Holllie Greene

Did you read what was posted, they basically have until forever to implement Vietnam era veterans and then 2 years later the veterans in between........disgraceful.

AANNNDDD We are all still waiting.............seems the VA has a get out of paying our caregivers till hell freezes over free card.  Maybe we need to get in our wheelchairs, have people haul us up in front of some Federal buildings and be allowed to paint VETERANS CAREGIVERS MATTER?  NAH, that won't work either, not enough money in it.

Not sure, but the last time a VA nurse gave me one, my arm hurt for two months at the injection point. Started to wonder if something was wrong, but it eventually subsided on its own. 

My doctor regularly checks my last tetanus shot. I think the shot lasts for a few years.
I have a farm and used to raise livestock and one must be careful of rusted fences ,nails and stuff like that.
 

The bottom line it is your call, you run the risk of losing VA and SSA benefits. Make sure you talk this over with your spouse.  Right now you not only have an income you have Insurance and a way for your dependents to go to college free of charge.  As many have suggested you could do volunteer work or find a hobby to keep your mind busy/active. The thing about giving these benefits up is you never know if you will have to file for these benefits again, or if these benefit will even be around. If the government decides to end these programs they would have to grandfather the current beneficiaries into some new program.  Now these programs most likely won't be eliminated but it will be a lot harder to start over for benefits to be granted. IMHO (In My Humble Opinion), you really need to talk it over with your family. 
IMHO, I don't think it is worth it. You also run the risk of harming yourself, a patient, your employer, another employee and or even your family.

If (an this is a big IF) this happens, the middle class will be taxed, taxed, and taxed.  Excellent world map above in Bronco vet's post.
My husband (who spent time in the UK can tell you all about the two-tiered health system) was very glad to come home to the US.

Really not sure of what's going on with your claim but I do know that it is illegal for VA to decrease a veteran's claim when the veteran files for an increase and the disability is static. Always keep in mind that VA will try anything and only get away with it, if the veteran doesn't appeal.  As you can see VA tries this a lot. Not sure if a retro is due but your rating should at least be restored.
 
 

"Ladies and gentlemen: the story you are about to hear is true. Only the ratings and dates have been changed to protect the innocent."
Yes, it is very possible, This is just an example: Granted 100% in 2010. In 2012 BVA grants an appeal with a new separate claim effective 2005, retro payment is paid. NOD for increase and local VARO grants it effective 2013, no retro payment due. Files a new NOD and appeal goes back to BVA and BVA grants EED to 2000 with new increased rating.  So that rating will generate a new decision with a retro payment due. So the local VARO thought they could get away with granting the increased claim with absolutely no retro. So you appeal and get a higher retro going back even further.  😀😄😀
 
P.S.  STOP READING MY FILE....

Here's a great story to start Spring. Janet and Donald are my oldest customers. Janet found me here in 2014 before I was accredited. She waited and bided her time waiting for me to get my license to kill. 
https://asknod.org/2020/03/09/bva-r2-you-cant-always-get-what-you-want/
Nothing, I mean nothing, could keep this woman from winning. She also snagged all the goodies on SHA and the auto grant without me. I do hope Cupcake will be that aggressive on my account if I get this ill.

Normally you will not get a reduction but that does not mean they will not try.  When I was appealing TDIU the VA called one of my disabilities service connected in error and another rated incorrectly.  They wanted to sever and reduce my disabilities.  Needless to say they got caught in a blender and wound up not getting their way.  The VA is not your friend and will sometimes do everything in their power to make your life miserable.  They claim to be a non adversarial that is there to help the veteran as best they can, believe that at your peril. 

I Knew I read it somewhere but it is better to let you read this than me telling you and then can't back it up.  VA tried to reduce this veteran's claim while still in appeal status.  It is called a "Mischaracterization of the Issue on Appeal."   See AB v. Brown, 6 Vet.App. 35, 39-40 (1993). There are rules and laws to reduce a rating. 
To hold otherwise would leave the door open for a possible "chilling effect" in the administrative appeal process, whereby veterans might be afraid to seek higher disability evaluations on appeal, for fear of having already awarded benefits reduced by the Board during the appellate process.  See, e.g., 38 C.F.R. § 3.2600(d) (2013) (except in cases of clear and unmistakable error (CUE), a decision review officer "may not revise [an AOJ] decision in a manner that is less advantageous to the claimant than the decision under review").  Such a result would be wholly 2 inconsistent with the non-adversarial claims system.  See Douglas v. Derwinski, 2 Vet.App. 435, 439 (1992) (noting the "basic principle of the VA claims process that claims will be processed and adjudicated in an informal, non-adversarial atmosphere"); see also Comer v. Peake, 552 F.3d 1362, 1369 (Fed. Cir. 2009) ("The VA disability compensation system is not meant to be a trap for the unwary . . .").

🍒🍒🍒🍒  I have verified through ebenefits that my NOD through the legacy system is granted.  It took several years but it shows that the VA granted an EED of ten years minus a month.   

 

Great story of another one of my neighbors. Glad I was able to be his Sherpa.
https://asknod.org/2020/03/06/va-ama-20-0995-you-take-the-long-way-home/

I think I have to agree with Pete here.  I have an NOD that is supposed to take two years for completion.  I am at somewhere around a year and a few months, I try not to dwell on it and look it up.  I think they are punishing the veterans who stayed in the old system.  I have never seen an NOD take this long before.

This all looks great but isn't it just another shell game?  VA lowers the legacy appeals by denying or remanding the appeals giving the claims a date that falls under the VAIM(AMA) or the appeals go to CAVC or the veteran drops his/her appeals. The wait games seems to start all over at the CAVC and under the New Act.  Since my appeal was granted that means I still have to wait.

Looks promising

I saw it. Just wondering if the % of denials went up significantly to reduce the backlog? I guess even that could be  plus;it's a quicker time to start your appeal!!!

Bob was a Naval Radio Intercept Officer at the Consulate when the poop hit the fan in Hue during New Year's '68. He got his first V for Valor that week and learned how to operate a M 79 too. He may be Navy but he's my neighbor and he's a Vietnam Vet. Enough said. I took him on in Spring 2017.
I didn't do it for the money as much as I did it for the mental exercise in  calling b---s--t on the VA examiner. They whacked Bob from 100% for myelosuppressive disorder (MDS), a nasty form of leukemia from Agent Orange, down to 10% for  anemia. He got his bone marrow transplant from his sister but it didn't sync. He went on heavy duty Prograf and the secondaries kicked his a-s. I fought him back to TDIU in 12/2017 and that's when they dug their heels in. I went up to the BVA with a shiny IMO saying DC 7003 leukemia , Note 1 says "other therapeutic procedures"... such as phlebotomies and Prograf. VA countered with a new rating of 100% for DC 7525 for s/p leukemia but no earlier effective date.  We got 7 months of 100% and 26 at SMC S. It was a nice b***hslap to the Bozos who screw us. The $2 K IMO was well worth the investment.
 
Notice Judge Cherry Crawford avoided the precedence of recognizing the definition of "other therapeutic procedures" in favor of finding it was an error of law to reduce when VA had not shown any medical evidence of improvement. I just sat and watched what they did in VBMS and struck back instantly each time before they could even mail it. We had the BVA hearing 9/20/2018. It was advanced on the docket and we had one remand of about 4 months. For BVA, this was almost lightspeed-seventeen months.
Green BVA Grant 2-26-2020 redact.pdf

I agree with Buck52.  Worrying about what the VA will or will not do is very counterproductive.  Wait for paperwork and then let us know what you need.

Do you have a separate rating for 60% or above and are house bound or need constant care and attendance? That's one of the triggers for an SMC. 

In which case, that particular receptionist doesn't have SMC knowledge. Do you have a VSO helping you that could assist in clarifying the SMC breakdown?

Hollie I think you pretty much answered your own question. Like anything else, there are very knowledgeable reps at Peggy, but, as you know, SMC's are fairly complicated. I think the first thing to do is to go to the VA site and try to get the research you think you need. Then, give a try with Peggy. Or, you can post the question here, and one of the elders might know it. For certain, if you message Alex Grahm he would probably have a good answer for you. He's a pretty busy guy, but he's very up on that part of benefits.

Could you be more specific? Just saying you think they don't doesn't get any of us any closer to helping you. The phone people at Peggy aren't there to answer specifics about your conditions in your claim and don't have access to the specifics. What do you want to know?

Shrek....I never considered that....the part where my appeal gets certified and then goes AMA.  But the new process has three lanes and the Veteran chooses one of those.  Pretty sure I'll remain Legacy.  The numbers on va.gov sort of jive with the Boards Metrics page.  I appreciate your input and I will do a bit more digging on the higher denial rate in order to clear out backlog.

Indy_CV62_OS you are very close on everything you put on here for the legacy appeal.  As for the back log the new appeals lanes are supposed to be dealing with those, but from what I can see if they are getting done faster, but at a much higher denial rate.  
so one piece I have see is they are cramming through legacy appeals to get them done and move to the new system.
Currently, the Board is generally distributing cases to Veterans Law Judges (VLJs) for adjudication with docket dates up to April 2017.
So last year when my case went to the BVA I was march of 2014 the backlog is moving much faster and you can't go by that back log number on VA.gov.  
Also once you get certified they may just move you to the new system anyway.  Just gotta wait and see.