john999

If you are a 10 point disabled vet you would have to attack your supervisor, or bite someone to get fired from the feds. If it gets too much for you what you do is file for diability retirement and for TDIU. I was a federal employee. I took disability retirement and then filed for SSD and TDIU. The agency I worked for was not wanting to accommdate me any longer so they threw me into the briar patch.

JayG Waiting is the hardest part. That is why some fail because they can't wait. Do it by the numbers. It is inhumane to make a vet wait five years, but this is where we are at. They know what they are doing at the VA by making us wait years. Some will die, some will give up and some will prevail.

If any of your disabilies are for a mental health issue be prepared to be reduced if the VA finds you are able to work. Max Cleland was a triple amuptee and he worked, but his injuries were so obvious and his loss so great no one would deny him any possibility of bettering his life. For the rest of us it is not so simple. Some compensation is for the loss of use and that is the way it should be.

Getting back to what JayG was asking about I think he should do nothing else until he gets his decision. Anything he does not will just slow down the decision. Get the decision and then start looking for flaws in the rating. Until the VA decides something there is nothing you can do that won't slow it down.

What about before 1992? I guess the VA does not want to go back to far as the cost gets higher.

This poor guy was hit by shell fragment and shot twice and could not even get IU. In 1997 he must have been a very old man if he served before the WWII. He fought in WWII and Korea and was retired as unfit. Even when he got 70% the VA denied IU. I wonder if he ever got it before he died. Maybe he got it after he died since the dead are unable to keep a job.

The major factor in awarding ratings over 50% is if you are working or not. The VA is not dumb. They know if you are awarded 70% it will not be long before they are getting a TDIU claim. So if you are working don't expect much more than 50%. If you are not working and you claim that it is due to PTSD then you should have sent in the TDIU form. The GAF score is just one factor in a rating. Mental health claims revolve around the ability to work and support yourself. Those able to work and support themselves and a family are not going to get ratings that put them in TDIU range. The first thing the C&P exam doctor will probably ask is "Are you working". If you had a physical injury and were able to work you could still get 100% but not for a mental health issue. This has been debated but I never got 70% until I was unable to work. My other symptoms were exactly the same as when I worked. Are you still working?

I bet they did not even read the material you sent to them. They would have had to address this material in the decision. They did not want to do the extra work so they just ignored it. This is why you need a lawyer.

John and Bronco Yes, the decision has to be final for the CUE and from what I understand that if evidence exists in the VA's possession and they don't consider it then it may be a CUE. The way I understand it that it is a CUE that they did not consider the evidence. If the CUE is called they have to reweigh the total of the evidence including the evidence they excluded. That is the basis of my CUE. You could still lose when they reweigh the evidence. I know I read a post here one time in which someone said their is a presumption that everything in the claim file has been read and considered even if not mentioned in the decision. I don't see how that can be true. This would give the VA the power to just exclude any evidence they don't like. They do it all the time, but it is not legal. The sticky CUE format is the only way to attack old final decisions. You know they will not make it easy because they don't want to reopen an ocean of old claims with tons of retro attatched.

I think I would hire a lawyer if possible. You claim can get lost in this shuffle. The AMC seems to be a holding tank for claims that serves no purpose. These remands are a curse. The BVA should either grant or deny claims and not remand them endlessly.

Chapter 35 is an increase in benefits, and the VA is supposed to award that benefit when the vet is determined to be P&T. It is a claim for benefits.

When the VA realized the potential liability of including all those with VSM for presumptive AO that is when they began to oppose the law. If they are spraying AO and the wind is blowing off shore particles could be blown onto ships near the coast. This is the obvious fact the VA fears. They want to draw the line to limit compensation. That is all it is about.

Yes, the military just tries to get you out the door as cheaply as possible, and the VA uses the slanted evidence from the military to deny your claim. Looking at my C-File and my SMR's and personnel file from the military I know they were doing their best to avoid any liability or responsibility. When you are really down they were the first ones to kick you. I remember that feeling. I filed an appeal to have my discharge changed to a medical and was denied. They threw all the old themes in my face that I was just a trouble maker, misfit and oddball. When you file claims it will stir up memories. That is part of the game to discourage you.

James Is the VA going to put you up against a wall and shoot you as a traitor? I hope you don't get too offended by what you read on this site. You know everyone here has had their ass burned by the VA claims process. All it takes is for a vet to get one really bad experience with the VA, and that shades their perspective for life. It can't be overcome by things that come later. If the claims process was speedy and accurate there would not be this hostility. Jibs at the VA are not meant for you personally. We rail at the system and not at individuals so much unless we know for sure some person did something wrong.

This is why I believe that PTSD should be presumptive for any soldier that has a plausible claim, or has been to a combat zone. Having to wait years for service connection adds to the stress levels of the vet. It is destructive and I believe it is used to weed out all but the most persistent. How many vets crack up completely while waiting for compensation? Either make SC claims presumptive or decide them in three months and make appeals automatic and put another 3 month time limit on the appeals. The VA should have to show why they won't service connect vets instead of the burden of proof being on the vet to show service connection. The fact of the matter is that since the VA can't possibly decide claims in three months they should just rate all claims as granted unless otherwise disproved. The way the system works now is that is just based on the idea that if given a chance every vet will lie to get compensation. They are heros when fighting for the USA, and lying dogs when they get home.

In the old days they did not list evidence. You had no idea if the VA even considered your evidence unless they referred to it in the decision. I think they are so lazy that they often don't even open your C-File to look for obvious stuff like a DD214. If they have the evidence and don't list it that seems like a CUE to me since it puts the vet in an impossible situtation. You have no way of knowing if they ever even looked at it. If you have two IMO's and the VA makes the decison solely on the basis of a C&P exam and never lists or refers to the IMO's that is fundamentally wrong.

The only job where my service connection really helped was with the post office. However, they really look you over to see if you can do the job. It is labor type work and not ideal for a disabled person. I lasted about 20 years before I had to retire on disability. The only thing the SC did for me was get me in the door. After that all the relatives and connected people got promotions. I stayed a lowly clerk even though I had more education than 99% of the people that were my bosses. That was a strike against me since they feared people with education as a threat to their positions. Other federal jobs I never had a chance at getting. I even got beat out at the VA for a couselor job. I was a college educated, disabled vet and they had to interview me, but they had the person already picked out for the job. This is how it works. Oh, yeah, and I got a call from the ATF to take people to jail for making white lightening. That is what they wanted me to do was to chase hillbillies in Kentucky and bust up stills. Nice way to get shot between the eyes. I declined the interview. Those were the only interviews I ever was offered in 25 years.

Bob What has encouraged me to stay in the loop is the way the VA tried to not service connect me for AO conditions. They lied to my congressman. They distorted the evidence. They even claimed I was never in Vietnam. I was already IU and would have settled just for service connection, but after they started playing tricks on me I decided I would go to the wall to get all my conditions SC'ed. I even hired a lawyer to go back to my original claim and CUE it. The VA tried to lie about my original claim to sabotage my CUE. They tried to change the evidence that I used in my original claim to avoid the CUE. They reinterpreted my original decision, and even tried to say I was a Personality Disorder after 35 years of getting compensation. Every time they lie and try to cheat it just makes me file a new claim. Anyone who thinks it is not adversarial is crazy. Probably, if the VA had just SC'ed you for PTSD you would have just taken the rating if it was reasonable. However, since they come up with preposterous denial you should just go to the wall for the maximum. They are just dogs.

What we don't even know is how many claims are rejected and how many claims are approved each year. I don't believe the VA keeps these statistics. I don't think they want the public and us to know. Probably most claims are granted eventually but who knows if the VA does not keep such records?

In Florida which is a non-regulation state you have to get down on your knees to get home owners insurance. I don't know about medical since I get mine through the federal government. Car insurance is expensive. Let's face it. Insurance companies are just about getting money and not paying claims. That is how they make a profit. If left to their own devices only 20 year olds in perfect health could buy health insurance. The insurance companies would never have to pay any claims and would invest all their earnings in selling credit default swaps, gold bricks or Indonesian junk bonds.

I guess I see an advantage in staying in the loop with the VA. Worst case you would have to use them for some major uncovered medical expense. I do know they provide Human Growth Hormone to a vet I know who had his circuts burned out in an electrical accident in the military. It would cost him 6000 bucks a month he said if not for the VA. The other advantage I see is you have an easy way to show continuity of care for any condition. You can also document potential service connected secondary conditions from SC conditions. I have done this with AO conditions. If I was working I would probably not bother even going to the VA, but since I depend on the VA check each month I want to document every single problem I have, and I want them to pay for it. I don't see getting by-pass surgery at my VAMC. I know it is good for some, but not for me. My VAMC got in trouble for doing too many on really old and sick vets because they were training medical students. What better way than by using a poor, old vet who is already half-dead from alcoholism or incinerated lungs? That never stopped them from cutting the people open like a fish market gutting fish.

Marine72 I have foot problems as well similar to you. When the pods start talking surgery for tarsal tunnel syndrome they just want money. Don't let the clowns operate on your feet. It could take up to a year to heal and you might be worse off afterwards. The real surgery for pes cavus would be to lower your arch. You can imagine what that would entail. I think it would be major surgery with 50/50 chance of successful outcome. I had failed shoulder surgery and failed wrist surgery. That is enough for me. Surgeons can fix the mechanical defects but not fix the pain which is what drives you to get the operation. There is a condition called "failed back surgery syndrome" it is so common. The do the surgery and the person still is in pain and disabled only now they have scar tissue.

If you use BC/BS outside the VA the VA does not pick up the deductible. The only thing the VA does is to charge your private insurance when you go to the VA for treatment. If you are over 50% you don't have a co-pay at the VA if you have insurance or not. There is really no good reason to use the VA if you have good private insurance except to document your disabiliy and to get cheap drugs. I go to stay in the loop and to use their jive-ass pain clinic. Getting pain meds is getting harder in Florida as the state and DEA are just giving the pain doctors hell. They have the nerve to bill vets for medical care. If they can't bill you directly they bill your insurance. That pisses me off! My goldfish died too. If the VA is going to charge vets for care why have one? I know an effort was made to actually charge service connected vets for the SC stuff but that died in Congress. Just the fact that this was tried gets me mad as hell. Why not just kick us in the yarbels and be done with it? When the VA was just for service connected injuries I never went. Now that it is for all vets SC and NSC I can't get through the door even when I want to go just to get a dental check-up. We priority one vets are suppose to get the fastest care. If that is fast I hate to see slow.

I think what Berta is saying is you need some SC injury or illness that causes chronic pain. Chronic pain often causes depression. So you get the chronic pain secondary to the original injury. Then you get the depression secondary to the chronic pain and disability. People with chronic pain are often depressed because the pain limits their activities and the pain meds make them more depressed. You don't usually go from depression to chronic pain. You go from chronic pain to depression. Of course, any disability can cause depression on its own. Being disabled in America sets you apart and increaes isolation.

Florida has pretty good state benefits for vets. They are building a new VA hospital in Orlando. The trouble with Florida is that there are just too many retired military and vets for the system to handle at the VA.