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VSO rep will be a lawyer. If you have not spoken w/him or her, call your VSO rep and talk about this.

They did this time me. Call 800-827-1000 and ask for copies. If you say they didnt send it, they will tell you they did. But face it, they didnt. If you dont get it in a week, call again, ad infinitum. Did you get paid? Should have.

Last month it came in.

Hello Hollie, I think that you are worrying a lot about this issue. You have been P&T for over 10 years, and have MS to boot. This means that the VA has to jump through some serious hoops to remove you from 100% P&T. Absent any fraud on your part, they probably will not be able to do it. The P&T means you should not have to be re-evaluated. If they ask to do so, call up and explain that MS is permanent in nature and it does not need to be re-evaluated. You should be safe for applying for increase. You may qualify for SMC and housebound benefits. From the M21 VA Handbook: M21-1MR, Part III, Subpart iv, Chapter 8, Section C 9. Protected Service Connection Under 38 CFR 3.957 a. Protection Under 38 CFR 3.957 Under 38 CFR 3.957, if service connection for disability or cause of death has been in effect ten or more years, propose severance only if · the original grant was based on fraud, or · it is clearly shown that the person concerned did not have the requisite service or character of discharge. advice from nolo.com : In certain cases, the VA will not ask you to come for a reexamination, and if they do, it may be an error on their part. If you are part of one of the groups listed below and you get a letter asking you to show up for the reexamination, call the phone number on the letter you receive to explain why you think you should not have to go. VA normally does not schedule reexaminations for veterans: over age 55 with static disabilities, such as loss of a limb with a disability resulting from disease that is of a permanent nature who have been assigned the minimum rating for their disability who have a combined disability rating, and the individual ratings that were combined are so high that even if one or two of these ratings were reduced, the combined disability rating would remain the same. If you are not subject to reexamination, your disability rating cannot be reduced.

I usually wait when this happens. Seems like end of week and end of month the systems all get jammed for a day or three. Data base cannot be accessed maybe, because they are using a batch system to update everything in it. Its like a funnel, you can only pour so much at a time into the funnel or it will overflow, so goes computers, databases and VA software. All my data came up today, they are done.

Experience is a strict taskmaster It gives the test before the lesson you should not fear the test but wait until that "ah-ha" moment when you understand the task

Playing devils advocate here. When you got the meds, did they came with warnings telling you that you should not operate motor vehicles(?). Then if you did, that could be considered willful misconduct. Pain Meds, muscle relaxants and anti anxiety drugs make a powerful cocktail combination that could impair your ability to drive... If you file a claim for this, be aware that you must admit to this. Talk to an experience Atty who deals w/VA, see what his feedback is. You might want to word your claim a specific way to protect yourself from something like this. If the burden of proof lands in your lap, it may not be possible to prove. You also dont have the blood work to show that you were taking these med's as prescribed, if at all, when the accident occurred. Lots of times people abuse some of these. I am not accusing, but be aware that if you get the wrong RO, this is one hurdle that you might have to hop to get a claim like this approved.

http://www.militarydisabilitymadeeasy.com/search.php I left this link out. This place does a great job helping ID symptoms and ratings for all the conditions the VA defined. Being happy is good. You dont want to rest on your laurels with this though. The VA history screams loudly that they will and do take advantage of us often by lowballing and ignoring claims. If you have children or a spouse, it can make a huge difference. Benefits for dependents usually kick in over 100%, and if/when they determine your conditions to be permanent, then they will provide health care as well. 100% P&T does not mean you can not hold a job unless they give you individual unemployable at a lower rating that boosts you to 100%. With the P&T you r spouse is also eligible for CH 35 benefits. This sends her to college for free, your kids too... IF you do settle with this, its ok. I waited 35 years before my spine became a jigsaw puzzle before I went back. You have 1 year free run without the hassle after discharge because it is assumed to be SC automatically. If it is a condition that is SC at 0%, its much easier to get an increase in than prove SC in 20-30 years.

Great job getting all of it in before your got out. Now, the part that fixes the errors. The ones you got that are at 0% you noted. The basic rule is that if it causes pain, they are supposed to give you the minimum rating, which is the lowest (paid) percentage in the books. This could give you a 10% for each one. The pain should be noted in your medical file. The next thing, go here. Look at see what the rating is that you were awarded. Then look at the next higher rating and compare it to your symptoms. If the symptoms resemble closer to the next higher rating, appeal that. Do this for all of your conditions. Last, but not least, check the claim. A lot of the time you will put in multiple claims, and they just sort of forget that one or two or three are there, and they dont rule on them. Its nice to think that they will, but I am not a betting man...and a lot of vets get screwed out of the rating because they dont appeal it. If you put in a claim, they must give you an answer. Sit down with your VSO, go over the claim you put in, and insure that the VBA gave you a response for every issue you raised. When you file an appeal they will do a De Novo review of your claim and if you document the errors they made, they will correct them and the appeal for that issue will be dropped. A senior examiner can fix the error in the review. The alternative is that you take what you got and run with it, no matter if the RO made an error or not. As it is, it appears that you are at about 86-87% that rounds up to 90%. It would take some doing to get over 95% (that rounds up to 100%) but if you do that, it will be a huge jump in your disability benefits.

Adding a new exam into the mix after your C&P exam is what you are talking about. This will kick the claim out of the FDC program, if it is in the FDC still. I would guess that if it directly relates to the VA Claim, then if there is a negative balance against the claim it might tilt it your way. Gotta say IF because we dont know the VES results. If its already in your favor, it will just slow it down. If not, it could add another 30-60 days or more to process. Its a judgement call you have to make. If they have a negative C&P it could go into appeals that would add years, so just out of safety, I would send it in.

One of the worst parts about the QTC/VES exams is that you have to file a FOIA to get it. They can take a long time and burn up your year to appeal this way. To get a C File takes WAY to long and shouldnt because its all on a computer now. They can stop the game and do the right thing but they wont.

Call 800-827-1000 (Peggy). Get them to initiate a reconsideration based on the information that was contained in the record when they processed your claim. You can get a reconsideration. Its in the law now, so its legit. Fill out a VBA-21-4138-ARE form. Detail the exact nature of the dispute, include references to all info that the rating official had when they processed your claim. If there is new information that supports that information, include it as attachment and upload it all into EBenefits. It took mine 4 months. My case was dealing with lumbar spine and neuropathy of both legs. They low-balled my left leg. I documented references to the severity of the condition, and noted that according to the USC and CFR, that my leg should be rated 40% and not 10%. They gave me the 40%. Notice that you have 12 months to appeal. Don't wait to long if you want to appeal because if they dont process this fast enough, it will eat away that year so stay alert.

Are you talking about a VA claim for benefits or SSA?

When you were out-processing they gave you lecture about VA disability. I dont remember mine, it was in 84. That's when they SHOULD have totally educated you about filing claims for whatever malady you had. They dont back date claims. The condition you have probably was compensable, but until you filed a claim, you are not entitled. Its like a drivers license. If you wait to get one till you are 30, it will not erase any driving w/o a license charges that you got stuck with. I never heard of a lawyer getting claims backdated when no previous claim existed. If it were possible, my back condition was well documented in 84 when I was discharged, so if it were possible, I would have done it without a question. Like you, I didnt consider myself disabled, and the lousy job they did back then left me clueless until I did my own research in 2014.

What dates does it say it will be completed? Thats the one to watch, its only right sometimes. This is the whole of the service that EBenfits provide!