john999

You can call a CUE yourself until your claim is final. Cue is the last resort believe me. CUE rules are not vet friendly. AskNod says your CUE must be visible from the moon to win.

Phil.... If you are not working then I think you have a shot at 70%-100% for your mental health problems. Ability to work is really the main factor in getting a 50% rating or a 70%-100% rating. You can have delusions and think you are Jesus Christ, but as long as you work 40 hours you won't get 100%. I was stuck at 30% for years until I lost my job and got SSD. I was 51 years old and pretty well washed up at that time in the work world. If you have combined rating of 70% with at least one rating of 40% you can get TDIU. This is really for those who can't work. It is not that pretty since the VA keeps tabs on you. Being 100% disabled is not great. You get benefits but you enter world of isolation from American society. Normal people between 20-65 work at something. This puts disabled in a weird world of not being a full citizen in my opinion. John

I have dental white coat syndrome. My blood pressure shoots up when they get ready to do heavy work on my mouth. Last time by BP was 200/105 and my nose started to bleed. I thought I was have a stroke. I just had bad sinus infection but I did not know. If you want a copy of your C-File you don't need a form. Just ask for it under Privacy Act. Those are your records.

I have now been waiting one year and I have a C&P exam in middle of June. I wrote my congresswoman. I think in this case it did help to get the claim off the dime. Once I get the exam I should know pretty quick. The FDC system worked about as fast as regular claim system for me so far. The VA never sent me VCAA letter and then blamed me. I kept calling and telling them I had no more evidence and the claim just sat there doing nothing for 10 months. This is St. Pete in action. I still may not win, so that means an appeal and more years. John

You will have to go for a C&P exam no doubt. Do it Bro because it will be worth it in the end. My good friend from Nam waited over 40 years to get help. He got a DX of PTSD, but in the meantime his life was reduced to ashes and he was 64 years old. PTSD and depression ruined his life. When I encouraged him to get help and file a claim he was living in backwoods of N. Carolina in real poverty with a sick wife. I really wish my wife would go to couples counseling. She has PTSD, but as is often the case refuses to acknowledge it. John

Then he is probably vet friendly. You really need an advocate as a doctor. I was lucky enough to get three. One thing I can say is that it is a good idea to cultivate a relationship with a private doctor who will work for you. If you are a long term patient many doc's will go to bat for you. If they won't get rid of them. As we are reminded the medical system is free enterprise and you can vote with your feet.

I see medical care in the USA as a human rights issue. We have the richest country in the world and yet millions cannot afford healthcare. The insurance companies are making billions off of the suffering public. Insurance premiums go up to pay the CEO of some outfit like WellCare 500 million a year. My brother was DX'ed with signs of blood cancer and then his doctor dropped him because they did not like his insurance. My private shrink will not take BC/BS because they will not pay in decent time for mental health outpatient care. BC is the largest health insurance company in the world. Medicare only pays 50% of allowable charge for mental health. Half the people in the USA have some mental health issue at some time in their life. We vets should lead the way on these issues. I think by agitating and agitating for change in VA health care we can help all. John

Access to and quality of health care is my gripe since I am already P&T. If I want a flu shot at VA expense I must drive 20 miles spend a lot of time in traffic when I can go to Walgreen's and get the shot and medicare pays. I say do away with the VA health care system and Medicare for all. Why have two systems of medical care when the private sector could absorb all of us vets if a medicare-like system was installed for us. Only the sickest or homeless would use VA hospital. There are so many things wrong with the VA I can not really point to one thing. The VBA is corrupt and the VAMC system is a failure. The G.I. Bill is not enough. Maybe G.I. mortgage system is OK but it takes a long time and many won't accept it. John

No, but if he uses the IMO format we have on Hadit the IMO/IME should be very acceptable to the VA.

You know in Vietnam many soldiers were fighting for their lives in the jungle and two or three days later they were arriving home because they ETS'ed right out of Nam. I still hade some time to do, so I was not just dumped onto the street. However, on my 30 day leave I managed to land myself in a private hospital nuthouse for a few days. I was in no way fit to just be pushed out into civilian life. I remember going to VFW after Nam and having these jerks tell me I was not in a real war. I tried to help another vet who had gotten bad paper and the VSO's just did nothing to help. I eventually called on the Red Cross and they helped. I have heard that troops coming back from WWII had time to decompress aboard ship on the way back. No 24 hour turnaround from the battle field to the shopping mall. I can really understand how the OIF/OEF vets must be confused. They can logon to a computer and talk to their wife and kid and then go out on a mission and kill or be killed. In Nam we had no email or phone calls. Just a letter in the mail and you were totally cut off from your former life and a crazy hostile environment. I think that is easier in a way. You just forget the World until you get short. I guess the same goes for OIF/OEF vets but with even more confusion over battlefield self and civilian self. The VA and the nation is failing vets and has failed them for decades.

We had a vet here in the Tampa area who was completely insane. He was not getting treatment. He killed most of his family and died in a shoot out with police. The guy was so crazy he believed he was reincarnation of Prince David and was here to rid the world of sinners and evil. How does a guy like this slip through the cracks? The newspaper said he had been in Iraq and Afghanistan. John

If you have a good medical report I think winning for a emotional disorder at SSA is easier than a physical injury. They can't X-Ray your mind. Many aspects of mental disorders is subjective. The VA and SSA know exactly how to rate physical injuries. They probably turn down 200,000 back injuries a year because they parse it down to ROM, bedrest periods and extension etc. I have bad shoulder, bad feet and low back and neck issues. I would never have won just on that stuff. I won for depression (bipolar).

So did you tell the VA you went back to work while you were TDIU? Did they find out via comparing SSA or IRS records?

You want to keep your service as a contractor separate from your time in the military. You should connect all your current disabilities to your service, and make it clear you were having these symptoms before you time as a contractor. If you let the VA think that these symptoms (especially ptsd) started as a contractor they will say it is not service connected. They will tell you to take it up with the contractor and file worker's compensation. You could probably do this but I bet they have small print to protect themselves. John

I think in order to confiscate guns or deny carry permit you must have been committed to a mental institution by a judge. They call it the Baker Act in Florida.

Yes! I have been screwed to the wall by c&p doctor's report. I overcame it. You get an IMO/IME to overcome these bogus C&P exams. The raters do tend to go with the C&P exam doctor's opinion if you have no other newer evidence.

Don't tell this to the VA. They will use your drinking against you. Just like if you were using a street drug to self medicate.

JC I got the VA to pay for some dental work I had done by a private dentist while my TDIU claim was on appeal. The VA dragged their feet. They practically accused my dentist of being a crook. They demanded X-rays and documentation and then one of the Fee Base workers just threw my claim in the trash. They even admitted it. I finally got some (but not all) of my money. My dentist really bent over backwards. He was not used to being called a liar. The VA more or less accused him and me of splitting the fee and faking the claim. About two weeks ago I had such a bad headache that I thought I was having a stroke or something. I went to local ER. I have good insurance so I did not even bother trying for any reimbursement from the VA. The private hospital did a CT scan right away because my blood pressure was high. I had a severe sinus infection. It felt like my head was coming off it hurt so bad. I can imagine if I had gone to VA ER. I doubt I would have gotten a CT scan. I probably would have waited 5 hours and been told "take the rum and coconut and call me in the morning". If the VA care is so good why don't all vets use it? The answer is obvious that it is either not that great or so inaccessible that they would rather pay co-pay and deductible than use the VA. The system as it exists today is welfare for old doctors, medical schools and foreign doctors. Then there are the doctors and therapists who can't get certification anywhere else.

I know your case is beyond belief and just torture I am sure. It must be costing the VA a fortune in mileage. They probably have statistics that project you will just stop going all together if you get too sick. Then they save it all. There probably is an answer in the regs about housebound and fee base. My wife can't drive me to my next C&P. I have to get there somehow or lose my claim. So I will drive myself. Does this mean I am not housebound? Navy04 If you have Tricare and medicare why do you even bother to use the VA system? I use it just to get pills and to document my continuing disability. If I could accomplish these things without using the VA I would do it. I hardly use the VA as it is. I am P&T but I find VA vision and dental so poor I don't use them. They pulled the wrong tooth and then refused to do an implant to replace it. I don't want some unqualified geek doing something that affects my eyes or means mucho pain to my teeth. If they don't do cataract or implant surgery properly you could have major loss. I have very good insurance, but it cost me. It was part of my retirement benefit like Tricare is part of yours. My wife has ChampVA. I wish I had it. I could get rid of Blue Cross and $435 a month to pay for it. I am still lucky to have it since with medicare I pay almost nothing except for dental and vision and drugs.

I don't think there is any hard and fast rule for time limits for actual percentage ratings after BVA finding. I don't think there is any rule for rating after SOC, but it should be soon. I don't even know VA definition of soon. Now if you are one day late on filing your NOD they will bust your azz. The time limits and dates are all on the VA's side. You have X number of days to file your appeal and they have 20 years to make a correct decision.

I read that if a vet can't get an appointment within 30 days he/she can get care at private doctor or hospital. Who is going to enforce this and how will it work? You sure can't just go to a non VA provider after 30 days and get the VA to pay. There has to be a finding of some sort and paperwork. I call the VA scheduling office and ask to see a cardiologist. No cardiologist available so will I get some sort of authorization to get care from a cardiologist. 30 days for the VA would be light speed. I want care at non VA providers since I am officially housebound. So far I have asked for it and been refused. I know the VA could pay for private care, but I believe they will fight against it because 75% of vets would probably leave the VA system in a heartbeat. What would happen to VA jobs and construction projects? John

The VA has a plan but not a realistic plan. They have a plan in "Cloud Coo Coo Land" as Germans phrase it. The VA will only speed up eliminating the backlogs by 2015 if there is constant pressure from below meaning congress and voters. They only respond to drastic pressure where jobs are at stake. Otherwise, the senior management of the VA just believes they can wait out public outrage until it cools off and shifts to some other outrage. John

If I am housebound "S" why can't I get Fee Base regardless of how close I live to the VA hospital in my area? As it is I have to drive 20 miles to the local VA hospital just to get blood work. If I am HB why can't I get Fee Base just because I live within 100 miles of a VA hospital. Do others think I could get Fee Base since I am SMC "S"?

This is just SOP for VA hospitals in my area. They do not go the extra mile. I got them to do a chemical stress test for me because my PCP requested it. This helped me get 60% for a cardiac condition. The VA had previously rated me 0% after an inadequate C&P exam. The exam "doctor" did not recommend any testing. How can you DX a cardiac condition with no testing? This is the VA in spades. Do as little as possible and do it cheaply. I went to a private cardiologist since I have never seen a cardiologist at the VA.

I think you will get connected for PTSD as well. Then you need to go to work on getting your percentage increased. You can do this via treatment records and records of worsening condition. For instance, if you can't keep a job due to PTSD that would be a big factor in getting substantial rating.