GBArmy

Semperguy Welcome to Hadit You have done what a lot of veterans do; watch and wait and read. Then read some more. As for the effective date, EED, you get when it is found or when you have filed, which ever is later, so if your evidence shows that you had Tinnitus before you filed then you should be entitled to your date of submittal, in you case date you filed your ITF. You can submit an appeal via Higher Level review for that. The VA often does that and the veteran often lets it slide and doesn't appeal. On your OSA as deferred, the VA is going to an expert (another doc) to get an opinion on it. They may try to say it is part of your MH/PTSD award. You'll have to wait on the decision letter to find out on that one. You could call Peggy, 800-827-1000 and ask the rep if he can tell you anything at all about where it is. Most likely you won't get any reliable answer. If you have a VSO, they may be able to see if their are any hints in your c-file, that takes a little time to research. One more thing, you could consider applying for TDIU if your part time work isn't meeting the financial limitations of regular employment. But if you are doing well at it, I would think it would be a hard sell unless you can prove you can only work so many hours in a week. You best bet is to work on increasing your disability ratings if you can if you have "many". You must know what your increases must be to get to a combined 95%, therefore 100% rounded. Use a disability calculator. Look up the criteria for those disabilities and see if your symptoms have gotten worse. Do not submit if they don't meet the criteria. Know what the minimum symptoms are to get ratings per their diagnostic codes.

I have mine with a state VSO (really it is a county). She is great, very responsive and knows what she knows. On top of that she is my friend. No problem personally. VA.gov has personal info page and it list her state organization (not her personally) as my VSO. I wonder if you can't send a letter to the VSO you want to drop and send it with a copy to your RO for them to update? I expect one of the reasons they don't want veterans to leave them is they must get some kind of compensation from the VA based on the number of clients that they have. Just a numbers game. I've said this before, it isn't about what organization you chose, it's which individual VSO is working you claim. Veterans have to do their scouting around and get the right one.

Buck52 Hang in there brother. You got to do this. We're praying for you.

I agree with most of you, but the President didn't ask me for my opinion either.Th enew Secretary may be a mover and shaker and maybe he can get things accomplished in working on capital hill. But if he does it by compromise all the time, he probably is going to be leaving important things on the table. The reason I say this is because he isn't a veteran. He just isn't going to think like a veteran does because he wasn't one. And, to compound the problem, he won't be able to advise the President because he doesn't know what he doesn't know. I'm willing to give him a chance, but it's a short leash he is on before we know if he is taking the right kind of advice or it is the same old same old same old.

Automan2100 You are 100% P&T. Are you going to submit claims that will get you to SMC (s) or why are you doing it at this point. If you won't get the bump to SMC(s) based on the severity of your symptoms, IMHO I would wait the two years. You'd be basically filing for no monetary gain right?

Oliver hypothyroidism is usually based on the residuals after you are treated for cancer. Check out diagnostic codes 7800 and 7901. Hope you get eed back to 2014; even if rated at 10%, that would be a nice backpay payment.

Dude74 Yes, it was fast. It can be especially on MH claims. Be sure to seek treatment and if you aren't P&T and decide to continue outside of the VA, be sure you obtain records on your ongoing treatment. Can come very handy if you try to increase or go for P&T in the future. This advice holds for anyone who continues care outside the VA for any of their disabilities. If you submit your records as you go, it is even better as you won't have to do it later on. Great work by you Dude74!

DanielB Call back and ask Peggy what is your combined disability rating is and what is your new disability payment. What is it, how many dependents do you have? If you don't have a previous combined rating, see what the ratings are for 10% and 20% with the correct number of dependents. For example 10% with no additional dependents is $144.14 and for 20% it is$284.93 a month.Dependents kick in at combined 30% and higher. I assume you have not gotten your back pay deposit yet; it should show up about 2 weeks after the date of your decision letter. You can back into the number that way also. If the bilateral applies it won't effect your rating if you only have 10 or 20%. If you already have an existing combined rating, it could. You should get your decision letter soon also and the info will be in there

SPO I don't know if it would be connected to Gulf War, or maybe a better s-c would be neurological link to a MH condition. If you don't have a MH disability, you might want to explore that. Your rated at 90%; where exactly do you fall? What would a 30% rating do for you and would it be likely do to your current conditions. It's a tough climb after you get to 90% combined, as you know, but if you are really 92 or higher, it might be doable. Gulf War syndrome is 80% denial rate; IMHO don't go there unless there is nothing else to do and then you need a killer nexus letter/dbq.

Marathonjon Thank you for posting that info; very informative. I would suggest that it would be great if you right a letter to the chairman of the Veterans Committee (Tester?) and high light what it means to you on this change from a personal basis. Call the VA out for its financial impact to you and your family. At the very lease, it is unethical to make a back door increase on a rating and not notifying the veteran. I mean how hard is it to do a internal search for the active veterans with with diagnostic code "X"? But, we all know, the VA is non-adversarial. Not paying veterans for disability rating increases doesn't adversely affect veterans, right???

Bayshore I'm not sure what the basis is for your question. You have tagged onto a posting 4 years old. In the future, start a brand new question/post. Examiners are not making any final decisions on your claim; they are assembling facts to present to the rater. They can't tell you what the decision is regarding if you are approved or what rate you will get. I've had them tell me if the facts as presented/discovered are service-connected or not. If they say yes, then getting a copy of their completed DBQ would give you a very strong idea where your rating should be if the rater

glashutte You just said it best yourself "It seems like it is case specific." Bingo! That is what disability claims are all about. Everyone is an individual, and has a different set of circumstances. What works for one veteran doesn't necessarily work for another. They can be good examples to start with, but every one is different. Income, family situation, pain, age, other illnesses and disabilities, etc. etc. I wish everyone would try to understand that fact. We hear that someone will say "he gets 100% disability and I only got 10%, or whatever." Most of the time we have absolutely no idea what is wrong with that veteran. It's the same thing filing a claim. It's your claim; consider all the facts, not just based on what someone else did. Good luck in whatever decision you make.

glashutte If you're comfortable where you're at, let the giant sleep. If you will not die from a disease or disability that you are thinking of claiming, going after it and not getting any $ for it doesn't work for a lot of people. If you can't get any SMC's, if you're ok with it, let it ride. I'm at 80% and have two additional disabilities I believe I can win, but my symptoms right now would be rated at 0%. So just for laughs, I'm working on them just in case something changes. Since I'm not P&T although meet some of the other criteria for being left alone on future exams, I'm ok with not submitting. Neither disability will ever be something I will die from (I don't think), so why wake up the giant, as you say. Very little reward, but risk exposure to rescheduled C&P's on my existing disabilities. To me, just not worth it. Others, well they enjoy the tussle.

Good advice from Shrek and Broncovet; usually is. My understanding is the VA Heath Care we know today was founded on the principal of being close to an existing civilian medical hospital and draw from their expertise as well as being a "teaching hospital" where residents get experience witnessing the specialist work. I've had 5 surgeries at the VA; I always look up the background of the surgeon who is the lead and now days we always get a consult with them before surgery. It is up to the veteran to ask the right questions, like "Doc, are you the one who is going to do the cutting?" If you don't like the answer, try another approach like Shrek recommends.

My guess is right about the time of the 2028 Olympics, give or take. Who knows, you appeal and get a docket #. Th ecovid19 is still going on and adding to the backlog every hour. It would be impossible to predict.

x020574 The VA has their procedures but also must abide by state requirements as well. How vaccines are given out differs throughout the country. The first hing you do is contact your doc, PCP, say you have such and such and need it even though you aren't 75. If that doesn't work, call and find out who you can talk to at the VAHC giving the shots. If that doesn't work, call your Congressman's office and explain. Squeeky wheel. If you are a caregiver also, that works also.

DSIG We realize you are very anxious about the upcoming exam,; it is only natural. But it is what it is, you have to participate with the system that is the VA. If your previous records, including your recent evaluations are in your records, you should be good to go. Your previous evals are in there as how else could they have established your rating without evaluating all the evidence? The examiner is NOT going to read a bunch of stuff you bring, believe me. If you have some really critical evidence that is already in your file then you can bring it with you and confirm that they have read it. In fact, some of the contractors notice of examinations letters that are sent to veterans now will say NOT to bring new evidence. You have to submit additional evidence before the exam so the examiner can review it prior to your visit. If you have NEW evidence, and you feel it is really new, not duplicate evidence, download it. Be aware that it may result in an additional C&P exam if it is indeed new, and most assuredly will delay your decision. If you have your evidence in the file you have to trust the process. If it doesn't work, you can appeal. It is what we all go thru. I hope this explanation helps.

DSIG Sounds like you made the right choice on doing what you did. Just one more piece of advice if I may. I don't know how much data you are planning on bringing, but your records are SUPPOSED to be in your file and they are SUPPOSED to read them in preparation of your C&P. If there is some that are particularly important as evidence, ID them somehow so you can point them out if they don't have the record themselves. You could do something like "Doc I had such and such happen recently and we discussed it with my counselsor/doc. Did you happen to see that?" If the answer is no, you can leave a copy with the examiner. Copy, mind you, never leave any original anything with the VA. They aren't going to read 200 pages of evidence, but may take some if you point it out. It is not usual for the examiners not to review a lot of evidence you leave; they may say they will, but human nature is they don't have the time. At the end of the exam, if you think it went well, you could say you have very high anxiety or whatever. Does the xaminer think your exam showed a change in my symptoms for the worse or stayed the same. You may get a confirmation. Their exam dbq/comments are 90% of the basis of the final decision

Hamslice So let me get this straight. They gave you an additional disability for your left foot but at no increase? You didn't get an additional 10%, or 10% + 2%. This really is confusing! I get it if either foot gets worse you're covered, and whatever secondarie like back or hip or something, but no additional bump. Wow.

Broken, Chill, brother. I wasn't looking for someone to calculate the rating. I was commenting on an apparent inconsistency regarding the term Bilateral. Just looking for comments, that's all.

DSIG Sounds like you made the right choice on doing what you did. Just one more piece of advice if I may. I don't know how much data you are planning on bringing, but your records are SUPPOSED to be in your file and they are SUPPOSED to read them in preparation of your C&P. If there is some that are particularly important as evidence, ID them somehow so you can point them out if they don't have the record themselves. You could do something like "Doc I had such and such happen recently and we discussed it with my counselsor/doc. Did you happen to see that?" If the answer is no, you can leave a copy with the examiner. Copy, mind you, never leave any original anything with the VA. They aren't going to read 200 pages of evidence, but may take some if you point it out. It is not usual for the examiners not to review a lot of evidence you leave; they may say they will, but human nature is they don't have the time. At the end of the exam, if you think it went well, you could say you have very high anxiety or whatever. Does the xaminer think your exam showed a change in my symptoms for the worse or stayed the same. You may get a confirmation. Their exam dbq/comments are 90% of the basis of the final decision

In simple terms, bilateral disabilities would be having an additional "bonus" from the VA to help compensate the fact that having a disability on one side of your body, say left knee, is more of a handicap if you should have a corresponding disability on the other lower extremity, than rating them completely separate. So 10% for left knee, 10% for right knee, plus an additional 10% (10+19=19 x 10%=1.9 Add the 1.9 to the 19 and the bilateral number for your knees is 21%. It helps a lot when you climb the disability claim ladder. (I believe this is correct without using a calculator that does bilateral.) Here's where it gets a little wonky. I have s-c bilateral hearing loss by the VA and it is rated at 10%. What? If it is BILATERAL and I have hearing loss in both ears, why is it not 21% instead of 10%? Either the VA is using a different definition when talking about hearing loss, or my disability is miscalculated. Any comments welcome.

DSIG You would not be wrong if you did. If you chose to do so, I would suggest you call the number you have for LHI and ask to speak to the manager/director. Tell him/her what you have found out and emphasize how concerned you are that the guy in question not only is of questionable credentials but not qualified to give you a fair and objective eval based on all the supportive info you have in your file. You shouldn't be threatening, but you want assurances that his replacement examiner will be qualified and have all your evidence in your file available prior to your new rescheduled exam. You are establishing a dialog with the director that behind the scenes he is going to makes sure you get a fair and therefore favorable exam. If LHI didn't throughly vet that examiner, they don't want to call attention to that fact with the VA. So, I'm thinking you willget a fair exam IMHO.

What is your disabilities? Are you 100% P&T? What others do you have? When did you receive your rating(s). Have you explored SMC's?

Hucast21 ... but start a new thread. Don't want to hijack someone else's post.