Dustoff1970

Since 1985 I have attended a great many VA and contractor C&P Exams in person and do not recall ever being told in writing or verbally to not bring a relative or anyone to the exam with me and this includes recent exams in past two years. I know this happens to others tho. I never participated in an online or zoom exam with C&P examiner or doctor for anything and would not know how to do one. Not interested but only if forced to do so. Also never took part in a VA or BVA hearing in person or on the phone for claims and appeals as no need to do so. I don't want to meet any of the government rater pukes. I don't respect them and no need to do so. P&T TDIU since 1998 (over 25 years) 100% P&T with SMC-S since 2017 All is good.

Well Kadyr I gave you a good answer to your question using my real life experience as an example in my first above comment. Did you or not see this answer?????? Many vets seeking help here never acknowledge the valuable answers given to their questions. Another form of vet rudeness. My personal comments are my own and I am not a forum owner, admin or moderator.

In 1987 I was rated at 50% for PTSD in effect for two years and the Waco VA VOCAB counselor approved my application for completing a two year college degree in finance and accounting and in 89 I graduated with an A grade. During this time I continued to receive my PTSD 50% rating plus additional stipend of over $300.00 per month from VOCAB and they also payed for all cost such as books, fees, tuition, supplies, etc., etc. A year after i graduated they reduced me to 30% after annual C&P exam and in 91 my PTSD was terminated. In 1998 my PTSD was reinstated at 70% with TDIU and in 2000 this was made P&T TDIU and now over 20 years at 100% scheduler with SMC-S. After many written test and several interviews the VOCAB counselor said I would not finish the college course but I of course showed the arrogant puke with a final A grade.

This is a recent quote from a VA rater on another forum. " "Possible the lawyers say, sure. But the issue is capacity for gainful employment. If the rater finds a veteran is self limiting wage/salary income, a proposal to terminate IU may follow" Another note from a knowledable Admin is that the Federal poverty threshold from u.s. census bureau is around $15,000 per year and this FPL level is just one of several indicators the VA raters go by in determining entitlement to continued TDIU rating. This second comment by me on this topic is an update to my first comment.

Be careful what you say out loud in yours or anyone's home or autos that may have any type of recording device such as alexa, Zoom, cell phones, etc. Recent news accounts revealing Alexa ratting out users conversations to other organizations. Also AI can and has mimicked people voices and photos to falsely project those persons as saying and doing things they never did. But everybody loves to suck up to the latest and greatest tech gadgets to impress their friends. So be it.

Since you have apparently been diagnosed with OSA Apnea and presently suffer from it then you need to seek or continue treatment for the OSA while on active duty and make sure this is documented in your MSR medical records. If you were issued a CPAP machine for OSA by private or VA doctor then continue to use it and/or ask for one at your active duty station medical clinic. It would be very helpful if the the military does another sleep study on you and issue you a CPAP. It is very important for you to obtain like I did copies of your medical treatment notes, diagnosis at your active duty locations. Friendly med clerks are your best friend. Make extra copies of these records and hold them dear to your heart for future VA use just like I did in Nam and Japan in 1970. During or after your active service you can file a new VA claim for direct service connection with the new evidence obtained and created on active duty. Military medical records are like gold in the bank vault. I know from experience. My comment is not legal advice as I am not a paralegal, lawyer or VSO.

Cancelled comment due to no reply. Cheers

From 1985 thru 1991 the VA C&P examiners for my Nam PTSD were hateful, snide, snarky and over the top biased against Vietnam combat vets. When I complained to Congressmen and Senators about this hateful disparate treatment toward me and other Nam vets the response of the Temple, TX VA shrinks was they were only checking our reaction to stress by their hateful attitude. This of course is BS, chicken chit and the bast***** are all dead now while I still fish and camp thank you. Some of the SOBs were private contract pukes allowed to wear the VA white coats, etc. Some were Texas A&M doctors (fascist) and some actual VA scum. One examiner kept a hand gun in his top desk drawer and showed it to me as a bullying tactic. The son of one of the lousy shrinks was murdered in a drug deal and the suspect never caught. His mother was also a Temple VA shrink who moved to Africa to take care of local babies. HA!!! Recent (last 5 years) biased and racist VA C&P exam puke in N Nevada has issued negative opinions against several major claims I filed for Sleep Apnea due to PTSD, Increase in heart disease, etc. and in both cases on appeal to the BVA the judges in their decision stated his negative opinions were defective, deficient and without merit and I was awarded by the BVA 50% for OSA Sleep Apnea and 60% for Agent Orange IHD/CAD Ischemic heart disease. Thank you BVA. This VA biased examiner puke never allowed me to answer any of his questions and already made his decision before I entered the room. None of the LHI or QTC C&P examiners have ever been rude, hateful or snide toward me but only the lousy union VA/government puke examiners. He falsely claims he was an Army doctor.

Cancelled my comment

I recently received HTN of 0% claim under Pact Act. Qtc exam was quick and easy. I emailed them my BP readings then done.

Up until the PACT ACT there was never a time limit for veterans to enroll for VA health care. I do not know the reason for this stupid ant vet decision by the politicians and VA pukes. Most us older senior Vietnam vets enrolled in VA health care many years ago. I was recently awarded Hypertension HTN service connection under the PACT ACT after being denied by VARO pukes for many years. HA!!!!

No none of them but I have successfully used a 30 year experienced heart surgeon in Tucson for two BVA granted appeals. He is well known for many years to the BVA and VARO and his IMO nexus opinions accepted majority of time by BVA. He is also a very experienced veterans attorney that practices law and cases as attorney before the U.S. CAVC veterans court, Federal Appeals Circuit in D.C. and of course the BVA. I did not use him as an attorney as there was no need. His one time fee for two nexus opinions successful appeals on different medical issues was very reasonable.

Unlike earlier old times for me (1985 to 98) recent VARO claims approvals and BVA appeal decisions have resulted in rapid payment of disability money within 11 days to 1 month. I recently received a BVA appeal approval that resulted also in SMC-S back pay of 5 years and this took less than a month from time I received their decision online at VA.GOV and then the paper decision in 10 to 14 days. Hope this helps.

For many years since 1998 i was P&T TDIU and carefully researched this subject from many different sources such as BVA appeal and U.S. Cavc court appeal decisions on this subject to include monitoring other veteran benefits forums. There is some conflicting opinions that if you have earned income from any activity then requiring your mental or physical labor and direct involvement then you are no longer considered by VA to be eligible for TDIU benefits. In the U.S. CAVC court case Faust v. West of many years ago the court said in a final decision that if veterans on TDIU make earned income over the local or regional U.S. poverty minimum amount then this is considered for the vet to be employed and employable. Unearned income that is passive income from any source such as investment profits activity's is not considered earned income and is not a problem for TDIU vets. If you make a million dollars from a one time or occasional only investment then no worries. However, if you engage in active frequent day trading of stocks then this is a red flag to the rater pukes. If you have earned income in small amounts from a protected family business or supervised rehab protected environment then again no problems Present and former senior VA raters have stated in their opinions if you engage in any type of earned income work then this proves you are employable and should not continue receiving TDIU. The small amount of money you may make is totally irrevelant to them. Some vets believe that if you stay below the poverty limit threshold then this is legal and you should be safe from a TDIU termination. However, those same VA pukes disagrees with this. They say raters will look for obvious pattern of continued work at amounts below the court definition of earned income amount for continued TDIU as a very red flag note. I have never had a desire to test any of these theories. There are many other BVA decisions and court cases on this very subject such as Robert v. Principi of many years ago, etc. My comment is not legal advice as I am not a lawyer, paralegal or VSO.

This is a perfect example of government pukes one sided simple minded method of "helping vets". They are too dumb or indifferent to the fact that a great many vets no longer have the same phone number or email address that was used initially to register on the VA.GOV and they have no procedure in place for updating ones phone number and email address that I know of. Could be another cruel joke on Americas veterans. "Trust us, we are from the government/VA/FBI"

For past many years my VA C&P exams from a VA examiner has appeared in full on my MyHealthyvet website and this has been quite useful to me. Exams are included in the medical treatment notes along with other procedures such as dental work, labs, etc. You must have a premium MyHealthVet account by registering at the local VA hospital or clinic.

Within past year I received successfully two VARO claims and one BVA appeal. The appeal was for an increase in my Vietnam Agent Orange Ischemic heart disease to 60%. I sent new evidence directly to the BVA and requested they adjudicate this new evidence and not send it back to the VARO for the raters second probably denial decision. This saved a great deal of many months and my appeal grant was fast after they received the new evidence. Actually this was duplicate of what was sent to VARO on initial claim and denied by the AOs. Earlier this year I received a very fast PACT ACT claim approval from VARO for Hypertension HTN at 0%. Also received non PACT ACT 60% for GERD due to long term Nam PTSD and MH medications from the VARO (Very fast). Additionally received 10% for Tinnitus due to Nam combat very fast from VARO. After 30 years of filing my own claims and appeals to BVA and U.S. CAVC court I had all my ducks in proper order. Good luck to you

Good question. I have used VA.GOV for years and even uploaded documents and claims to VA.GOV but never heard of A7 systems.

Well Optum Serve just sent me an email that they are scheduling me an exam for a new claim. However, I have filed no new claims or appeals and none are outstanding or deferred. All my claims and appeals were successfully awarded to me in past 7 years and I am happy and satisfied as a tick on a boar hog. They said they would send me more info soon. I think this happened a few years ago and it was a mistake on their part. This may be a frequent and common screw up on part of these C&P contractors. I know from experience that their clerical personnel are often lazy screw ups and on one lied to VA about my not showing up for a EKG/ECG exam. The BVA ignored this anyway and granted me my appeal for increase in Agent Orange IHD/CAD heart disease. Maybe you have had a similar experience with their mistakes??

Yes NVLSP is first choice but try both plus the VVA or Vietnam Veterans of America who was very crucial in obtaining Agent Orange legislation in the early years. All three or anyone of the 3 may be of great assist.

This is new news to me but this theory may have merit. Do a Google search using key words such as Agent Orange, Navy, distilled water, Vietnam, etc. and may find more info. I believe the VA was forced to recognize and service connect air force/navy personnel who were exposed to Agent Orange at the Corpus Christi aircraft maintenance depot who worked on the returning C-123/119 Ranch Hand aircraft that sprayed AO in Vietnam. Someone correct me if I am wrong. Free services of lawyers for the National Organization of Veterans Advocates (NOVA) may be of great assist to you. Try them.

It is very important that you keep and make more copies of all your VA and private medical treatment notes for future important use. I always show my medical treatment notes (copies only) of both VA and private doctors to the C&P examiner. Sometimes they will look at them and even keep them and some others will not look or accept them. You can see both long term and recent VA medical treatment notes and diagnosis by signing up at nearest VA hospital or clinic for a premium MyHealthyvet online account. You will need to show photo ID such as DMV license, etc. to do this. Since 1998 I have been rated 70% for PTSD and 100% P&T since 2000. With the exception of 85 to 91 I have never been called in for a revaluation of my PTSD or any other of my many service connected disabilities. As long as you have proof of ongoing medical treatment both VA and private plus copies of all medicine prescriptions for your MH issues you should not worry about them reducing you or reevaluate you unless you file for an increases then of course this will trigger a C&P exam for your increase claim. My comment is not legal advice as I am not a lawyer, paralegal or VSO.

From my experience from 85 to 91 the VA could not reduce my PTSD rating based only upon one C&P revaluation but could and did reduce me from 50 to 30% on a second revaluation exam one year later. After initial PTSD rating in 85 then the VA scheduled me for revaluation exams every year thereafter. I believe this is still true today unless you have a static rating of at least 5 years from original initial rating. Even better if you are at the 10 year mark and better still after 20 years as VA cannot reduce or terminate your rating unless they prove you committed fraud in obtaining the rating. If your are P&T then not likely your primary disability rating will be reevaluated or reduced at all. From 85 to 91 I had no or very sorry poor DAV VSO representation then and thereafter I successfully represented myself in many claims and appeals to the BVA and U.S. CAVC court. All is good now for over 25 years . My comment is not legal advice as I am not a lawyer, paralegal or VSO.

Okay the VARO is basically saying they don't consider your medical evidence as sufficient for any increase at this time. To overcome this you will need to 1. have heart medical specialist to say your condition has worsened or is indicative of more severe symptoms and this should include more testing and review of ALL your VA and private medical treatment notes and diagnosis. 2. Make sure the VARO has all your medical treatment records both VA and private for your heart disease and send them copies only of what you have or will have in the future. 3. I and many others have won our claims on appeal to the BVA based upon same evidence that the VARO rater pukes denied on initial and HLR claims. 4. Last year my Nam Agent Orange Ischemic heart disease (presumptive) was increased from 30 to 60% by the BVA appeals judge based on same evidenc denied by VARO raters. They claimed I provided no evidence to support my increase claim. 5. Among my strong positive medical evidence was an independent private heart surgeon IMO opinion that my IHD/CAD heart disease was more severe than the 30% rating given by the VARO. He was a fee doctor that I paid a modest fee for his IMO and he reviewed all my VA and private treatment records plus conducted an intensive telephone interview with me. 6. For the one same fee he also earlier helped me win an OSA Sleep Apnea due to PTSD appeal for a 50% rating based on again same evidence denied by the chicken chit VARO. 7. I consider $1500.00 total for a $25,000 back pay as a good bargain. My comment is not legal advice as I am not a lawyer, paralegal or VSO.

Yes to number 5 for sure. After 30 years and many successful claims and appeals I can say their number one chicken chit reason given for denial is "no evidence" even when you sent them solid positive and favorable medical evidence to support your claim and even after they listed this evidence in the denial decision letter they still lie and say no evidence. On appeal the BVA granted me at least two of my appeals based on the same evidence denied by VARO lousy raters.