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john999

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Everything posted by john999

  1. john999
    My wife is having trouble getting the prescription card from ChampVA since she got Medicare. I have had to go to my congressman just to get the ChampVA to do their jobs. My wife just will not really take responsibility for her end of making sure ChampVA pays. I always have to nudge her. I told her if I have to get the OPM insurance again she is going to pay for it. What got to my wife was being put on hold for 30 minutes. When she had ChampVA she also had NALC insurance via OPM. When she got Medicare I dropped the NALC insurance since she would have Medicare A&B and ChampVA. Since that time everything seems to have stopped working. I have to do everything because my wife is unwilling to stand up for herself and make sure ChampVA does what they are supposed to do. She thinks it is my problem, but it will be both of our problems. I may get the NALC family plan or One Plus Two plan. This will be expensive and this is due to ChampVA dragging their asses and the fact my wife just lives in La La land when it comes to future medical problems. Both Vets and spouses need to understand that the VA will not come to you, but you need to go to them. You must make the effort. I have a long time friend that just got Medicare and somehow believes he does not need a drug plan or medigap plan. People can have their heads so far up their azzes because they think they will live forever or be healthy forever.
  2. john999
    My suggestion is to get your own IMO/IME doctor to rebut this C&P exam. This is they way I have always done if when I was successful. If you just ask for another exam from the VA you are liable to get one just as bad. You should get your own doctors who are neurologists to rebut this exam. John
  3. john999
    Have you gone through the eligibility stuff to get your ID card. Are you rated for any disability yet? Do you have a PCP at the VA? I am thinking if you have not been to the VA about your PTSD it is going to perhaps be an all day project to actually see someone and get the therapy set up and all the wheels turning. Pack a lunch. It is better to get it right the first time so get your ducks in a row. If you want to get compensated for PTSD you want to follow instruction path and not expect to get a diagnoses and a check within a month. It will take time but it will take a lot longer if don't get a PTSD diagnosis at your C&P exam and get the correct rating. One thing they will ask you is if you are working. They will ask about childhood problems. The best thing to do is to say you were fine before the military and do not go into anything that happened before the military. I had prodigious treatment records while I was in the army and I had spent two weeks inside the VA's brand new mental ward before I ever filed for a mental health claim. Back during Vietnam they did not have a PTSD diagnoses. You need to put your claim together with care and you will get a good outcome. The VA is not big on handing out money without a good reason. I am sure you have a good reason and you must convince the VA of that fact.
  4. john999
    You need to get a diagnosis of PTSD from the VA either by getting treatment at the VA or at the C&P exam. I think I would seek treatment for PTSD at the VA. Let the VA come up with your diagnosis. Don't go to them saying I want to be treated for PTSD. Just say you want mental health help and let them diagnose you. Then when you go for C&P exam you have VA behind you saying "Yes, we diagnosed this vet with PTSD and he is in treatment with us". That would be my advice. To trust yourself to a C&P exam only is really rolling the dice. You never know what those dummies might come up with to screw you out of compensation. Your stressor is conceded because I assume you have CIB?
  5. john999
    My old VA shrink that retired some years ago told me to try and not take all the psychoactive drugs the VA was prescribing me as a matter of course. I agree with all suggestions for drug increases. Then I decide what I will or will not take. If I took all 17 drugs the VA has prescribed for me I would not be able to walk. However, I do believe that the VA thinks if you are not taking medications for your condition they you are well. Just like they believe if you are not getting treatment at the VA you have recovered or improved. Catch 22.
  6. john999
    I really think you are right, Buck. This is part of the abuse we vets get at the hands of the VA. My pain doctor and my PCP are determined to get me off of the rather small dose of opiates I get now. A year ago I was getting methadone and eight 5mg pills of oxycodone a day. Now against my will I get five 5mg oxycodone pills a day which is not enough to give me more than a few hours a day of being pain free. Just a few months before I was put on Fentanyl patches, but that was taken away. So over the last 18 months my pain meds have been cut by about 70% and they still want to keep cutting. If I get a private doctor to prescribe for me I won't be using the VA for anything except getting ordinary medications. What I don't want is for the VA to assume because I am not using them for my health care that I have recovered from my p&t disabilities. I have been P&T since August 2001, so I have a few years to go for my 20 year protection is final. John
  7. john999
    I agree with Buck! You should be able to get TDIU is you are unemployable due solely to your SC conditions.
  8. john999
  9. john999
    I am in this boat and if I can find a private doctor to prescribe for me I won't be dog gone from the VA. I will be long gone! They have been chipping away at my opiates for about a year and a half. They offer nothing to replace the opiates except the same old Lyrica and anti-depressants which have never worked for me. The VA created the Frankenstein Monster by handing out things like methadone and Morphine like candy a few years back and now they just want to get rid of the vets who are hooked or have become dependent.
  10. john999
    The thing is that if you want a 100% rating for PTSD you can't be working. The way the VA determines the difference between a 70% rating for a MH issue and 100% is "Is the vet working?" I kept working until I snapped even though I knew I was done. I eventually got SSDI, OPM retirement and TDIU but it did take time. I do understand the fact that you can't afford to sit at home for a year while your TDIU claim grinds through the system. Is there any money in your house or IRA or 401-K you can tap to get your through the wait? Even if you collapse on the work room floor that does not mean you get quick 100% with the VA. Can you take early retirement? You may have to accept the fact that TDIU may be your only choice if your health continues down hill. Does your wife work?
  11. john999
    I have two SMC awards and I had to really fight to get them. One via a CUE and the other via actually appealing the reason I got the award but that it was deferred for no good reason. IMO $3000 for a 100% vet is just not nearly enough and it should be $5000. I could not stay in my 67 year old house if my only income was $3000 a month. Is this supposed to replace the income I was making 15 years ago? This is a sad joke. We won't get the $5000 a month because America does not like to pay the bills for its injured or ill "heroes". The congress and public talk a good fight but hate to pay. If you can get extra money out of the VA then get it. They owe you twice as much.
  12. john999
    If VA employees were ordered to just let you die so they could keep their jobs you better have your Will in order! They will do whatever HQ tells them to do. Most of them are actually human-like robots who pretend to have free will and human emotions when they just obey orders and punch out at 4pm. John
  13. john999

    I think I was sort in the same situation as you regarding getting mail from the VA.  I did not get the rating decision for my rating and it was returned to sender.  The thing with these CUE cases is you get one shot  at an issue and that is it.   My lawyer did not really understand VA law that well.  He spent years on my claim because he saw big bucks for him because they would have owned me many thousands of dollars.   I believe we were destined to lose the case because the VA law of the 1970's  just handed the game over to the VA and they could play fast and loose with the facts and get away with it.  For instance,   you have an IME/IMO done for your claim.  In 1970 they did not even have to mention the IMO in your rating because it was just assumed they reviewed all the facts they had in their possession You had to disprove that assumption.   They screwed thousands of vets which is why they fought my case so hard.  If I had won at the Court it would have opened it up for many other vets to appeal.  It is like assumption of regularity.  You have to disprove it and you have to disprove that you had any knowledge that your claim had been decided or that you had or should have had knowledge of  your appeal rights.   How do you do that?  It is like having to prove a negative.   You should still try for the CUE.  How old is your CUE?  I had other things wrong besides not getting my appeal rights.  You may have a better case although I thought mine was airtight as did my lawyer and all my doctors.  How wrong we were.  If I could take another shot at it I would.   The Court of Vet Appeals has a website where you can look up cases.  I might be able to find mine, but if you looked up John T. King in their database I think you would find me because it has not been five years since I lost to the bastards.  I am still mad about it.

    To this day I really don't know how reasonable and honest minds could have denied my CUE.  In a CUE you have no benefit of doubt.  The VA does not have to make any efforts to help you obtain records  or facts etc.  It is you against a multi-billion  dollar institution that has an army of experienced lawyers to fight the case.  My lawyer was a geek compared to their lawyers.  We did get one of the best VA lawyers in the USA to actually argue the case at the Court, but the laws prior to 1990 screwed me.  In a CUE they use the law as it was at the time of the CUE to judge the case.  That is one reason why you don't see many vets winning 40-70 year old claims that were full of errors.   I made one mistake of not having the knowledge or presence of mind to file the NOD on time.  Like you I was in sad shape at the time.  My private doctor was doing all he could to keep me out of an institution where I would have rotted away. I was just 22 years old and I had a life ahead of me.   The VA just took advantage of that to screw me to the wall.    I still think that if justice had been served I would have won.

  14. john999
    My case is published and is John T. King vs ? whoever was the VA secretary about 3-5 years ago. I don't think the actual question of my not getting the decision ever got into the record because after the Federal Court refused to hear my case my lawyer just threw in the towel. We had been to the BVA twice and the Court of Vet Appeals twice and I guess he did not want to spend another penny with my case and I was fed up with the VA finding reason after reason to deny my CUE. If they did not deny it for the facts being "debatable" then they denied it because I could neither prove or disprove that the VA ever read all the facts of my original claim back in 1972-3. Before 1990 the VA did not have to include the facts of a claim in their decision, so you could not prove they knew the facts or did not know the facts. The Court concluded that the VA did know the facts of the case even though it was obvious to any reasonable mind they did not know or consider all the facts of my claim. The BVA admitted this, but the Court of Vet Appeals stuck with the law before 1990 that made it impossible to know if the VA had or had not considered all the facts of the case. The original rating decision with rights of appeal was sent to the wrong address and so I missed the NOD deadline. Since I was living on skid row and moving all the time I probably would not have appealed anyway because I assumed that the VA had read all the evidence of the case including my IME which said I was 100%. I did not know the intricate BS of VA rules and regulations. What I knew was that my private doctor had said in an IME that the VA had in their possession that I was completely and totally disabled. I thought that the VA just ignored this evidence and back in 1973 they did this stuff all the time. l got 10% instead of 100% and by the time I knew the facts of the case my NOD deadline was long past. I did not really understand how badly I had been screwed until years later when I got my entire file and read the original rating decision. Then I knew the VA had not considered my doctor's IME. My lawyer knew it by just reading the decision and the BVA knew it as well. However, they denied it knowing I could not prove it and that my only recourse was to the Court where I would be torn apart because the VA used the rules of the day (1973) which completely favored the VA. I did not even have a POA for the case. Back in the 70's the VA did whatever they felt like behind closed doors and what went into your rating decision was just whatever they wanted it to be. The Court of Vet Appeals said that I had a chance to appeal in 1973 and I didn't appeal so that was that!
  15. john999
    PTSD is not a brain injury in the sense of a TBI. Your head is not caved in my PTSD while TBI your head may be caved in and brain organ injured. Why are we thinking a organic brain syndrome is the same as PTSD? They are not! Gastone you are wrong on this one. Ask Berta or Asknod on this. If I am wrong then I don't understand organic from non organic. If you believe your leg is missing is not the same as really having a missing leg. No one even knows exactly what PTSD is and why some get it and some don't. Does it change the brain over time......maybe? Is one brain more likely to suffer PTSD than another? If you have a car crash and your head hits something inside the car and brain gets bruised and banged around that is pretty universal outcome for 99% of humans. PTSD affects your whole nervous system and not just the brain. I do not see it as a brain injury. If the VA is saying PTSD and TBI are the same sorts of injuries they do not understand anything. They may be saying this just to save money which is despicable and dishonest and corrupt (the usual for the VA).
  16. john999
    To get admitted to VA nut ward you must show intent to hurt yourself or someone else. They want you to have a plan and to come out and say "I plan to go home and kill myself within the next hour with a 12 gauge shotgun by blowing my head off in the kitchen at 12pm on Tuesday, and it is now 10am on Tuesday". About 15 years ago I was admitted to VA nut factory and they grilled me intensively about what my intentions were as far as asking me to sign statement that I would swear to them I would not hurt myself or others. I would not sign and got admitted which was the best move I ever made. My employer fired me and the date I was admitted became my EED after a few appeals, IME's and other evidence gathering. If you are suicidal you have to think ahead a few years. I am joking but this is how it worked out for me when I was just trying to save my ass that day. Not good to joke about suicide but if you saw what I had to do to get admitted you might cuss or laugh. If they had a hint this guy was going to hurt himself they should have admitted him. What Rootbeer says is true about not jumping to conclusions, but will anyone really investigate the circumstances of this suicide? I doubt it unless the congressman for that district takes it as a personal crusade to get to the bottom of it. Everyone says how terrible it is that vets kill themselves but since there is no campaign money in finding out why or how nothing happens. Most of our congress critters have been bought by special interests and that is where they devote their time.
  17. john999
    What is reasoning for deferring your TDIU? Are you able to work and are you working at present?
  18. john999
    Most VA shrinks I have had over the years have a main concern which is CYA. To me they sell their oath when they join the VA. I had one good shrink over the last 45 years and I knew him as a private doctor before he joined the VA circus. He did it to complete his 30 years as a federal/military employee to get the pension. I would go see him and he would spend 30 minutes telling me the VA was worthless and laughing. He came through for me once when I was locked up at the VA for a few days going cold turkey from opiates. These VA shrinks have no guts by and large. They will not stick their necks out one inch for their clients. If you really want help you have to get a private therapist to talk to about things. People with PTSD and all other mental health issues have the same sorts of problems other people have except their reactions to these problems may be extreme. I used my private psychologist to help me see myself as others saw me. He held a mirror up to me so I could see how I came across to others and to untangle some of my paranoid ideas. That helped more than a ton of pills. The thing is that costs of care have gone up so much most of us cannot afford care and insurance will not pay much for outpatient care. It is upside down where they pay for being in lockup for 30 days, but not for an hour a week care to keep you out of lockup.
  19. john999
    I would try and get the money back. If he took your money under false premises then that is just theft and he would be a thief and you deserve your money back.
  20. john999
    Since you are already sitting on 100% now is a good time to pursue your CUE for EED or any other money matter. Vets will sometimes get distracted with a CUE before they get TDIU P&T or 100% P&T. I think you want to get everything you can get including any SMC like housebound or A&A before you go hunting the snark. I went snark hunting for my CUE but I already had P&T. Both my lawyer and I believed we had a CUE that involved a couple of decades of retro and an EED back to 1971. Eight years later we crashed and burned at federal court. The VA did so many things wrong but they always had themselves covered and I still don't know exactly how? I could not believe we failed at the Vet Court of Appeals. This was all due to not filing a NOD when my initial rating letter was mailed to the wrong address and returned to the VA "return to sender address unknown" because the VA had the wrong address, but somehow it was my fault, or I should have known, or something and I lost. John
  21. john999
    I say if these claims put money in your pocket then you can spend money to pursue them. If you are going to be sitting at 90% after you win your claims then it is worth it. You will never get to 100% unless you win more than 60%. I have 70%, 60%, 20% and four 10% ratings. This puts me at 90%. For me to get 100% I need another 50% because half of 10% is 5% and that is all I get if I win another 50%. This is VA math. You are better off financially getting TDIU and then getting P&T and "S". However, if you like your job then you just want to keep plugging away but you need huge % win to get to 100%. Filing claims you deserve is good but if they do not put money in your pocket I would not spend money to pursue them. Filing a claim does increase stress. Just going through corrupt system and dealing with DRO's and others who just think every vet is a fraud and lazy to boot is not that much fun. Nothing ever happens to these DRO thugs or the other thugs that call themselves federal employees. They only get in trouble for stealing from their masters or giving too much to vets.
  22. john999
    Have you filed for SSD and/or TDIU? You have 70% from the VA so I think you could get TDIU. Do you like your job and will they keep it for you if you are gone for months after surgery? You have a lot of small claims that look like 10% or 20% type claims. If I were you I would try to get 100% for the PTSD/MST and leave off chasing the small claims. I have numerous small claims I could file but it will never get me to 100%. The VA has arranged it so 100% recedes as you approach with small claims. Better to get 100% and let the small claims chase themselves.
  23. john999
    For mental Health IME's I do know of a really good shrink in Tampa who really knows how to write an IME/IMO. I got two from her and she accepted my insurance to pay. I need one to help me get SC'ed for sleep apnea. I have a pulmonologist but he is only interested in treating my OSA. Many of your regular doctors don't want to give an opinion on the causes of your disability. They just do not want to opine or stick their necks out one inch.
  24. john999
    I agree with Bronco on this. You want to focus on winning your claim. If you lost at the DRO level you should proceed in a timely manner to file your BVA appeal. Now if you were to get yourself a lawyer who knows you might even be able to get a second DRO. I did that with my CUE claim. I was denied at the VARO level and had a DRO by myself where I was again denied which I expected. Then I hired a lawyer and the VA was ready to talk to him and decide at the VARO level. I went with my lawyer to another DRO Hearing and we were so close to getting the CUE, but higher ups put a halt to that I am sure because my CUE had big implications for about a million other vets regarding EED and the way evidence was handled before the 1990's. So I say again to do as Bronco has said and focus on your claim and file an appeal with BVA or do both but hire a lawyer first. How much potential retro and future compensation are we talking about if you win or lose? Does the outcome of your claim have implications for other vets? BVA decisions are not used as precedents as are Court of Veteran Appeals, but they do take time. I would ask for a traveling Board BVA hearing. If this decision is going to make the difference between a 100%/TDIU rating and staying at 70% then I would think hard about getting a lawyer. They take their money out of the retro and you may have decent amount of retro because you filed your claims in 2012-13 and if you have to go to the BVA for a decision it will be 2017-18 before you get a decision. Also the lawyer will be shaping your claim to go to Court of Vet Appeals. If they are any good that is what they should be doing when they take your claim because the best thing a lawyer can do for you at the BVA is to write a brief for you. I have been there with a lawyer at St. Petersburg office and the BVA Hearing was just sort of an intake hearing so in this sense I have no idea what the hearing was supposed to do that just having the lawyer write a brief for you would not do, but the lawyers always want to go face-to-face and I don't blame them. If you do hire a lawyer you must read the contract very closely. I would post it here at Hadit so were can all evaluate the fees and see if they are fair. I think they are supposed to take only 20% plus expenses if you win. Some of these lawyers will try and make side deal with you to get more money by telling you they can win your claim but they need more money. This is all BS.
  25. john999
    Oh, no, it is not a waste of time!!! I started with a 10% rating in 1973 for "Nervous Condition" and now I have TDIU and Housebound. All claims together bring me $3500 a month tax free. You may be young now, but if PTSD gets worse it could totally disable you and can cause other secondary conditions. FILE THE CLAIM! If you get 10% or 30% that gets your foot in the door and never let them get that foot out of the door by neglecting to respond to C&P exams or ignoring to file NOD or other appeals.
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