john999

When you don't get P&T that means you are denied Chapter 35 benefits. I got TDIU and was specifically denied Chapter 35. I appealed it. It took a year for the appeal. I got an IME saying my condition was permanent, and the VA also looked back over the last year since I got TDIU and agreed I was entitled to Chapter 35. My P&T was retroactive to the day I got TDIU. Even that date was moved back about six months from the time I first filed for IU because I had been on SSDI. If I had not appealed the effective date I would not have gotten paid back for some dental work I had done while waiting for my TDIU. The VA moves so slowly I say appeal any denial of anything right away. If you got 100% the VA should have considered "housebound". If the VA did not mention housebound then I believe they did not consider it, so I would appeal that as well. I had P&T plus 80% and the VA never granted me "S" until I filed a claim/inquiry as to why? They called a CUE on themselves and granted it. What I am saying is that if you don't ask for something with the VA you often don't get it even if you are not supposed to HAVE to ask. I paid a very steep price for not appealing my first low ball rating in 1973. Since then I have appealed most of my VA decisions if it was worth it. I am in federal court right now trying to get that first low ball rating reconsidered since the rating was dripping with errors and omissions. The CUE hurdle is might high as AskNod can tell you. John

I had the AO exam in 2000. This doctor actually took his job seriously. He identified three conditions that he thought were AO related. I eventually filed on all three and got SC'ed on them. However, the AO Registry Exam was not used to prove my claims. I had to get independent medical opinions. I ask myself what is the use of the AO exam except to keep tabs on us like Lab Rats. Since the VA made Parkinson's, DMII and IHD as being presumbtive I think that is about all they will do. They should just make all premature deaths of RVN vets as being presumptive AO since there are only less than 900,000 left and most will die from AO related diseases. Just make all the cancers presumptive at least. The VA decided that ALS was service connected based just on statistics. The statistics and the science say Dioxin is deadly to humans. They sprayed it all over Vietnam. What more do they need? John

Call Bob!

Yes, I would always appeal these low ball ratings. You are already 80% I see. Are you working? I doubt another 10% is going to move you off 80%. You are considered 20% able bodied. If you got 20% for this skin condition that be an additional 4% added to the 80%. This is VA math. John

Either hand carry your appeal evidence to the VARO or mail it Certified Mail/Return Receipt. If you are wanting to save money send it "Proof of Mailing". If I was very serious and money was on the line I would hand carry the evidence or Form 9 to the local VARO if it is a reasonable distance. If you can prove they got your appeal on time you should be able to proceed with your appeal and your claim should not have been closed. It seems to me that would be an Error of the clear cut kind. John

Mostly prescribed for bipolar condition and mania. They are heavy duty. I remember taking the drug and then not being able to find my way home one day.

I would not bet my life on any DX I got from the VA. Usually a dermatologist can look at a mole and have a pretty good idea if it is a melanoma, but if there is doubt a biopsy should be done, but you see that costs money. I had one done on a mole and it was billed as surgery to medicare. It was like $800 bucks or something which I did not have to pay. John

Unless you PN is due to DMII it is just about impossible to get it SC'ed under AO presumption. I would not hold my breath for too many more presumptive conditions being added to AO list. We will mostly all be dead in 20 years so why make more old vet SC and have to pay surviving spouses? Unless I get hit by a truck I will probably die for heart disease. I have that as presumptive for AO. We are all going to die for AO presumptives I think. John

I have emailed Bob around three times about my treatment at the VA Hospital here in Tampa. I never heard back, but I have had calls from local VA dorks. I don't think that one person can resolved the millions of claims and complaints that come into the VA. Maybe Bob can break-up the logjam for a while. Strike while the iron is hot is a good idea. Regression to the Mean will occur over time which means it will the be the same old VA again soon. In the meantime you still have to play the game with their rules if you want to win a claim. I do have a couple of new claims for Housing Adaptation and for Unauthorized Benefits. I will see if Bob can help me with that. I was told by VA staffer that my local VARO gets over 10,000 pieces of mail a day and this was ten years ago. Imagine the mailroom at the local VARO!! Is it run by monkeys, humans or machines? VA is an example of a government institution that does not respond to its citizens. I don't believe in the Tooth Fairy, so I know "BOB" will pass since all things must pass. Waiting on the VA to decide my claim at federal court I may "pass" before I get the right decision or any decision. John

I use the VA hospital in Tampa. That deal with the hidden camera was a big deal for weeks locally. The only way to get real change at the VA is for vets to descend on the local VA's in mass and demand it. Short of that nothing much is going to change. All the congressional dog and pony shows are not going to make this system change. I am getting too old for this stuff. I have my insurance and medicare. I am taken care of so to speak. However, I would like to see Fire and Blood rain down on the VA. I hate this class system we live under with a government that craps on us. The VA is the same, essentially, as it was 40 years ago. I don't like living as a serf in the land of the 1%. If we do not stand up for ourselves we deserve what we get. When the time is right things can change in hours. We, vets, can change this system we have now. If we could survive Basic, deployments to Overseas, RVN, Iraq or Afghanistan I think we could stand up to VA thugs for a few hours. What is the worst thing that could happen besides a beating, injury, mace, jail or death? Many of us have already had that happen to us except the last part. I guess I am talking about civil disobedience and not about violence on our part. We don't even have to break the law to demonstrate our displeasure with the VA system. Just showing up at a certain time and place with some placards would shock them so bad they would call out the National Guard who should join us. John

These internet fishing reels are pretty good. They will dangle bait from post with your bank on it saying you need to stop fraudulent use of your account by going to such and such a site. The emails with warnings that your computer is infected with worms, malware are also slick. If you open the attachment you will have a virus attack.

When you claim secondary conditions you almost always need a medical report from a specialist making the link between the primary SC condition and the secondary condition even if it is obvious to all that they are linked. I have DMII, but I still need medical opinions that my PN was linked. The VA tried to say the PN pre-existed the DMII. I have/had cataracts but VA claimed they were not linked to Diabetes. I was already TDIU for 11 years. I would need a statement from an eye doctor saying my cataracts were caused by the DMII.

You can suspend your family coverage under FEHB when your wife gets Medicare. If you die while it is suspended she can't get it back. You can change back to family from Self Only during open season. Here is the thing: If your wife has Medicare Part A and B and has FEHB and ChampVA you are paying for insurance you don't need. ChampVA pays for drugs and for Medicare co-pays and deductibles. Blue Cross does the same thing. I can't see paying $460 a month for family FEHB if your wife has ChampVA. However, if I am wrong I can change back to the family plan in open season. The FEHB shreds my OPM pension as it is. My wife had BC/BS as her primary now and ChampVA pays all the rest. It will do that when she gets medicare. One of my best buddies and the USPS had Medicare and Tricare. When his wife reached 65 she got Medicare and dumped the FEHB and kept Tricare. I will keep FEHB for myself as secondary payer. Medicare pays for almost all doctor visits and hospital stays and BC pays for pills. If I am paying 200-300 a month for that as medigap that is OK, but not $460 a month with the premiums headed for outer space. I know where people are coming from who want to keep it all. I got a bill from the hospital where I got Inspire implant and it was $98,000 before the medicare kicked in along with BC. If a person can't afford medigap the best thing is probably medicare advantage. That doughnut hole has to go away. Medicare Part D is an outrageous gift to the drug companies. No negotiations over drug prices?????? Even the VA negotiates with drug companies. You don't need to got to a Thai massage parlor to get *&&^^&*(, just go to the hospital and stay a few days. The Sons of Liberty would be rolling in their graves if they knew how average people were being served in the USA today. Time to revolt ( the common people are revolting, and they stink too).

If you are unable to work for TDIU. Getting 100% one disability at a time will take you a decade. I am at 90% and have 7 different disabilities. You never get there.

You should worry more about treating the apnea. If your oxygen levels drop too low at night you won't be around to collect SC. Do you have PTSD claim? Were your ever treated for or diagnosed with a sleep problem in the service? How long have you been out of the service? Are you obese? Perhaps if you get decent ratings for the TBI you can win the apnea claims. I have severe/profound apnea. I have been out of the Army for many years. I don't know where it all started, but I know where it ended. If I was shooting for 100% the apnea unless it was dx'ed in service would be the last place I would start. John

The whole system is rotten and broken. It needs people power via veteran's revolution to set it right.

I never claimed OSA since I did not start having the problem until I was out of the Army for 30 years. I did not have a sleep study done until about 4 years ago. I was pretty shocked when the office called me back and said I had severe and dangerous OSA. I have no evidence in service since they did not even have the DX back in 1971 I think. I did have some sleep problems, however.

r Rootbeer Are you SC for OSA. You should be if it was dx'ed in service. However, you want a cure. I still think Inspire is the way to go if you have severe OSA. If is the oxygen saturation level falling below 90% that will chill you. It puts strain on your heart and drives up blood pressure. Georgiapapa Like I say I would call CEO of Inspire and start talking. I would not accept "NO" until there was just no chance. Is cpap a complete failure for you. There is a company in Texas I hear that makes custom made mask. I know there is one in Australia that makes a custom fitted mask. I know we all have heard stories of wonder cures for OSA but Inspire is a powerful treatment and FDA approved. In the next ten years I think it will become the treatment of choice. All I have is a small hand held device which I turn on and off at night. I slept 5 hours straight last night. I never do that before Inspire. My wife said I was not snorting and stopping breathing like before. I am not trying to sell Inspire. I just know how I suffered. I am still screwed up due to fact I took sleeping pills for years and now I have to get off them slowly. John

How many times have I driven to VA dentist to find my appointment cancelled? Now I get it fee base by appealing via congressman. I am still not satisfied because of snail like speed of referrals. I have had C&P exams cancelled by the VA and then found out later that I was listed as no-show. Let the sick and dying use the VA and let the rest of us use ChampVA or some other insurance paid for by the VA.

I I think we should take it a few steps down the road. We have a right to petition our government by gathering and protesting the injustices of VA mismanagement and negligence. Neither the DAV nor VFW will ever organized protests at our VARO's or VAMC's. The public needs to know we have the courage and knowledge to fight for our rights. The people protesting about the shooting of the Black Teenager get the headlines and vets get backseat. We don't have to burn and loot,. but we need to organize. One of the greatest impacts of protest during the Vietnam War was when vets marched by the capital and returned their medals. First off I think we should protest arbitrary 40 miles distance from VA facility to get Fee Base Care. Any vet who wants it should be able to get it. Today I must drive 25 miles in down pours to get to facility 25 miles away. If I lived 15 miles farther away I could get this care from doctor in my local area and not have to hump through dangerous traffic. I have had to wait years sometimes for dental and vision care. Only within last few months after many trips to congressman's office did I get referral to doctors within my immediate area. If we wait for DAV, AL and VFW to fix these problems I will be in cemetery before any of this happens. John

Your doctor should say in no uncertain terms that due solely to your SC disabilities you cannot work. Have you applied for SSDI? I can tell you I had a claim where doctor said I was totally disable, and could not work or even function on vegetable level. I got a 10% rating. This was 40 odd years ago and I did not appeal. I have lost the CUE for TDIU/100% so far. My doctor said I was unable to function either socially or occupationally. Nevermind, the VA doctor said I had slight case of schizophrenia and never even asked if I was working. I lost so far and my CUE is at Court of Federal Appeals. Those C&P doctors will trick you and lie. Mine did many times until I got good IME's and got the language right. By the time I got TDIU I was on SSDI and OPM disability and the VA still fought it. Get your TDIU and then worry about CUE. Are you still working part time? If not don't mention it. You are now 90% and unemployable solely due to SC conditions. I filed my CUE 5 years after getting TDIU when I reviewed original decision back in 1972 and evidence was there for 100% but VA just ignored it. That is a long story. What I learned 35 years too late is to always appeal your decisions during the one year NOD period. John

That is pretty awful papa. I would press the issue. I would call Inspire CEO. Go to their website. The only thing I saw was that depending on how your OSA worked you might not qualify or if you were very overweight (morbidly obese) then you were out until your reduced. Your other implant is a heart pacemaker? Tell them you will sign release of liability and talk to a pulmonologist private. Maybe you can get cleared. I would not give up right away.

I think I am progressing well. It looks like Medicare and my Blue Cross paid for the surgery and the implants. I would sure go with the Inspire system since the cutting is not major and it took about a month after surgery for me to heal enough for the Inspire people to turn on the device in my chest. My wife says I no longer snore and I do feel very different when I wake up in the morning. I don't have that desire to try and go back to sleep because I feel unrested. I was having 50 apneas an hour. I was on my way to a short life because I could not stand the mask and my oxygen saturation level was dropping into 70's and below while I slept. I was headed for a heart attack or stroke. If you have decent insurance they should pay for almost all of the procedures. You need a endoscopy to see if you qualify for the Inspire device and then if you do qualify then you get the operation and maybe you are in overnight. I had a sleep study done where they refined my programing because I was still having some apneas in REM sleep for some reason. You can feel the Inspire device when you are awake but once you fall asleep you don't feel it and it does not wake me up at all. If you want to PM me or email me about it I can give you more info. I think it would be worth the drive or flight to LA to get it done. Ask your pulmonologist (not VA) if they know of someone doing it in Seattle. I found out on my own about the doctor ENT doing it in Tampa at USF Medical School. Inspire had told me the closest place was Pittsburg. I was so discouraged by then I think I would not have gone to Pittsburg just for some chance at relief. Now knowing what I know I would have gone. What kind of insurance do you have? PM me! I am the first in S.E. USA to have the operation, so I am baby boy of Inspire. They will bend over backwards for you since if news spreads they stand to make millions. I have not asked for a kickback yet. All the cutting and other stuff usually does not work anyway unless they cut out your tongue. The tongue falling back and blocking the airway is one of the problems for us. Inspire moves the tongue out of the way. I was told by Inspire the devices in my chest last 11 years. John \ John

I agree with you Arng11. A shotgun with 00 buckshot at home is a good idea. I was told by someone I trust not to register your guns. If they are registered the government will know right where to go get them in case of fascist breakdown in society. Arng11.......Do you have carry permit? I am not a pistol Pete so I have not gotten a concealed weapons permit. I thought about it. You really do have to practice with your weapon, know the law exactly, and be ready to kill if you are going to carry I think. I also see nothing wrong with self-defense class. I think where I live you can have a cane/sword and it is legal. I am not sure about that since I just read it on the web. What I have read in Florida for carrying a gun in a car is that it must be behind two locks. If that is true what good is it unless you have it concealed under the seat and have the permit which you must pay for and get finger printed etc. People in Florida seem to shoot each other all the time over a parking space.

I would do as CAS says and send it certified mail or at least Proof of Mailing. I got to do that myself here in December. I have done it for about ten years and VA sent me the form only twice. I always download it and send it myself. I trust them not at all! It would be hell to get a letter from VA six months from now with proposed reduction due to not sending in the form. It has happened and the VA will swear they sent you the employment questionnaire and you did not return it. John