john999

I am pretty sure you cannot hire a lawyer until after you have filed a NOD. If is possible that you may get a decent rating the first time. What you want to do is to file a complete claim with all your issues in it so that if you get denied and/or low balled the lawyer you hire will have it all to appeal. I think getting a lawyer is a good idea if you have a complex claim that is based on legalistic doctrines and not just evidence. If you are in an area of VA law where you don't feel comfortable then hiring an expert is a good idea if there is a substantial payoff. I have a lawyer and he has stuck by me for two years so far as I progress towards the court. If we win he gets a big paycheck.

When you got your VCAA letter did it list each and every disability you are claiming? If you get a decision consider any claim not denied,deferred or approved to have been denied. You should file a NOD on all the issues no matter what rating you get. When you claim a condition you have to have a clear diagnosis for it. Back pain is not a diagnosis. Just keep all these things on appeal while you learn the ins and outs of this system. You are in the world of the VA now and there is no timeline. The VA is immortal and you and I are not.

I know he was trying to get SC'ed for PN not due to DMII. Almost impossible!

30 claims is going to take the VA a while. I bet you get many deferred decisions and 0% ratings. Just be sure to keep your appeals active for as long as it takes. You are in it for the long haul. Did you get medical retirement from military?

What is he service connected for? I see just 20%. If your husband is in a wheelchair and cannot speak from a stroke it is obvious he is 100% disabled, but the question would be for the doctor to determine if it is due to SC conditions. Does he have a private doctor who could submit records of treatment and prognosis?

I guess your question is really about your effective date for the TDIU? Is your TDIU denial on appeal? If you appealed the denial then I think you would not have to re-open it. That is why you should always appeal these things because by the time your appeal is heard you may have lots of new evidence.

Pete That's right. This outfit that sent the PT guy to me does contract with medicare and medicade. All I really wanted was for fee base to pay for some PT since the VA was hounding me to get it. Forget it! If I can just continue to get my check every month from the VA that is all I need from them. That check comes on the first.

JSD You know a little while ago the rumor was that OIF/OEF vets were getting put at the head of the line. Who knows how the VA does anything?

I got my cue on the "S" HB in about 5 weeks I think. It was very fast. I expected to wait a while.

Carlie They contract to the lowest bidder I think. The guy that came to my house was incompetent. At least VA employees usually have some kind of certificate. I don't know what kind of training this joker had. If this is the kind of home care you can expect from the VA never get really sick.

Yes, the VA often moves claims around to different VARO's. I think this is just to make their statistics as far as having taken some action on a claim. The VA actually moves claims to the ST. Pete VARO to work from other less busy VARO's. It makes no sense to us but there is a reason they do it for their own stats. Writing your congressman is usually useless. There is a million claim backlog and congress knows all about it. They helped create it.

I just fired the VA fee base contract physical therapist. The guy never showed up when he said he would come even after I told him if he did not come when we agreed to not come at all. I should have known if the VA was paying for it then it would be crappy. Now they blacken my name as being non-compliant or some such nonsense. Really, all I get from the VA that is decent is free pills. Everything else is substandard including dental and vision services. I wonder if the American public knows how their dollars are being spent at the VA?

If you can't work due to SC conditions file for IU now.

Did your husband apply for disability retirement from the feds? You have one year from separation to do this rather than just resign.

If your claim has been handed off to the rater 2 months ago and you are getting nervous then you are really going to get nervous over the next 6-12 months. 2 months in VA time is like an day of regular time. What you hear from rumor mill is just another bit of disinformation designed to turn one group of vets against another. The VA is just slow.

You should prepare yourself for being disabled. That means start saving for that situation. You may be unable to work and without funds for a while during this whole process. I hated losing my job as well and went five months without a check until things started to work for me. I lost 20 pounds just from worry alone. I would start getting treatment at the VA and complain your head off every chance you get.

Because I was a federal employee I think I have been on every type of disability program. I know if you get workers compensation it usually has an effect on SSD and VA. A federal retirement will have effect on SSD. If you have group disability policy they are usually reduced if you get SSD or disability retirement/workers compensataion. However, VA and SSD don't affect each other at all. What is good is that if you get SSD you can get medicare. If you have any type of medical insurance medicare usually becomes primary and your private insurance ends up paying the 20% medicare does not pay.

If you have a divorce coming up get a lawyer who does divorces for military retired. They know all the loopholes and fine points of the law. You know many retired generals who get divorced manage to get retirement converted to disability pay so they can drop the old bag and marry a pretty young thing.

In you application for PTSD benefits you should name all sources of records for the VA to attempt to get. That includes any VA records. Don't assume the VA will do that on their own. If you husband has a PTSD DX and verified stressors he should get SC'ed for PTSD. However, you have to be sure all the facts are in front of the VA.

Is VVA suing over just the OIF/OEF vets who got kicked out as PD's or Vietnam Vets who were kicked out as PD's? If you add RVN vets into this number you are probably talking about 100,000 vets.

Vync I got signed up for a "pain class" by the pain clinic which is Charlie Team. I got sent to Charlie by my PCP which is Alpha Team. Now to change appointment with Pain Class I have to call Delta Team. I told them to forget it. I got social worker to provide a PT guy and they wanted to charge my medicare. I get 12 visits from the PT guy and that's it. The pain clinic has been telling me for years I need PT, so 12 visits will fix me I guess. I need 1200 visits. The PT guy told me to buy a stationary bike. Should not the VA provide that? I am 100% and HB. What do they want from me? What do I need them for with all this great advice on how to spend my own money. The VA medical system is just a shadow and a sham. I could get better care at the local charity clinic except I make too much for them to treat me.

If the VA could make the CUE moot by deciding on the IHD claim I think they would do that.

How many here believe the VA rations care? I believe they do based simply on cost.

I know that MacDill AFB is considered a toxis waste site because of spilage of jet fuel. It is about five miles from my house and who knows if the groudwater has been contaminated. All we hear is silence.

The VA are real sweathearts. They guy is dying from cancer and they reduce him because he does not show up for a C&P. Now what about his widow?