john999

If he gets a rating of 70% or over the VA is supposed to consider IU if they have evidence he is unemployable. You will probably have to send in the IU form at some point. With the SSD information you can pin point exactly when he had to stop work. They can go back one year from the time they first rate him as IU to award retro.

Ambien is expensive that is why they don't want to prescribe it. They want you to take temazapam. That is also why they don't prescribe celebrex and that class of drugs.

DIC is the best revenge. Like Pete says if his wife dies first he will then find an 18 year old and marry her just to have the VA pay DIC for the next 60 years. Get all the kids on Chapter 35, ChampVA and educational benefits.

Send a written letter via certified mail/return receipt. Don't depend on Iris.

What about interest they lost on that money for all those years? The VA pays them off with cheaper dollars.

If you makes those other claims ask to be made P&T for the IU while you are at it.

I really agree with you on that Pete. Especially vets who were in a combat zone. It should be presumptive. You know it is just about money. That is why VA erects these high jumps for vets to get over before granting PTSD as SC.

That is encouraging since they did not lose the stuff.

I sent someone to the psychiatrist I used for my IMO that got me TDIU. His IMO was rejected because they said he was doctor shopping. I read his IMO and it was really terrific. The doctor we used was an ex-VA shrink. They incorporated that shrink's opinion directly into my rating decision, but rejected my frieds's IMO from the same shrink. I think the VA was doctor shopping in reverse. We both had the same psychologist, and he eventually got 100% and HB. The VA orginally rejected my psychologist's opinion even though I had been seeing him for 30 years. They relied on a psychiatric resident over a clinical psychologist with 35 years experience.

I am not thrilled with ChampVA as well. I get the EOB's but they are usually denials for some idiotic reason. BC/BS and my medicare pay right away, but always some hangup with my wife's ChampVA and they are secondary, yet they stall. They tried to claim my wife had two BC/BS policies that should have paid first. We had to prove to them she only had one policy. It burns my ass when they won't pay. I have family BC/BS from my days as a federal employee. I can call them anytime and get things fixed. With ChampVA you call and pray. I appealed one ChampVa denial. I never heard back from them. They are better than the rest of the VA but we will be keeping my BC/BS as expensive as it is. I am still trying to get Champ to pay $400 bucks for their tiny part of my wife's surgery.

Allan and Bob We joke about the VA's death scheme, but I think it is real. My mother was in a nursing home and was entitled to some kind of A&A. The VA just stalled until she died. The claim died with her. The county VSO said that was the VA's plan all along to just stall. You know if there is significant evidence to link heart disease with AO they will stall on that til most of us are dead. I wonder how many RVN vets are alive as we speak. I read in the obits about at least one or two dying in my area every day at age 59-60 or something like that. If you ever get the feeling that someone wants you dead you can just look at your local VA. Your paranoia is justified. Now they have plenty of replacements due to OIF and OEF.

It seems all these regs are open to some interpretation and guess who is doing the interpreting.....our good friends the local VARO. However, the regs are all we have to win claims so we must know them.

If congress and the Prez can make a gift of 300 billion dollars to banks and Wall Street gangsters they can surely take care of vets. They just don't want to because they don't have motivation to do it. In the world of politics motivation means votes and money, or fear.

I think you can have DMII and be blind with cataracts and the VA will not make it secondary unless you have a medical opinion to connect the dots. There are so many secondary conditions to DMII. The VBM lists many and two that until very recently were considered presumptive if you had DMII. One was cataracts and the other was hardening of the arteries. Now you need a opinion although the M-21 still says they are presumptive I think. You have to consider that a jumped up clerk is the one who is going to rate your secondary conditions. He/She has no medical or legal expertise.

Carlie Notice I said "hypothetically". I had a congressman , Sam Gibbons, who was dropped behind German lines on D-day. He was a Airborne Ranger. A few years in congress, and he turned into a jerk who never lifted a finger for vets who asked for help. I think he hated Vietnam vets. He probably thought we were all communists since we were sore about treatment we got when we got home. He got a parade. We got the loving arms of the VA. Vets are not organized and they vote against their own best interests. McCaine would not have lifted a finger to help us. What did he do when he was in the Senate for 20 years to help us?

I live in a pretty large metro area. Every old, broken down doctor who retires from his practice, and still wants some money goes out to the local VAMC ,and gets hired. I have seen two of my old civilian doctors reincarnated as VA doctors. Fact is they were pretty good docs, but they are old guys now. I even saw the same shrink I saw in 1972 still working at the local VAMC. He was in his 40's then. He retired and came back as a consultant doing the same awful job he did back in the day. These guys are in their 80's. The VAMC is the elephant graveyard for old doctors. Perhaps as more lawyers get involved they will find doctors to send vets to see who know what the VA wants. This is how it works in SSD.

I know what the 155's sounded like. I don't want to know what 175's were like. The concussion was just brutal from 155's to my sensitive ears. Whey the arty shot directly over us it made you pray for no shot rounds.

I requested to see my C-File while I had a claim headed for the DRO. I found out when I went to see my file that the VA had disregarded my request for a DRO and was preparing to send my file to the BVA. I fixed that. I think seeing you file can have a major impact on your claim because you may find something in there that can really help you. You may find some other vet's information in your file which the VA might just use to deny your claim. You cannot underestimate the incompetence of the VA.

If we even got interest on retro that would be a wonder! The VA denies and delays a valid claim for years and then gets off just paying what they owe. That is not the way the wonderful capitalistic system works. If you owe money you have to pay interest.

Unchecked lawlessness and power sounds like our government for the last 8 years. What kind of a VA can you expect when the Commmander and Thief is a war criminal.

If we were awarded interest on retro payments that would add some incentive to speed up these claims. However, since the VA is spending taxpayer money they probably don't give a rat's ass anyway. No, no, the VA must be surrounded and blown up, hypothetically speaking. There is no other way,

Happy Bday Pete. You and me both have birthdays close to Christmas which means we were robbed of presents because our Bdays and Christmas were combined. This is probably the basis of all my problems with society and the world. Our parents are to blame for not having us in July so we could get a good haul.

Yes, they can defer some decisions and make other decision ratings.

When VA made DMII presumptive for AO they stepped in it. This is why they are going to try and wait until most of us are dead before they grant anymore of these broad presumptive claims unless Obama helps out somehow. This is my opinion. You know with these scrooges it is always about the cash. If they were to grant presumption for vascular or heart conditions it would cost them billions.

Skunk Your claim sounds so much like mine in certain ways. I was granted 10% for a mental disorder effective 12/1971. I was low balled, but was in such a state I did not appeal the decision. I did not even get appeal rights with my decision, so I had no idea I could appeal. The decision became final. I discovered records in my C-File the VA had not considered in the original decision. I hired Karl Kat.... to do my CUE. He will look over your claim and make a decision if he wants to take your case. I could not get any of the local lawyers to do my CUE since they did not know how to do it, and were afraid to risk their time. These CUE's are crapshoots but what do you have to lose if Karl takes your claim? Where did the 1971 claim become final? If at VARO then you must file at VARO. If BVA then at the BVA. Better I think if it died at the VARO since they make so many gross errors. Go for it.