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shipswriter

Seaman
  • Posts

    20
  • Joined

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About shipswriter

Profile Information

  • Location
    MI
  • Interests
    All military veteran issues. Enjoy interacting with other veterans when I visit my VAMC.

Previous Fields

  • Service Connected Disability
    60%
  • Branch of Service
    Navy
  • Hobby
    military history, poetry, avid reader

shipswriter's Achievements

  1. get rid of sleep VA doc and see outside pulmonary specialist if you can...if data download from smart card shows you are getting worse with continuing compliance with CPAP you are hurting yourself..
  2. If ebenefits profile showing that I am 'receiving' my full benefit SC comp on ebenefits but I AM NOT getting anything at all in terms of payments even though they have all my bank info and nothing has changed that way, and I have not for over 2 mos, gotten any 'payments' how do I convince VA to either pay me my benefit or not and let Ebenefits display the reality; otherwise, where is that money going? my VSO won't help, so as usual I am on my own. just take this off the forum -to va I'm not much better than a GOMER (get outa my ER) - uREMEMBER the movie, was it Article 91...Starring KSunderlandI don't exist
  3. Yes 71...I had three separate periods of active duty, participation in SELRES sandwiched between the first and second tours (3 mos reserves); second and third tours (roughly one year reserves).
  4. by the way I did have a lot of posterior lower neck pain in my second enlistment but never complained about it so there is nothing in my SMR about it...I think it was from a pinched nerve in my neck which waxed and waned.
  5. wow you may have hit upon something 71M10...the bit about someone else records being in my file which did happen and I caught it not my service officer, but I watched him take it out of my C-file right in front of me...a Vietnam veteran (I entered active duty in 1976) with similar name to mine filed a claim and DAV used my SSN in error to file his claim and it became merged with my claim and the VA still has it in my electronic file...I loudly protested the error and had letters done by myself and DAV who admitted the error, but to this day the file shows up in my ebenefits profile...I wonder if that is why the VA can create medical history out of 'thin air' and use it as a reason to deny my claim...the sleep apnea denial as you said could simply be related to the other guy who was me for a little while, or was I him for a little while?... and his ghost still follows me.
  6. not sure what the govt is up to, but if you can get a good Medicare Advantage Plan you will be happier with the health care anyway because as in my case I feel like for the first time there is hope that I can and will get better health-wise as already feel significant improvement in just under the two months since I started using Medicare with supplement even with a severe 50% sinus condition...well-informed care while dealing with complicated problems I found to be rare within the VA healthcare system.
  7. thanks for your interest...I still do not know how they came up with that one...my only sleep problem prior to enlisting in the Navy in 1976 was often trying to sleep in English Lit class in high school, but I didn't think anyone cared that I was soothed into somnolence by the writings of Shakespeare.
  8. I filed for sleep apnea secondary to sinusitis for which I am service-connected. Interestingly they denied my claim because they said I had sleep apnea when I entered the military which is of course makes no sense because no doctor ever told me that I had sleep apnea until 2006 when I had my first sleep study. The sinusitis started in earnest in the 6th year of my 15-year military career and I dealt with it as best I could, not getting much help with it until several years after separation and finally having surgery 7 years after separation. As an aside, it is obvious that you have chronic bronchitis secondary to SC-sinusitis, because people with advanced sinus disease inevitably deal with chronic bronchitis on a regular basis which was noted on my first C&P exam by the doctor (but they rate me 0% non-compensable for bronchitis even though my most recent PFT shows a number which should trigger 10% rating). Antibiotic prescriptions are given for bronchitis (if you go to urgent care) but many doctors especially at the VA hardly ever give you antibiotics for sinusitis. Seeing a patient with accompanying bronchitis too makes them a little more responsive.
  9. To correct my comment about SSD and SSI, in para 2, instead of ...who have enjoyed full employment to qualify in the 5 years before application; should read this in place of: ...who have not enjoyed employment to the extent needed in the preceding 5 years
  10. SSD may not be 'income based' but the amount you receive once approved is based on a formula computing work income for the past 5 years...when you apply for SSD, it is a fact that claim is coupled with SSI because if they determine not enough work credits exist in the past 5 years then your claim for SSD is replaced by SSI. SSI does not give you Social Security benefits like SSD or retirement at 62. SSI is essentially a welfare program for people who have enjoyed full employment to qualify in the 5 years before application; states participate in the administration of the program; each state has their own table to determine the supplement amount that is added to SSI, for instance, $50 supplement every 3 months. The monetary difference between SSD and SSI is significant. For instance, if a veteran wins his SSD case, a monthly award will be determined by SSA and say he gets $1400.00 monthly as benefit amount. If that same veteran had trouble getting work or only had part-time work that did not equate to the credits needed in the preceding 5 years to application, then if single or married he would get much less compared to SSD. In many cases the difference being approved for SSI is almost half of what that same person would have gotten for disability benefits under SSD. Chances are SSI recepients are also Medicaid recepients which means in Michigan you can't have more than $2500 in countable assets at anytime. What I just related is based on personal experience with SSD and SSI, but may be misconstrued if you try to apply my story to your circumstance. I believe that every person engaged in an application for SSD or SSI is better off starting with a good Social Security disability attorney from beginning to end. If you are careful to get the best attorney who is local to your area to accept your case then you have done well.
  11. I have been through the SSD and finally got it, but not before losing a few dozen retro 'thousands' when the first case tanked at the ALJ level. I happened to get a judge who was so devastatingly unpopular due to his 60-something percental 'disapproval' rating for SSD claimants, apparently no lawyer around town would take the case on my behalf; so I ended up going to one of the terrible 'drive-through' national firms who hardly know your name let alone your medical disabilities. Beware of any social security lawyer advertising that says things like 'will fight for you' - I talked personally to one of those 'TV lawyers' and he said emphatically "I only take cases I know I will win." I guess it is easy to fight in that case. You do your research and ask yourself those honest questions which you have to find for yourself, I can't tell you what they are. You will get there but please be BRUTALLY HONEST about your symptoms and how they affect your daily life and activities of daily living.
  12. C&P exams are generally intimidating from my experience; the doctors that have C&p 'POWER' know it and it can go to their head; that said, one of the doctors who examined me was professional as could be and I liked her 'bedside manner' which equates to 'listening with respect' (for the patient). \ For another C&p exam, the doctor and I were small talking on the way to the exam room; he told me in a harsh manner 'you are going to stay at 60%' - in other words his demeanor was like this: 'I have already decided, so don't get your hopes up.' Sure enough with a volley of omissions and quick judgment he crushed my claim and the VARO endorsed everything he wrote like it was gospel which obviously it was far from it, as he did a 'quick and dirty' job of it.
  13. the piling up of claims and files reminds me of what happens when the DAV has a convention...the convention itself not that long but for a week or two after the convention ends still no DAV reps are in the office, and anything you sent to them in the meantime has not found its way out of the bottom of the heap...I wonder if some 'rogue' VA personnel are still slugging it out at the office processing claims despite the shutdown, or are they just all gonna abandon ship with the rats?
  14. my DRO hearing went well...they do record the proceedings...the DRO was okay by me and seemed to follow my logic well...since no decision is made right away there was no indication whatsoever of what the decision might be...the purpose seems to just draw an outline of the story, your story, and bring important links together into a coherent picture of your claim, with just a few short questions asked by the DRO...my POA stressed beforehand not to bring up other claim aspects other than the ones at-hand...the POA who was DAV rep knew how to steer the hearing in the right direction but I thought more research on his part concerning the existing content of my C-file IRT my two NOD would have made me more confident, but again, everything boils down to the veteran and his ability to understand what is claim is from not only a historical perspective but a treatment perspective, not worrying at that time about the CFR.
  15. http://www.va.gov/opa/appropriations_lapse_plan.asp This link will help in some ways to explain 'what the deal is' from the Department of Veterans Affairs perspective, if we indeed have even a partial shutdown. Obviously we are all hoping that power players on the Hill will find a way to get business done before major adverse effects follow putting us in a crisis management mode to put it lightly.
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