navyguy09

Every reduction proposal comes with a letter that says if you don't agree with the adverse action you have the right to personal hearing if requested within 30 days of the date of the proposal to reduce. The law says the VA cant reduce your rating until you have the personal hearing which at this point its taking the VA about 6 months to actually get the hearing. Thus the benefit in filing a new claim for increase a few days after you request the personal hearing is that you will get new exams long before they get to a hearing and thereby have strong new evidence against the reduction for the hearing or they'll cancel out the proposed reduction completely and just decide the new claim(which is happening in my case).
The best way to request the personal hearing is in writing. Use the IRIS system the day you get the letter or fax it to the centralized mail system. If you live far from the regional office you can request a video hearing.