john999

Mags When you retire be sure and retire on disability based on your service connected disability. This will help you get IU or 100% from the VA. The feds fired me. I hired a lawyer under MSPB and got it changed to a disability retirement. I then filed for SSD and IU from the VA. I also had a disability insurance policy in force. That is the way to jam it to them. The post office fired me due to my disability. Now I make twice as much. Being compensated is the true revenge for retaliation.

The House just passe a bill to make sure Health Care Reform won't affect vets or those on tricare or champva. I saw it on C-Span. I think it passed 450 to nothing.

When I was denied Chapter 35 when I got TDIU I appealed the denial. One year later I got my Chapter 35 which means I was rated P&T retro to the date I got TDIU. When the VA denies you a benefit I say appeal it.

I have experience with schizophrenia claims. If the military DX'ed you with schizophrenia what kind of discharge did you get? How long were you in the service? Did the military say you had a pre-existing condition? If you had a break down in the service you should be able to get SC'ed. I would file the claim and include every record of hospitalizations and medical treatment. You should not be working if you want 100% from the VA for schizophrenia. Were you given anti-psychotic meds in service and do you still take them now? You might want to consult a veteran's attorney who can help you out with this. Disorganized thinking won't help you win your claim.

Bronco As far as cataracts the VA has a strict standard about how blind you have to be before they will fix the cataract. I failed the driver eye test and the VA had said a few months before I was not blind enough in my right eye to get cataract surgery. I would not let them do it anyway. I will use a medicare doctor who has done about 100,000 such surgeries before I let some medical student mess with my eyes. You know there is so much propaganda flying around about the health care bill it is pretty disgusting.

They steer clear of chemical exposures for now. Every war has unique enviornmental exposures.

Maybe the DAV does some good at the national level, but as far as representation on the local level I find them piss poor. I would like to know what the national officer's expense accounts look like? I bet they have some swell parties. They have been great boot lickers traditionally making VA big shots "Disabled Vet of the Year" on a regular basis. Considering we have not had a increase in the basic level of VA compensation in 50 years except for COLA's they have failed us miserably. In 1971 I got $28 dollars a month for a 10% disability. Now it is 40 years later and the rate for 10% is about $150 bucks. All that is due to the COLA and would not pay my electric bill for one month. A vet with a 70% rating is $1200 some odd dollars. That is a joke. We all know a vet with a 70% rating is probably unemployable. What has the DAV to say about this and how loud have they said it? When I got 70% the VA told me not to appeal for IU. I was already on SSD.

The Vietnam war is forgotten and the vets are forgotten. We are held up as a negative image. We are the army that the army wants to forget. Those under 55 in our society never faced the draft. The military is an exotic occupation for about 2% of the population now. You know I sure hated the draft army when I was in it, but I think it was the glue that held the nation together. All us recruits from all walks of life were thrown together. I think that part was a good thing. You know just about every man who came of age during WWII served in the military. They had something in common. That experience has ceased to exist.

Pete Since CAD is something that can cool you I probably would look into getting it sc'ed by hook or crook. What it means in the end is that if you die for direct SC the VA has to pay for a certain fee for your burial. Not a big deal but why should your widow have to dip into your personal funds more than necessary? What I have always thought is to get anything sc'ed that might result in SMC or death. However, you must live long enough to marry 17 year old as you planned in case Mrs Pete passes on first. It is your responsibility to live to at least 95 years of age for spite.

I think the C&P doctor put the screws to you with that last comment. You may need an independent medical opinion that given your disabilities you can't work. Have you applied for SSD?

I am SC'ed for CAD, and I am thinking about claiming HBP. I am already 100% P&T. I don't know if this trip is necessary, but if my BP keeps going up I am going to seriously consider filing. I only file for things I think may kill me at this stage.

How about CAD being precusser to HBP? I was diagnosed with CAD and now my blood pressure is start to trend upwards. I am now taking meds for HBP. My VA doctor seemed reluctant to say the HBP is secondary to the CAD.

These were two separate claims? What is the time gap between claims? You know after your initial claim all other claims are considered claims for increase. Just keep an eye on the clock for the reconsideration of your back claim. The NOD clock is running even though you have filed for reconsideration. I had two claims going at the same time a few years ago. One was for a mental health condition and one was for a dental condition. The VA got the evidence for both claims all mixed up. These people are dumb, dumb, and dumber. If you have new evidence to submit you are going to have to make sure they don't get your evidence mixed up. They don't know the difference between a dentist and a psychiatrist.

If you take pain meds for your back bring the meds to prove it. The VA often thinks that unless you are taking meds for a condition then the condition is not serious. If you tell the C&P exam doctor that you take a couple of tylenol and that helps you then don't expect a decent rating. If you tell him you take 8 percoset a day for back pain then he knows you are hurting. You have a back condition that will be mainly judged on ROM and the X-ray or MRI result. You have secondary and related condition of chronic pain. Have you seen an orthopedic doctor for your back? Your orthopod is going to get a lot more respect than a chiropractor. If your C&P doctor is an MD he/she will be hostile to a chiropractor most probably.

Every day the VA stalls another group of AO IHD vets dies. This is good business model for the VA. Waiting for others to file legal suits means your epitaph will be carved on your tomb stone..."He waited for justice. He died waiting."

When I went for my BVA Hearing the C-File my attorney had and the C-File the judge had were very different. Our copy was about as thick as the white and yellow pages of a big city. The judge's file was three times that thick. We don't even have the same information the VA has when we go for a hearing. How the hell are we vets supposed to get a fair hearing if we don't have access to the same evidence? In almost all other legal procedings both sides have access to the same information. It is enough to have a case thrown out if one side does not share information. I guess the VA runs their own casino. Even most administrative law forums adhere to this rule of sharing all evidence and information. Not the VA.

you don't want to win by benefit of doubt. You want there to be no doubt. You just want to surround and crush them with evidence. We do a pincher movement and cut off and surround the VARO and then move in the big evidence guns and blast away. Arguments often fail. Overkill is good.

You don't win claims by complimenting the VA. You win by evidence. The VCAA is supposed to be the roadmap to winning your claim. Mine have been deficient.

It is easy to get the waiver of premiums if you are IU or 100%. The insurance dept in not like the VBA concerning disability ratings. They are fast. I got the insurance and premium waiver in a few months from beginning to end. Ten grand is really chump change for a life insurance policy. If you are forty years old and have dependents you should probably be able to buy half a million. It is supposed to replace your income and not just bury you. Term life insurance is really income replacement insurance. That is what it is supposed to be.

I was really shocked when the VA proposed making IHD presumptive for AO exposure. If they are going to look at life style then how can they not look at life style for DMII or cancers of the lungs? It is not consistent. I think the VA bean counters must have had IHD themselves when they found out that the Secretary was going to make IHD presumptive. Us RVN vets who live long enough will likely get prostate cancer or heart disease. Also, it seems that if the VA connects a vet for IHD then high blood pressure may be an obvious secondary. It is the right thing to do since the "boots on the ground" RVN vets are dying every day. Out of 2.7 million how many are left anyway? AO is a contains cancer causing dioxin so why not make all cancers presumptive? The reason, of course, is that if they stall long enough we will all die for IHD, heh,heh.

Your main job as a VA patient is to produce a mountain of documentation. If you want to get well that is another matter.

What I get from the VA is percoset, morphine, and methadone. That is it. No oxycontin or fentanyl patches for me. They are afraid I will either OD or sell the stuff. I go to the non-criminal pain doctors and you are lucky to get anything unless you go around the back door and pay cash at the little clinic with the line five blocks long. The VA pain clinic is great as long as you don't go there for treatment of chronic pain. The VA just does an awful job of treating pain. They are petrified that you will abuse it and it will come back on them. They would rather you blow your brains out than "abuse" a pain med.

Larry You know the drill. Bash someone and you get arrested. Your poor wife has to bail you out. The food is bad. You are surrounded by repulsive people until you get set free. Sort of like military service. For a moments impulse you get to spend time in a Texas jail. This is not something I would look forward to. Maybe your meds need to be changed.

Berta I get the feeling that the VA is stalling on IHD with knowledge that many vets will die while they construct this knew system. Less living vets, less compensation. This is all they think about is saving money at our expense.

I believe they deduct SC from NSC pension. If you get IHD SC'ed you will probably have enough to get IU. You won't need to worry about NSC pension. This is a goal most worthy of shooting for, and maybe Nehmer would apply. Every RVN vet should help grass roots effort to make sure IHD is SC'ed without major limitations or conditions. Half of us will probably die from some form of this condition.