john999

I thought you had to have been involuntarily committed to a state institution or be a felon for the government to not allow you to have guns. Come to Florida. You can get your concealed weapons permit at one sitting including fingerprints. I am thinking about getting a "piece". With road rage around here you can assume anyone who gives you the finger is probably armed legally or illegally. Just because you are 100% for mental condition does not mean you can't own a gun. Now if you are declared incompetent it might be a different story. If you read the actual description of 100% scheduler mental disability then you would agree that this person should not even be allowed outside during the day. 100% scheduler criteria in no way corresponds to actual mental condition of most 100% vets. It seems to me since you have constitutional right to own a firearm this is a fundamental right, just like free speech or freedom of assembly.

Have you requested Chapter 35? When I was denied Chapter 35 I asked for it via an appeal immediately. It is going to take the VA a year to review your claim for Chapter 35. If there is no change in your condition or maybe you get SSD in the meantime you will have a good case for P&T. You are not really appealing being denied P&T. You are appealing the denial of a benefit that P&T status confers on you that being chapter 35 benefits which are extensive. ChampVA for your dependents and possible school for your kids and maybe your spouse. John

I don't want the VA to build any new hospitals. I want them to free me from a system that is bound to fail. If the VA reimbursed medical providers at a decent rate there would be no need of VA hospitals. There are four hospitals within 5 miles of my house. If I want to use the VA system I have to drive 20 miles and go from building to building. New construction for the VA is just an excuse to funnel graft to congressional buddies at tax payer expense. I don't want the current Fee Base system either because their reimbursement rates are so low that few providers will touch them in my area. We don't need a VA health care hospital/doctor system. Maybe for the terminally ill or for hospice, but there are plenty of hospitals in most urban areas. If you live in the boondocks then you have to drive for hours anyway. I think in the State of Florida maybe there are 6 or 7 VA hospitals. There are a couple of 3-4 million vets at least. There are about 100 for profit/Big City hospitals and all take Medicare and medical insurance like ChampVA, Tricare or Blue Cross. When I do go to the VA I always meet older vets who have driven 100 miles because this is the closest facility that has the MRI machine or some other special service. Florida is bigger in population than New York and yet vets have to drive for miles to get care. A lot of these older vets from Korea or even WWII are in their 80's and 90's driving on the interstate to get to a VA hospital for tests. The roads here are like "Death Race 2000" anyway. Back in I think if was 1969-70 the VA built a VA hospital in North Tampa. They could have bought square miles of land to use to expand for the future, but they didn't plan for that. They built for the demand of 1965 maybe with not a care, or concern in the world that the population of vets in Florida was going to grow greatly in the next few decades. Everyone else in the USA knew Florida was in a population boom except the planners at the VA. Now the VA has to pay top dollar to expand ever farther away from Tampa. The VA hospital is scattered all over hell and back. The pharmacy is here and mental health is miles down the road. My new PCP is at the new annex which is 5 miles east of the VA hospital. There are days when I am supposed to visit four different buildings miles apart. The VA needs to and stop the construction of more bricks and concrete . There is a system in place already. Of course, poor people can't use it anyway unless they are dying or have Medicade. Florida voted against expansion of Medicade. A lot of vets do use the VA hospitals to die on clean sheets. I guess they want to relieve their relatives of the cost of final expense. VA is the elephant graveyard for old and/or vet sick vets. I wonder what the rate for staff infections is for VA hospitals?

I want to go look at my File when it seems things are dragging. I have done this more than once and found major problems. Back in 2002 I had asked for a DRO Hearing on advice from some here at Hadit. I went to the VARO to look at my file and found out the VA was waiting around to send my claim to the BVA. I nixed that fast because I did not want a three year wait when I had all the evidence I needed to win at the VARO. If it seems something is wrong with the way your claim is going then there probably is something wrong. I would rather keep my claim local where I can check in person to see what evidence they have rather than FDC where I can't see what is going on at all. I used the FDC system once. It took just as long due to VA screw up. They had all the evidence they needed but delayed my claim saying they were waiting for 5103 waiver request. I made sworn statements that my claim was ready to rate and I had no more evidence. Finally, after trips to congressmen and senators the VA got off their asses and sent me for C&P which just confirmed my evidence and I was awarded an increase in a month. This took about 14 months to do the simplest claim imaginable. John

I am housebound and get "S" , but I did not read the fine print when I asked for SHA because even though my gait is unsteady and I have slipped and fallen I have all my arms and legs and not blind. I can't walk two blocks without pain in my feet for days, but I have only partial loss of use in all four limbs. When you think about it you really have to be *&^%^& up to even get "S". which is total plus another 60%. How **&&^$$#@ up do you have to be for the VA to provide real help. Who wants to lose both legs to collect from the VA? This is why Wounded Warriors gets to cry on public's shoulders and justify begging on our behalf while they get fat on charity money that should go to us via Uncle Sam, and not some slimy charity that keeps 50% of the money they collect. My father-in-law had severe TBI from WWII. He got nothing except bad conduct discharge from Marines for going insane and hitting an officer and gentleman. He was out of his mind for 50 years, dangerous and in need of the greatest help. He was too far gone to know it. To enlist in war time is obvious proof of some kind of insanity, or too many Hemingway books. In American Civil War many young men went to war to "See the Elephant". They did not know the Elephant was going to step on them. John John

If SSA turns you down hire a lawyer. The system feeds on the lawyer/judge relationship. I retired on FERS, so I get my SSD. For years my FERS was offset by my SSD. My FERS retirement is so small it is a joke for 30 years of creditable service. When my wife gets medicare FHEB will go out the window since the family plan cost us about 35% of my annuity before taxes. Why did I bother working? If I had been smart I probably could have collected 100% in my 20's, but I wanted a chance at the American Dream. This was before I realized that money was the only thing that really mattered in the good old USA. It does not matter how you get it as long as you got it. My father was in WWII. My mother got $10,000 when he died leaving three small children. If not for SSA we would have starved. I think the VA did give her something because at the time there was no welfare, medicade or food stamps and we had no medical or dental care. I don't know how we survived except she was a child of the depression and was used to being poor. My mother could squeeze a nickel until the buffalo shat. Now all three of us kids find it almost impossible to spend money even when we have it. My brother has a million bucks and lives in a shack and drives a 20 year old crate. He can't spend the money. He is afraid something will happen. John

You must be joking. The VA is not going to provide your friend with a lawyer. They might provide a lawyer to prosecute him for some expenses if he took out a VA mortgage. The VA is not in the business of helping veterans. They are in the business of helping themselves.

In a completely dysfunctional system when you get thrown a bone you believe that you have a major break though. As long as the VA is staffed by people whose training is that veterans are guilty of fraud unless proven otherwise the claims system will be adversarial. As long as the health care system is run on behalf of the almost one million VA employees then we will continue to get crappy care which is dangerous and substandard. One guy who answers a few emails via his horde of assistants is not going to change a basically corrupt and incompetent system. Why can't we get a card equal to Medicare? The answer is that it would put thousands of VA workers and junior doctors out of work. There would not be a steady supply of lab rats for medical students from nearby universities to cut on and experiment on to hone their skills so they can make a million bucks a year in private practice. I am going to email Bob about the awful care I have been getting from my VAMC (charity hospital) and even Fee Base and see what he has to say. The only way for me to get more compensation is to get a lot sicker and that I don't want. I got my P&T based on mental health issue and I see a VA shrink for 20 minutes every ten weeks. Does anyone believe this is psychotherapy? Yet, my shrink states that I was provided with psychotherapy and medication therapy. No wonder PTSD vets never get better. I paid for private weekly group therapy for 20 years after I got back from Vietnam. The VA had nothing worthwhile for me. In this sense it is too late for me. I paid out of my pocket 95% of my dental, medical and vision care over the last 40 years. Now I am almost 65 years old and I am not going to die in some VA hospital. John

The thing is that most of what the VA claims to do for vets is just a sham and a lie. The VSO's are an extension of that fraudulent system. The VSO's help perpetuate the fraud that the VA is really concerned with helping, rehabilitating and taking care of veterans. In fact the VA is there to get a paycheck at our expense, and to deceive the American public into thinking they are reaching out to those "Who have borne the battle" etc. The objective of every vet who has any disability is to get to 100% because only then will he/she get even 50% of what they might deserve. Even after all the scandals you see the pathetic reaction of the VA. A larger backlog of claims and appeals and a Choice Card that helps only 10% of vets. I can also tell you that Fee Base is pretty poor. Many of the doctors that accept it are crooks who inflate their services and costs because they only see dollar signs. I went to fee base dentist recently. Worst experience since I was treated by an Army dentist. I give up on that route. No more VA fee base for me. I feel like a fool for believing for one moment they were on the level. Reminds of the worker's compensation doctors I used to see......crooks by any other name because no honest doctors would fool with them. We do need a revolution in the VA system but I won't be around to see it unless I live to 150. John

I got referred to a incompetent crooked dentist and a vision center ever father away than the VA. Until the VA just issues us all cards like Medicare they can shove it. I want no part of their health care system. I might go just to get pills for free, but you get what you pay for. If you pay nothing you get nothing.

No way it should take 6 months to figure retro. If the VA was paying interest on that retro they would do it in 6 days. Let's think about the fact you get no interest on money owed to you for many, many years sometimes. This is outrageous. If you owe the IRS money they get fines, interest etc. yet you get just your correct retro if you are lucky. Why this miserable double standard? We know why. The government is cheap and treats those it owes money like dirt. If you owe those bastards money they will take the food out of your children's mouths to get it. Think about that on the 4th of July or Veteran's day next time. John

I got P&T at age 53 I think. I got TDIU at 52 but was denied P&T. I appealed that denial because I was denied Chapter 35. When you are denied any benefit besides a complete grant of all possible benefits you can appeal. By the time my claim was reviewed I had another IME saying I was P&T and the VA also had a year of psychiatric records of their own to consider. I don't believe in waiting for the VA to act. If you don't ask for it you often won't ever get it. I got "S" just by asking. Vets here at hadit pointed out to me that I was eligible. The VA never even considered it until I asked. John

File a claim. If you let the year go by you will surely be screwed. I filed a claim during my first year after ETS and got an award. However, it being many years ago I did not know enough to file a NOD and appeal. I lost literally hundreds of thousands of dollars which I am still fighting to get back 45 years later. Your claims does have to be perfect, but you must file. If you had a heart attack two months after retirement the disease process must have been there for years. Did you get a discharge physical? How could any competent doctor miss such a condition that was about to go into the Red Zone. You must have had some physical indication of trouble. Often the heart is enlarged. This the medicos can tell from x-ray or any one of many tests. Did you have any symptoms of distress or shortness of breath?

DIC should be twice as much just be half as much as a 100% vet was getting in benefits. If I thought that the only money my wife would have if I die before her would be DIC, SSA Survivor Benefit and half my crummy civil service pension I would be feeling rather low right now. Did I work all those years and suffer these injuries and illness so my wife could live in poverty? No, but no thanks to Uncle Sammy. What 100% vets get and what DIC spouses get is just an insult to their suffering and service. My wife could not even buy the house we live in today on DIC and my other survivor benefits. I could not buy the house I live in on 100% if that was all I had to spend. What is wrong with this picture? When I bought my house in 1987 I could afford it on $30,000 a year as a junior mailman. Since the not only has the actual prices of housing gone up but the sinsurance has exploded in cost while wages and compensation has lagged so far behind it is a shame. A car today costs $30,000 and my insurance costs ten times what I used to pay for medical, liability and the rest. John

I have put evidence right in the VA's hands and they have lost it. This usually means another appeal if they decide without considering evidence. They get away with murder and I do mean "murder". Even on Christmas I hate their guts for the pain they cause us. I can think of a good present for them at my VARO. The VA is a three ring circus with no ring master. I get a check from them and I still hate them. I don't feel that way about my civil service pension or SSA/Medicare. John

Yes, VA is concerned with CYA. Vets have been OD'ing on drugs so the thing to do is to cut off every vet who has chronic pain and let them suffer. For me to have to go out to the VA four times a year for Urine Test is a problem for me. I know the VA is scared of DEA. The VA did check me out with Florida and DEA about getting opiates out of state. I got script for Tamazepam for sleep from my private shrink and they mentioned that in their report. I will make it regardless of what these lame brains do. John

BigMuny I can feel where you are at. I have an appointment with the pain clinic and I think my dear PCP is going to tell them she wants me off the opiates after 7 years. I will just go to private doctor and get dope I need, but it all pisses me off since the VA has no alternative. The VA got me dependent on the opiates and now they are going to cut me off. They are useless bastards. John

What I get SMC "S" for is DMII, PN and CAD. The trouble I have worst is my feet. My feet get sort of like blocks of painful wood and I can loose balance and topple over which has happened. I did get handles put in to the bath by the VA. I was surprised by that. I did put in for SAH just due to my difficulty with balance and due to the fact my house has lots of step-ups where I did loose balance recently and banged my head against the wall. I take opiates and benzo's which are prescribed by VA which affect my balance as well. I got TDIU for MH and "S" for Agent Orange diseases. I don't have complete lose of use of any particular foot or hand. I have partial loss of use. I am having balance problems and trying to avoid a fall where I break my hip or something. I am not getting any younger and looking ahead I see me falling and busting my ass. You would think the VA would try to see future risk and help a vet avoid drastic accident that lands him in a nursing home or something worse. I am not in a wheelchair yet and am trying to avoid that fate as well. I asked for PT and the VA turned me down. It seems they could work with me to help me get special therapy to make me stronger without me hurting myself like last time. It is like you got to be in a wheelchair or missing a limb before they want to help. I know they don't even help those guys much considering Commander Bob and his dealing with the VA. They will give me pool therapy but I have to drive 20 miles through horrible traffic to get my 30 minutes of swim time. This is just not worth it to me. No YMCA indoor pool around here. That costs 80 bucks a month anyway and is good place to get staff or something else. Some people need PT on an ongoing basis just to keep them from getting worse, but the VA says just for acute injuries. They are really just cheap bastards who don't have enough staff to help those needing it. John John

My experience with VA healthcare gets worse every time I drive the miserable miles to get to the VA complex of clinics in N. Tampa. I spent 45 minutes trying to find the "Slip and Falls" clinic that is separate from the rest of the VA hospital by about 5 miles, unmarked, no sign to indicate a VA facility etc. Now many of the different clinics are all over the place and you must drive miles to go from one to the other. I got pathetic exam and was sent on my way. I don't trust pain clinics in Florida since they are mostly in fear of DEA and all want to do shots in spine for pain. I also don't see any use for VA except for pills and just to show them that I am still disabled. I have about 6 years to go before I get my 20 years at P&T. About the only benefit I get from the VA is a check, ChampVA for the spouse and pills. The VA says they want to own my health care. I think they just want to rent it until I am dead. I cannot stand having to drive to the VA just to do a urine sample and blood work. Of course, this is how I documented DMII, and CAD which is how I got "S". Now my new doctor has dropped the ball twice on my pain meds. At least I am still getting them as of today. I have to see Ambulatory Pain Clinic in January. I told them I did not want to go. My doctor insisted with implied threat of my being cut off if I did not go to see the people who intend to cut me off. Pete, Have you insisted on a referral to Pain Clinic? This is how got Opiate Pain Clinic contract etc. I have followed my part of contract, but I think they are about to renig on their part in a month. I fill out a pain questionnaire every month and my doctor still screws it up and I get my meds 8 days late. John John

What exactly does it take to get a grant to get a special adaptation to your house? I was sort of led to believe at the VA that I might quality, but after today's trip to "Slip and Falls" clinic at the VA I have deep doubts. They tested in a half-ass sort of way my gait and balance. The PT person handed me some screw-in grips for the shower and told me I should exercise in a pool. Then, of course , they suggested I do in-patient pain program, and drive out to the VA three days a week to walk in their pool. That would take an entire morning or afternoon due to traffic just getting to my VA. I have PN in my feet and this does affect my gait and balance, but I don't have complete loss of use on any limbs. I am not blind. I am not in a wheelchair. Did I waste my time completely? My experience in the past with Voc. Rehab, Quality of Life Program and now this SAH thing make me believe this is just not worth the effort. John

My new doctor just "forgot" to refill my prescription so that I could get them by UPS at the usual time. Now after calls, secure email etc I can pick them up at the VA.. That is about a 40 mile hike. Because I hate going to the VA I try and get a lot done when I am there. I have to go to slip and fall clinic, labs, and pharmacy. This will take hours. This is a small thing for them, but a big deal for me. My opiates are 8 days late.

That was a pathetic exam. They tip toed around you PTSD DX but did say you were severely depressed. If you can get 10-30% for any MH condition then you can get a IME to boost it up. Your exam was so inconsistent and confusing I really think that you will get 30 because they admit severe depression, but your wife says you have been jumpy all your life. Don't bring her any more to exams. Not her fault she just does not believe she is dealing with Satan. If your depression is SC you should get 100%. It says severe depression. John

Think if I email him I can find out why after 7 years the VA just cut off my pain meds?

I am not sure, but after checking with MyhealthyVet the VA in its wisdom may have cut me off my pain meds with no warning at all. I don't see anything regarding my oxycodone and Fentanyl at all. They are not even listed. If they have done this I will sue them I swear. If it is just the usual incompetence I am going to go find private pain doctor unless it is just a screw up because of getting new doctor. I will be in my congressman's office. Usually, it will show my pain meds and it will just list them as "No Refills" but it still lists them. This time they are not listed and when I check history it says expired. I know it is dangerous to just cut a guy off after so many years. I sent the doctor a secure email and I will call, but this stress is unnecessary. I really do think I will never go back if they did just cut me off for some dumb reason. I may go back and see what hell I can stir up but that's it. The VA has screwed up my delivery so many times in the past I don't know if it is just an accident or not. John

I think the VA just assumes we all will sell our prescription drugs if we get the chance. Everyone who is on Chronic Pain Contract has an opiate dependence/addiction problem from what I gather via my own records. I don't misuse my opiates. I have not had a dirty drug screen in many years. The VA wants me off the opiates and benzo's that is clear. They have had me on heavy duty pain meds in the past. Most of them I told them the side effects were too much. I wasn't begging for drugs but I am the one with the problem not malpractice city at the VA. Hydrocodone recently went on list with morphine, methadone , oxycontin and all the rest. This is probably the problem. DEA, mother may I take a pill?