green

congrats on your victory. green

Happy you won this fight. green

If you are still working you can apply and get the insurance, you will have to pay until you are no longer working, the insurance is only available for 2 years after a new award. Green

I did a google search and was able to find the diagnosis for mine

http://www.benefits.va.gov/insurance/pdfs/sdvi.pdf For those who received a rating in the last 2 years and don't have VA life insurance.

It went back and forth several times this morning and has been in Preparation for Notification since noon. I know that the time varies for people in terms of closure, since I filed for several secondaries it might take a while. One thing I did notice is that it appeared as though when they worked through the secondary claims the claim date was removed under the Pending Disabilities sub-section under the Disabilities section of eBenefits. Once all the dates were removed it went to "Preparation for Notification" and remained in that status.

My status says Prep for Decision now but the mobile site shows the following.... Preparation for Decision: The Veterans Service Representative has recommended a decision, and is preparing required documents detailing that decision. If more evidence is required, the claim will be sent back in the process for more information or evidence.Phase Completion Date: 10/19/2015Pending Decision Approval: The recommended decision is reviewed, and a final award approval is made. If it is determined that more evidence or information is required, the claim will be sent back in the process for more information or evidence.Phase Completion Date: 10/19/2015

And...... my claim for secondary conditions went to Pending Decision Approval today!

Thanks, interesting the old mobile link is simply rerouted to the main page.

My claim for secondary conditions has been in Preparation for Decision Status for about 6 weeks now. I logged into EBeneifits after a couple weeks of being out of town and the Estimated completion date changed from October 27 - December 26 to "Estimated Completion: At this time, your Regional Office is unable to provide an estimated completion date for this type of claim." As far as I know they have everything they need to decide the claim including all pertinent medical records and the completed C&P exam documentation. I know you can't depend on EBenefits for accurate data but found it strange that the verbiage changed to what it currently reads. I'd like to know what happened to the mobile ebenefits site as well, it provided information not available on the ebenefits regular site, it looks like they simply closed it down and rerouted the url to the standard website. I suppose they feel better with vets having less information and knowing nothing. Green

I contacted the RO this morning asking for a status update and was told my claims are "Secondary Ready for a Decision". I've never heard or seen this as a status on e benefits, does it sound familiar to anyone else? Thanks, Green

Buck52 I haven't had any notes removed from myhealthevet, but I have asked them to amend notes that are clearly in error and they have done so.

Found out this morning that the VA provided the HIPAA violation related doctor office notes and results of tests to the RO rating officials. Very interesting as it has nothing to do with the secondary claims I've filed. The Doctor's office hired an attorney to represent their interests (even though I gave no indication I had planned on seeking legal action at this time). The attorney asked me to provide her names of the people I spoke with at the doctor's office as well as copies of any documents I had proving their error. I find this bizarre as we are not in a legal battle and as such they have no "discovery" rights. I simply responded to the email and suggested she speak with the HR person who told me they had conducted an internal investigation, they were sorry, and admitted they had made the error (twice).

I think we are years away from any change in the pay schedule, there would need to be a study, proposal, suggested change to the compensation section of the statute posted on the Federal Register, comments and concerns received, addressed, changes made, re-posted on the Federal Register, same drill as last time it was posted, meanwhile the House and Senate Committees on Veterans Affairs would get involved, special interest groups, etc. I can't imagine any agreement would be quick and easy given the current dysfunction of our legislators

I agree, that there is no HIPAA violation as access to the data is limited to the VA. However, I think people need to understand that anything you put in writing, using a secure message, becomes part of the notes in your file. And here lies the issue, I'm not sure veterans understand how this works, at least I didn't. So, if you have something you feel is sensitive or embarrassing and you don't want everyone at the VA to know, you may want to discuss the issue face-to-face. I think it is important for us to respect the sensitivity of the veteran rather than suggesting its okay for all VA medical staff to know everything there is to know about their issues. Just my $.02.

I stopped using the secure message feature when I started reading the correspondence in my myhealthyvet notes.

Not only does it go thru someone else, it becomes part of your medical record, you can track the correspondence on healthevet.gov. Any VA staff that have access to your records also has the ability to view your "secure" messages..

bluevet, congrats to you!

Hi Chris, What I think would be helpful is a step by step guide in how the VA should rate and score nerve/loss of use issues for the arms/hands and legs/feet. I think this would be helpful as it seems there are many that suffer from these issues and based on the number of appeals (and related decisions) they are rated differently (or inconsistently) across the VA. It sounds like there are multiple nerves in the feet that are rated individually but when it comes to the arms and hands it seems the CFR suggests (my take - when more than one nerve is involved) the VA should rate based on the impacted radicular group. I think this would be a good opportunity to discuss how and when the bilateral factor is applied. Thank you! Green

No appeal, currently awaiting a decision on 8 secondary claims.

They made some updates to the Ebenefits website over the weekend. The commissary letter is on mine as well (and I'm at 60% too). Green

I don't think any of these drugs eliminate pain, merely mask some of it. Gabapentin definitely works but it makes me dumber than a box of rocks. Tramadol worked to some degree but they took me off of it because they find it to be habit forming despite it not being a narcotic. I'm on Lyrica now but haven't really got it dialed-in yet.

I was wondering if anyone else noticed that over the weekend they took the mobile Ebenefits site down and rerouted the connection to the regular site? Sad as it had more complete information, hopefully this is temporary.

I'm happy for you Navy04

Thank you Berta, that is exactly what I did, made an appointment with an outside ophthalmologist.