five and she will be able to continue for a long time.

I don't think there is much new except it is 100% about the medical. You get your doctor to fill out the medical the right way and you get it. However, as you might guess it is not much. 40% of your base pay unless you get SSDI and then it is less. Most can't survive on OPM disability alone. I could not survive on it. You have to get another job or get VA 100%.

Do volunteer work rather than risking your TDIU. If you were to get 100% schedular you could work all you want. I know how you feel about being detached due to no-work life style but look at the long run. If you get SSA and TDIU you will be set in your old age. Vet benefits alone are really not much but if you can get SSA and TDIU and maybe some kind of pension you are in good shape. When you applied for TDIU you were telling VA you were unemployable. These are the hard facts. I got TDIU 20 years ago. It is a great retirement system for vets if they have a few other assets.

I got rated 20% for DMII and 80% for secondary conditions. DMII has so many potential secondary conditions as OSA.

There is no cure for depression that I have heard of so far. If you are prone to depression you take certain drugs to control it. I never heard of testosterone as a "cure" for depression.

Mr. Cue Go for your exam! If you don't you will be screwed.

If wants wants you to go for an exam I would go by all means. If you don't go that gives them an excuse to deny you.

It is going to be hard to get him service connected unless he was exposed to something like AO or has PTSD. After almost 60 years since discharge he might be able to get non-service connected pension if his income is very low.

Were you ever treated for or diagnosed with a mental health issue in service? No matter since you will get the C&P exam regardless. Just tell the exam doctors the way it is and leave nothing out. If they ask about your childhood or family life before service tell the everything was great. You had no trouble as a child with the law or school or family. Sometimes these C&P doctors will try and take you down the "personality disorder" road. That happened to me after Vietnam with the VA. I had to fight that PD diagnosis for years. You can't get compensated for a PD.

I live in Florida. When I got TDIU P&T I went to the property office and I got the 100% exemption. It was good 20 years ago, but today it is great since property values have increased 300% since then. Property values have just gone insane in my part of Tampa, Florida. Florida has a few things going for it and that is warm winters and provisions for retirees. The state depends on retired people moving to Florida and tourism. We have massive retirement housing tracts and they are catered too in this state.

Rivet No, no you most certainly can get OPM disability and VA at the same time. You can't get OPM and OWCP at the same time usually. If you get SSDI and OPM they make an adjustment and reduce your OPM. If you can manage OPM, SSDI, and TDIU/100% from VA your money problems will probably be over. You can get SSDI, VA and OPM at the same time no problem. When you reach full retirement age the adjustment for SSDI and OPM goes away and you get the full amount. At one time I got OWCP, SSDI and VA money. I had to drop the OWCP when I got TDIU from the VA but I did then get OPM, VA and SSDI. I was making more than when I was working. Now I get full SSA, OPM and 100% from VA. I would apply for all disability/retirement benefits and let them sort it out.

You can apply for OPM disability retirement. Why VA did not tell you about this I do not know. I retired from USPS on OMP disability. You get about 40% of your earnings minus SSDI and worker's compensation if you get it.

I had a VA exam doctor accuse me of faking because I had a college degree. I kid you not. These half-ass VA C&P doctors have absorbed the VA prejudice against vets to think we are all fakes and scammers. Wonder why many vets who have been around for years have huge distrust of the VBA. The medical side is tolerable, but anything to do with cash benefits are pretty horrible.

I had a VA C&P doctor tell me vets get fat just to get money for DMII. What kind of attitude is that?

I was a postal worker in Florida. Twenty years ago I was making about $20 an hour with certain premium pay for weekends and nights. I felt rich back in 1990's. I could afford a house and decent car. $20 an hour now before taxes is just 41K. If you take out about 30% for all taxes including payroll tax I made about $650 a week. Now that is chump change. I could not buy the house I live in now on my old wages. To be in the same place today as I was in 2000 I would need to make $40-$50 an hour. Wages have stagnated for the last 40 years. Many guys on Wall Street have gotten fabulously wealthy while working class has gone broke. You throw inflation top of that and we are hurting. VA compensation should be double what it is for disabled vets. When government decides on cola they don't include food or energy into the equation. This is just where it really hurts. Housing is just out of the question where I live. It is going up 15-20% a year and rent is following the price of houses.

I think you have a better chance of getting SSDI for a mental thing than for a physical thing. No doctor can x-ray your mind. If you have good report from shrink saying you are disabled due to PTSD that should do it. Getting denied at first is SAP for social security. They try to starve you out so if you are not really disabled you will go back to work.

Bronco Maybe this is why some of us vets who have been in the system for decades are just a little bit bitter about the VA and their "deny 'til they die" and "We just got the slows".