john999

Ex-Senator Simpson is also attacking social security and medicare. He just believes that the nation should break its contract with veterans and senior citizens and the disabled. He wants to help create an attitude in American that those who have contracts with the United States for benefits are greedy, free loaders who are dragging down the nation. Him and those who think like him want to undo the New Deal. They have never forgiven FDR for being a traitor to his class. They believe in welfare for the rich and free enterprise for the poor. This is just the way they think.

I would really work on getting the highest rating possible for the depression because I have DDD and driving all day would kill me. It is probably the worst thing for a bad back I can imagine. Just sitting in my easy chair bothers my back. The back surgery idea is one of those things that the doctors promise much and deliver little. Your back may be worse in terms of pain after the surgery. I would try to get the back problem rated higher as well. This is a long term project to either get IU or get vocational rehabilitation to get you out of that truck. The medical world cannnot give you a new back.

Remember the mainstream media was behind the Vietnam war and the wars in the Gulf 100%. CNN made its reputation showing Iraq getting hit with so-called smart bombs. It was the best thing that ever happened to the 24 hour a day media. War sells soap. The Gulf War was best entertainment on the air for weeks. Anything you see on TV has gone through media censors and has had all the power sucked out of it. The newspapers are good only for bird cages.

I bet after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are wrapped up the finger pointing will start. I mean American taxpayers will have spent trillions for nothing. The guys who are heros today will be considered misfits and pathological in a few years just like after Vietnam. I bet in five years Americans will look back in horror at these wars and begin to blame the victims. After each war the walking wounded are kicked to the curb if they can't "snap out of it" in a year or two of coming home. After WWII the G.I.'s who did not adjust were considered basket cases and shown little sympathy. After Vietnam they were considered collateral damage. I think it will be the same in five years after the last true combat troop leaves the Iraq and Afghanistan. When the public gets tired of a war they soon get tired of the warriors. The Senator Simpson's of the world always think people are basically lazy and want a free ride because that is what they have always gotten from the public. All these politicians in Washington are true parasites.

If you had filed a claim for DIC maybe Nehmer would apply. I wonder if this would make any difference since you get DIC anyway. Berta would know the answer. I know if a vet dies from direct SC the VA must pay something toward funeral costs. There is something about accrued benefits as well.

I think sleeping meds, anxiety meds, pain meds and any med that depresses breathing if mixed with alcohol could be a problem. If you mix that up with sleep apnea then that is probably dangerous. Has it just dawned on the VA that certain drug cocktails could be dangerous. I never heard anything about this stuff until just a few months ago when my local newspaper started beating the drum about people dying from taking prescription pain meds. When I got the fentanyl prescription from the VA that is when the pain doctors started to lecture me about the danger of clonazepam. Hey, I have been taking this stuff for years. I took morphine and methadone with clonazepam and I did not hear a word from any doctor at the VA (these drugs are cheap). Why all the hub bub now? I take urine tests each time I use the VA and if they find one molecule of alcohol they kick me out of the pain clinic. I think both tricare and the VA use the same formulary which is to say cheap.

You know I had a treadmill test and the chemical test. If one test says you have a problem and the other doesn't then you should get the benefit of doubt. This is what happened to me. I got 60% based on contradictory evidence from both tests.

I think the VA might give medical marijuana in states where it is legal, but not in states where it is still illegal.

You can drop the private insurance anytime. The VA will charge you a co-pay unless you prove to them you are poor enough to not be able to pay. I would wait until I got treatment at the VA to see if you are going to like it. You should try and get service connected for any problem you think is related to your Vietnam service. Did you ever ask to be service connected for any of your psychiatric problems or tinnitus? If you can only work part time you probably should be looking at some way to get unemployability benefits from the VA and to get SSD. You are taking the first steps on a long journey.

I think the VA's solution to my problem will be to cut off the fentanyl because the fentanyl is not in the formulary. A new doctor who did not understand the cheapness of the VA prescribed the fentanyl for the chronic pain. He got fired recently. He was trying to do his job, but ran afoul of the VA's obsession with cost, so they canned him. The other old time VA pain doctors think anti-depressants and neurontin will cure any pain problems. They don't even believe in narcotics. Why are they even running a pain clinic? I don't hurt because I am depressed. I am depressed because I hurt. It is like going to doctors for treatment of PTSD who don't believe it is a problem. My pain is all in my head according to their philosophy.

I sent the Director of Medical Services at the VAMC a blistering letter. Should I send a copy to the Director of the VAMC? What is that person's title....Director, Tampa VAMC etc? I have sent two letters in the last month to the director of medical services. My congress person will just forward my letter to the same group of idiots and send me the answer. You know the director of medical services at my VAMC is not even a doctor. She is an "acting director". Who runs the local VAMC? They are all phantoms. I don't want to be admitted to my VAMC under any conditions especially not for detox. I don't need the torture. I am an out patient and I want to stay far out of their clutches. The VA has an in-patient pain clinic, but I am afraid to go there. If it is anything like the psychiatric ward it would be hell on earth.

Phil You ever think about filing for housebound? It is about all we can get at this point? It might cover the cost of the meds the VA should be paying for but are too cheap to do so.

It is the duty of young high school graduates to be killed and wounded so that men like Simpson can continue to enjoy the fruits of this great democracy. Veterans should be proud to be able to offer up their bodies as a sacrifice to their betters. Ungrateful rabble!

I agree with what Larry is saying. The VA will just look at the ED and decide if it is secondary to a SC condition. You get an extra 87 bucks. You might as well get every penny you can get. I don't think the VA really wants to get into reviewing every disability when a vet files for an increase. They get credit for clearing claims. They don't get credit for inventing reasons to open up a can of worms. I filed for many claims after I was TDIU back in 2001. The VA never questioned the IU claim.

Right, once you file the NOD that starts the appeals process. They are supposed to send you a SOC. Then you choose the DRO process or traditional BVA process on your appeal. Berta said that one time the VA changed a rating based on what she sent them in her NOD, but I think that does not happen often. Berta probably scared them so bad they just wilted.

What it means according to VBM is that if you have been totally disabled for at least five years the VA cannot reduce your rating based on a single examination. They can do anything they want but you have a good appeal is what it really means. If you are total for five years and are over 55 it is even harder because the VA must have clear evidence you have improved. They have to examine your entire record and not just a quick snapshot by some doctor who thinks you have improved. For instance, you go to the VAMC and the doctor asks you how you feel and you say "I feel better". That is not enough to reduce your total rating especially after 5 years.

Last time I went to the VA pain clinic they told me that the narcotics they were giving me might kill me because I take clonazepam, but they gave me the narcotics anyway. Is this malpractice?

You are probably going to have to wait regardless. You file your NOD. Then you have the right to a DRO or traditional appeal. Unless you ask for a Reconsideration this is how it goes.

Simpson is part of the group in America that believes that the old, children and the disabled should pay to help finance the banks and Wall Street gangsters. It is fine for the tax payers to finance the gigantic crap game in our financial markets, but not one penny for the poor or disabled. That makes people dependent.

If you get disability payments through some group policy via your company they will probably reduce payments when you get SSD and IU. When you get disability retirement pension your insurance will probably be reduced. I bought private disability insurance 25 years ago, and those suckers are still paying me without reduction. The kind of policy I got is hard to find now.

Think ahead 20 years from now if you conditions get worse. You don't want to start from scratch with compensation claims with a 20 year gap. I would claim each and every service connected condition. My conditions did not really close in on me until I was almost 50 and then I ended up on SSD and fighting with the VA for more compensation. I did have lots of treatment records through private doctors, but I did not really go for it until I could not work. That is way too late. If you have a good job and are able try and get disability insurance. If the insurance company won't accept you then you know that they believe you will cost them one day. When you really are down and out the officials you look to for help will run the other way unless you have their backs to the wall. Uncle Sam is the first one to turn his back and pretend you are from Outer Mongolia...."What, another greedy vet with his hand out?".

My private psychologist and psychiatrist are willing to make statements that the constant worry over my pain med scripst being filled or not is aggravating both my mental and physical disabilites. I do feel to some extent this is the VA trying to discourage older and sicker vets from using the system.

Allan This is what is happening to me. The doctor was going to wait until today to sign my script knowing I would not get it until next Tuesday. My care is so poor I really would rather go to a pain clinic and pay cash than go through this every month. It verges on malpractice. Perhaps they are just trying to drive older and sicker vets out of the system. They are succeeding. Me and my wife spent three hours at the VA today trying to get a doctor to sign my script. They treated me just like trash. The VA had called me on the phone this morning to come and get my script. When I got there it was not ready. We waited all morning to try and get some doctor to sign the script. Nobody lifed a finger to help us. I had to ask over and over where the doctor was and who was going to sigh my script. I have already been in contact with the director of medical services last month. Nothing changed. Just awful and totally careless treatment. I am not sure if there is anything I can do about it. The VA lies to me every time. It is a new lie each month.

I think that ten years from now when and if we have extended peace the mice will start to gnaw away at our benefits. You know there are many who just hate the idea of paying vets for things like PTSD and AO. They think it is their job to rule and some other guy's job to sacrifice. They are on Wall Street and in Congress and in the board rooms of the major corporations.

If you can get SSI you can also get medicade, food stamps and subsidized housing (section 8). One bad thing about medicade is that many doctors won't accept it. You substandard doctors at the VA and have to deal with substandard medicade doctors on the outside. You know my private shrink told me he used to treat old people at nursing homes on medicade. His accountant notified him that he was actually losing money treating medicade patients. Medicare must be pretty good because 99% of doctors take it. The doctors complain about it but they take it.