john999

Your foot is in the door. If your physical claims cause you pain and disability you can probably get a secondary claim for depression. That secondary claim could be more than the original claim. People ignore emotional consequences of being disabled. That is leaving money on the table IMO.

If the new claims are unrelated to TDIU claim they just add to overall disability. If the ratings are related to the TDIU they would boost the existing rating but not change TDIU unless you go to 100%. I had TDIU 70%. I got an extra 60%. For that I got "S" and I was bumped up to 90%. I got extra ratings of well over 100% but that just got me to 100% schedular. You either stay with TDIU or hit 100% and then TDIU goes away. This is my understanding of it.

We are not going to make big money from a COLA. If we are lucky we will just keep up with inflation. Have you checked food prices lately?

Good advice, Bronco! I had a good hearted but inexperienced VA lawyer. I lost my CUE.

If your issue has been granted you will get a letter soon. You won!

You and me buck seem to be in about the same condition these days. I get 60% for an AO related heart condition. Has the VA ever sent me to a cardiologist......hell no. I consult with a cardiologist on my own dime. I was doing ok until my feet started to bother me a great deal. I worked at the USPS for almost 20 years on my feet 8-10 hours a day. Now I could not walk a couple of blocks without pain for days. Since I have a hard time exercising I have gotten fatter which hurts my feet even more. I feel that I am caught in downward spiral to an extent. I could not walk 3 miles if my life depended on it. Anyone under the age of 60 has probably very limited knowledge of the Vietnam War. To them it is like WW1 to us. I sometimes drive down the street and see construction workers on the job or people doing road work in the hot sun. These are the same guys who would have been beating the bush in Vietnam 50 years ago. It falls on the back of the unfortunates to fight our wars while upper class twits make money off the wars. Ask George W. Bush.

Thanks, Alex. That clears up that question. It is getting harder and harder for me to walk any distance or even stand for more than about 15 minutes. I have fallen more than once because I am unsteady on my feet at times. I almost crashed my car yesterday because my foot slipped off the gas. I never had that trouble until recently. When you hit 70 years old you are old.

Be honest with these guys because they just love to make an example out of someone who wants to skin the system. You can skin and still be honest. Obey the rules or the rules will be used to break you.

Buck The VA screwed around for 50 years after Vietnam with AO. Every cancer should be AO connected since Dioxin is one of the most dangerous substances on earth and we walked in it. How many RVN vets have died without every getting a penny due to AO? I don't know about you but the skin on my arms looks pretty bad. Other RVN vets I know also have skin problems. Is skin cancer AO connected? Hell no. We all walked around with our shirts off in blazing tropical sun. It cooked me.

I want to butt in here and ask to get an SMC on your feet or hands do you need total loss of use? I am 40% for both legs and 40% for my right arm. I believe if you lose your leg below the knee it is a 40% rating. I got S years ago but I have deteriorated since then. Sorry to bogart this post, but that question has been bugging and does relate to the topic.

I guess if I included the bilateral factor on ratings for both my arms and legs I would be at 400% instead of just 300%. I got 40% on both legs and 30% and 40% on right and left arms. What I know is that I am not in love with the morals of insurance companies, nor the VA when it comes to their math. Insurance companies make profits by paying out less than they take in from poor suckers. I am a friend, Broken Soldier, but it took me ten years to go from 90% to actual 100%, and now that I can barely walk I say "About time". Look at the difference in compensation rates between 90% and 100%. The VA knows what they are doing. The actual compensation for 100% is absurdly low in this economy . If I was getting current compensation rate 20 years ago it might be almost OK, but now it is chump change.

Yes, Bronco, when you consider the inflation in housing costs it is incredible. I bought my house in 1987 and it costs 70K. The same house now goes for 450K. I could not afford to buy my own house these days. I bought a Honda Pilot in 2004 for $26,000. I bought another one in 2016 and it costs $40,000. For some poor guy living on SSA or VA compensation that is a hell of a burden. We are not keeping up with inflation at all. I don't think we have had more than about a 2.5% COLA in decades.

You may be getting a boost in your SSA but really you are just standing still because the CPI does not reflect increases in energy and food prices. It is better to get increase due to inflation but you are just barely keeping up with inflation which means you are getting nowhere. I was awarded $28 a month in 1971 for a 10% VA disability. The only increase in that rating over the last 50 years has been for inflation. What is it now.....$147 for a ten percent rate. That sounds like alot but you just keep up with inflation maybe.

VA math is just a scam. If I totaled my ratings using regular math I think I would have about 300% disability. I have a 70%,60%, 40% 30% and five 20% ratings. I just barely got to 100% from 90% TDIU. The VA will use any means possible to minimize compensation to vets.

What is your total rating now?

Way back yonder I had TDIU P&T and then I got another 60% on top of the TDIU. I had to file a CUE because the VA did not grant me SMC S. You can never assume the VA will do the right thing. They could just care less about us vets.

Mr. Cue You did good! Are you shooting for 100% or TDIU? It looks like you got 70% for depression? Am I reading that right? You got a SMC. I think you are a winner. It took me thirty years to go from 30% to 70% and you got it all in one.

Ham All in all you did pretty good considering who you are dealing with and the number of conditions claimed. Are you at 100% yet? I was at 90% for ten years and it took another 150% to get to schedular 100%. It should have only taken an extra 50% but the VA threw in another 100% just to kind.......not!

I remember in a CUE claim I made I was asking for a 30 year earlier effective date on my TDIU. I think I could hear the VARO boys choking 30 miles away. There was just no way in hell they were going to award me such an EED regardless of the evidence. So it took another 7 years to finally get denied.

My long time psychologist friend died of prostate cancer that had been cured ten years ago.

If the VA wanted to help us they would make the system a lot more user friendly. We could also use a compensation increase by about 100% so we could live a decent life. Also they could give surviving spouses more than $1400 a month to live on.

If you get a doctor to do a exam for you he/she must say that in their medical opinion you myeloma was caused by your exposure to cancer causing agents while you served your country. You can't have half-steps like "possibly" or "could have". The report from your oncologist is poison. Your oncologist's opinion is probably the reason you were denied. He did more harm than good.

Buck I would make myself the worst nuisance possible to get help for yourself and your wife. I would bet a million bucks there is something the VA can do for you. They may say at first there is nothing they can do but I would not accept that. Go to your congressman, the media, and whoever else can help. You have a tough situation and you and your wife deserve help. You were there for your country and now is the time for your country to be there for you. John

Buck Does not the VA know that disabled people have expenses that non-disabled people don't have? Just going to the supermarket for a severely disable person is a major chore. If I did not have some other sources of income I would be in trouble. My wife is partially disabled. When one of us is down we hope the other is feeling well enough to carry on. I pay for a lot of services I used to be able to do myself.

Bronco When I use normal math for my disability ratings I am over 200% but until recently I was stuck at 90% for ten years. I also think that the 100% rate for a disabled vet is absurdly low. Unless the vet has SSDI and maybe a pension most of us cannot survive on $3146 for a single vet or $3300 something for a married vet. In my neighborhood all the houses around me sell for between 600K and a million bucks. I could not afford to buy my own house these days since I bought mine 30 years ago for 70K. I think a 100% vet should get at least $5000 a month. You know a 90% vet gets about half of what a 100% vet gets. Is this fair....hell no.