john999

Congrats and unless you get everything you wanted file an appeal.

Did the OWCP/OWCP accept your hearing claim? If they accepted it then they have to pay the schedual award. I had a rating from the VA and my work aggravated the condition. The OWCP still had to pay compensation until the time when I got TDIU and then I had to choose one or the other. In your case you should be able to get the SA because your compensation from VA is 0 at this time. You need to appeal this decision by the DOL.

Here is how hard it is to get to 100%. I have one disability at 70%, one at 60% and five at 10% and that equals 90%. The closer you get to 100% the harder it is to attain.

RSG You put in a claim for depression in 1969 and were denied. What was the reason for denial? I at least got a 10% rating back in 1971. I think I would consider hiring a lawyer for the CUE because the VA is going to probably deny it. What evidence did the VA have of pre-existing condition? They did the same song and dance with me, but even worse. They said I had a personality disorder, but the VA doctor said schizophrenia. I bet they were sorry he said that because they had to compensate me, but they did low ball me. Did you get a medical discharge? The VA is very strict about CUE claims and wording can explode your good claim. It is good to get a lawyer for these claims that involve CUE. It is legal jazz and the wrong word can blast your claim to bits. That pre-existing BS is really an injustice. They took you as you were and then want to claim you were damaged goods.

The DOL via OWCP is BSing you. You should be able to get what is known as a schedual award for the hearing loss. Even if you were getting money from the VA you could still get the award from DOL because your work has aggravated your original injury(hearing loss). The DOL will use any excuse to not pay. Their henchman is the OWCP(Oh,We Can't Pay). File the CA-2 if you have not done that already. When your doctor says you have reached MMI you then apply for the award from the DOL.

Stretch If you can walk I would advise walking as much as you can. This will help lose weight and will make you legs and back stronger. When you walk you use almost all your muscles and it is low impact. If you can swim or bike that is good also. Even a treadmill or stationary bike in the house will help if you use it. Sitting all day is what really kills a back. I have shoulder, back and feet problems but I find that even though my feet hurt after walking it helps overall. Plus, walking is almost free.

Be sure the VA knows you are moving to a new state. As soon as you get moved call them and write them telling them you have moved. Otherwise, they will probably keep sending your information to your old address until your forwarding period ends and then the USPS will send it back to the VA as "forwarding period expired". Keep checking to make damn sure they have your new address. You file will have to be transferred to the Alabama VARO, and that might be good seeing as how Detroit is awful from what I hear. You need to stay on top of this and be a pest.

There are lots of back muscle exercises if you just google it on the web. I know I have the same problem. Walking,biking,swimming are good for the back. What is bad for the back is inactivity. The less you use the muscles the more you lose them. If your back gets really week then it will hurt more. Anything that gets you up and moving will help your back if it is not too crazy like playing football, or doing something that involves impacts.

There is no specific time frame. I would send an IRIS inquiry to the VA and ask the status of my TDIU claim. Keep making inquiries to see if something is holding it up like missing DD214 or employment record.

A request for an increase in rating of an existing SC condition is not an appeal. When you get the decision on the request for increase then you start the appeals process by filing a NOD. When your NOD is processed you should get a SOC with appeal information. You can go the DRO route or the BVA route to appeal your decision.

Generally, doctors don't want to be viewed as being able to be bought. This is not very realistic since insurance companies and drug companies buy them all the time. You have to go along with the pretence.

When my wife was considering using ChampVA at the Tampa VAMC she was told there was a problem because there were not enough doctors to treat women vets. They must have had scandals in the past.

I would not let saving money be a reason to use the VA if you have a serious condition that needs care. Some vets just to save a co-pay will let the VA do heart surgery on them ,or a major organ, or joint repair. That is not smart.

I had a PA do my heart exam. It was a farce. You would think that the VA would be interested in evaluating heart conditions in the most professional way.....Not! The VBA is cheap above all else.

The VA is like the elephant graveyard for old doctors. They go there to get a check until they die. My shrink is probably pushing 80 and my PCP is a nice woman who does not want a practice. Her husband is rich so this is a nice job for her and is 9-5 with weekends off. If the VA hires PA's to do C&P exams you know they won't have real doctors on rating review boards. You know I had a C&P done by a PA. I appealed the 0% rating and got 60% for a heart condition. I don't know how that happened.

I think it is wise to let VA manage low risk chronic conditions especially if they are SC. This way you are constantly able to add documentation to your potential and actual claims. VA is not a good place for ER care or very serious illness if you have alternatives. I do believe that because I used the VA health care system I was able to add at least 6 conditions to my SC list. If you can get the VA to SC the condition that might end up killing you then your spouse will have a much better time of it getting DIC. Anyone with a mental health claim should go to the VA for treatment, likewise any other chonic SC condition. You don't have to let them operate on your back or heart but get it documented.

I got a 60% rating for a secondary condition of an AO presumptive disease. This is one way to sort of expand the presumptive list. Since the VA made DMII presumptive the possible number of conditions secondary to the AO disease has really increased the potential.

Why do we tolerate being treated like trash? There are so many of us and yet it just gets worse and worse. Nobody deserves better care more than vets. We have sacrificed the most and get treated like yesterday's garbage. The masters of the universe never serve and they float on red carpets from Wall Street to D.C. We get to carry their bags.

What you do is ask for P&T status and send a letter from your doctor saying you are permanently disabled.

Last time I went to my VAMC it was the most crowed I ever saw it. There is almost no parking at the VAMC itself. We have to get a shuttle bus from a shopping center. Now that is getting so that you can hardly get on the bus it is so crowded. The VA has cut down on the bus runs as well, so now I wait 20 minutes for a bus sometimes to take me a mile or two. In front of the hospital entrance are large groups of vets in wheelchairs and some sitting and standing. They have some crazy valet service that backs cars up and you have to skip between cars to get to the entrance. Getting in the hospital is an adventure. When the joint was built the VA did not consider for one moment the growth in Florida's future population.

Getting modest income vets back into the VA is a good idea because many have some insurance and it helps pay the freight. When you have a system that serves many poor people it becomes more like a welfare system. Since the VA opened up to NSC vets it has gotten better I think. When it was just for SC vets it was used by only the few SC vets and many very poor people with drug and alcohol problems. We all know the old VA was a drunk rehab center and detox. If middle class vets use the VA it will get better because they tend to complain to their congressmen when service is poor. The poor just stay quiet becasue they are afraid they will lose it all if they speak up.

I have never heard about AO causing joint damage, but anything is possible. It is an abomination that AO was sprayed on civilians in S.Vietnam and on our soldiers, and the government has dragged its feet waiting for us to die. S.Vietnamese civilians were supposed to be our allies in the fight for freedom and we poisoned them. Nice way to treat friends....Not! It is better to be an enemy of the USA. We first destroy your country and then pay to rebuild it.

If you have a claim with large potential retro the VARO will probably deny it regardless of your evidence. They just don't have the guts to grant large claims. I am talking about the 20 year retro and things that involve 100,000 bucks plus. Why should some claims examiner stick his neck out for that. Deny and let it go to the BVA.

John If you were in the dounut hole you can get the VA to pay for dental care. I did it. It took 6 months for them to pay but they paid most of it. If you had a severe toothacke on a day when no VA dentist was available and you had to use your own doctor to fix a tooth you should be able to get reimbursement. You would have to try to get VA care first if you are eligible. You would need to get a statement from the dentist saying your care was an emergency. The VA will try not to pay and may insist on records from the dentist to prove emergency or to even show you had care if you are in the dougnut hole. The situation I am in now is that the VA refused to do an implant and I got my own dentist to do it. Can I get these jerks to pay since the VA claims it was not a medical necessity.

I know the VA can take a IMO from a veteran and somehow twist it up into something that ends up hurting the vet. There should be some sanctions on this kind of crap. Ignoring,losing or grossly misinterpreting evidence should have some consequence.