GBArmy

Rexlan I think you would be better off if you did your own research on that; you may find benefits you weren't aware of. Search success stories under forum. Also just do a general search ""VA benefits for TDIU. Then if you can't find an answer, we can address. You learn more if you do the digging rather than someone handing you a limited answer.

Just an additional comment on an ACE exam. I had an exam postponed at at LHI because of the caronavirus. So they have a portal you can check to see if you were rescheduled, etc. I checked yesterday and sure enough, I am scheduled for next Friday. In Indianapolis! That's like 1000 miles or something! So I call their "Peggy" and get a rep and ask him if I get mileage for this or what? He looks it up and says, oh, that's an ACE exam. You don't have to go there. I suggested they might want to modify their web page for ACE exams. Thought it was funny. He did say that I would not likely have to do anything, like receive a phone call. But I think he realized he isn't supposed to say that because later he retracted it. I never received a call on my only other ACE exam 1 1/2 years ago. I believe they can call if their is something minor missing in your record, but the very nature of an ACE is ALL the evidence is supposed to already available to the examiner to make a decision.

63 Charlie I don't know what forms you need to do, but I would be looking for some other legal representation. That is exactly what his function is; to figure out legal hurdles. You might not get another legal group to pick up the slack, but I would be ripped.

Bronc's advise is best: wait for the results in your letter. You don't say what you are rated at currently. If you were below 70%, you should also be considered for TDIU. Something to think about if you can no longer work. But, the examiner's comments do sound favorable. Good luck.

MarkP Yes. You can submit a supplemental claim for your 0% rating on hypertension. If the award was within 1 year, it is what you should do to keep your date going. If not, you can always file but your EED will be the date of the appeal.

VietNamEraVet19 Sorry to say, no, there has been no movement. The last they said was they are waiting for a morbidity report (data) and it will not be available until late this year. But hay, you got to cut them some slack It takes a long time to figure this stuff out. Maybe 50 years,I'm guessing.

I heard it on a news podcast this morning. I believe they think it is a very good tool and expect they can move 250 cases a week thru it. I'm all for options; if you don't want to used it you don't have to. But for those veterans who have travel issues, it's worth considering.

Easy E I agree with Bronc; you submitted and were denied, you went to HLR and was denied. So you options are an additional supplemental claim with NEW evidence, or, BVA. On a secondary disability it is very important to have a good IMO from a doc, especially if you can get one in the required area of specialty. Being objective, how solid was your doc's rationale and decision letter? Did he/she state medical data/evidence of studies showing the connection between OSA and PTSD? Did he opine at a minimum that your disability was "at least as likely as not" caused by the PTSD? The VA tries very hard to deny SA because it can be rated at 50%. If you have weighed the facts and are convinced you have a strong case, go BVA. Otherwise, get more relevant facts/evidence and submit a supplemental claim within a year IMHO.

Doger I had the exact same thing happen to me recently. Like yours, he was sympathetic towards veterans and it was genuine. At the end he said he was going to give a favorable decision, but reminded me that it is a recommendation only, and the rater of course has final word, including what the final rating would be. I was pretty surprised too, but again, I believe him. If they ever get my claims completed, I'l know what the results are. If you're interested, you can request a copy of the exam (not to be confused with getting your c-file.) Take a while though. Mine was done at LHI.

Vync You are one smart Dude. How long have you been at this, really?

Yup, I know were you were coming from. I was just looking at it from a broader angle. One thing for sure; no matter what the VA does, we have to keep on trying. As I say, You don't lose until you quit trying. W don't want to quit, and we don't want others to quit either.

Vync if you dig a little deeper, I can think of a couple of times, just recently, where the VA has made a reduction. They have just over the last 3 months "reduced" the probability of a veteran receiving disability benefits. Namely, they have just made it considerably harder to get a doctor to provide a nexus and explain the severity of our conditions for rating purposes. No more access to DBQ's! That is a big set back. What are the percentages, does anyone know, of the number of veterans submitting an appeal after receiving a denial on their initial claim. I don't know what it is, but it amounts to a lot. They just give up and don't try. Does anybody expect the number of denials to decrease now that the VA has made it harder for doctors to submit opinions? The second, goes along with this; the VA just eliminated the 48 hour "review" window by VSO's. Does anyone think that the number of veterans getting a denial on a claim will decrease because of that action? Many VSO's aren't very helpful, but some are. I asked my VSO a couple of weeks back what she thought and she wasn't pleased. She said that just the week before the announcement she caught 3 separate decisions that were wrong that went back for rework. Point is, the VA took away 2 tools that made it easier for a veteran to receive a proper decision. Those are reductions in my eyes.

Is this a current article in Stars and Stripes, or is it re-surfacing some how? It sure gets your motor running!

Lunchbox 111 More than likely, you will be contacted for a C&P. It can be a while; the VA isn't doing any physical C&P's right now, and the video exams are going to be selective based on what is required. "No longer required" is an internal comment that doesn't relate to anything of importance to you. VA.gov is notorious for being inaccurate, outdated info, and/or just wrong. Hang tight; they will call to set up your exam.

I believe Broken is correct: it isn't a new thing. The VA has the option of skipping the C&P under certain situations, I had one 1 1/2 years ago for a suppl. exam. It is a small sample, because I only had the experience of one ACE exam, but I wasn't impressed. They missed the critical evidence just like the did on the original denial. Just rubber stamped it. For me, it was a waste of time.

Mark, nice success story. Your comment about asking for an audit on your prescription payouts is a good one; veterans forget about it. If you are awarded a disability that you had been previously been paying prescriptions for, they will go back and give you a refund. Same situation if you were below 50% and with a new award get to 50% combined or better. Like you said, it really is your money. They are supposed to do it automatically, but, you know, maybe it doesn't happen.As for the life insurance, there has been some recent comments on that whether or not you can be employed; I hope which ever of the experts is who did the research jumps back in here on that. In any case, congrats on your results. You have some experience dealing with these issues and we hope that you will be back soon and often. Take care.

1454th Solider It's happen to me recently as well; not to worry. The people working on you claim put in "request' to get an action worked on. Say, for example, an action to request a contractor to schedule a C&P. When that action is accomplished, they consider the request completed. It means absolutely nothing to us in terms of affecting our EED or decision date, and a request number isn't neccessariiy going to be completed in order either. And, on top of all that, what Bronc said is true; it just isn't accurate.

Hucast21 was spot on; you probably would have been denied just on the nexus not supporting.

SPO If your own doc is now hesitant to write the nexus, a red flag just went up. Do you know why? Is it because he doesn't want to spent the time and effort to do it, he wants to get compensated to do it, or, he doesn't think there is a strong enough link for him to say it is his opinion? Your medical opinion on nexus isn't acceptable. It is almost always necessary to have a medical doc IMO when going after a secondary, IMHO.

WBrennan I just saw your original post..."requesting a 10% rating..." I hope you are just describing what you are looking to get but that isn't the original wording on your appeal. We never request a specific rating; that's the VA rater's job, anyway. But you could be limiting what you get for a favorable decision buy asking for a number which could actually be less than what you would be entitled to. Think of it is lowballing yourself.

At the BVA telecast yesterday they said that one of the ways the VBA will be handling the backlog when they can't get a physical C&P exam is to complete partial ratings and leave just some of the claim open. That way they can get benefit payment out to veterans rather than holding them all up. It will be interesting to see how they implement this temporary fix, and how often. Make a lot of sense, so therefore I have my doubts. VA=logic??? Not!!!

Ozzymzn81 Welcome to Hadit; hope you are successful in your climb up the VA mountain. Good to see you realize the more research you do, the better your chances. When submitting an initial claim is doesn't hurt to include maybe one or two BVA findings on cases that are similar to yours. But without seeing your details OR the case you refer to, I would suggest the key word here is "similar". Unless the BVA finding was precedent setting, meaning it is basically a new law, the RO does not have to follow the decision. Their rational is every case stands on its own and is different. So, short answer is it is ok to include but it won't do much. It is much more important for you to follow the "Caluza Triangle". You have a medical diagnosis of your injury or disability; you have service-connected (s-c) records of the injury while in service, and you have a medical opinion from a doc that says they are connected , the reasons why they are, and his or her opinion on probability based on medical research. In your situation, for example, you can't substitute your doc's IMO with a BVA similar case as the 3d leg. You can use it IN ADDITIOn as support. If you need more assistance, post your redacted decision letter with your personal info removed and we can try to assist further.

Sudden Impact It doesn't quite work that way. I just went with what you provided, which was the daytime sleepiness which is rated at 30%. If you do use a CPAP, and it was prescribed as being a medical necessity by your doctor, that CAN be rated at 50%. I say CAN because they try to lowball that rating. But in any case you don't get 30% AND 50% ratings for the same disability. The VA will rate you at the highest rating the evidence supports. So it is either 10%, 30% or 50%. Again, see http://www.militarydisabilitymadeeasy.com/therespiratorysystem.html#sleep And that would be combined with your existing 10% to get you a new combined rating. Hadit has a disability calculator or use another one.

Not seeing the BVA letter is does appear that if the DRO finds that your persistent daytime sleepiness meets the criteria of diagnostic code 6847, you should see a grant for 30%. (If you don't get lowballed.) If you already are rated 10% for another disability, then your new combined rating I should expect to be 37% or rounded up to 40%. Hope that answers your question.

Buck52 said: I do believe every Veteran that has a old injury or disease that was caused by his military duty days he/she should file these claims pronto and get what they all so well deserve and that's these benefits. Life is to short not to. Couldn't agree more with that. I also have some things I believe are connected to A.O. and they aren't presumptive. Keep on plugging; maybe I can get a few secondary down the road.