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Hucast21
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Posts posted by Hucast21
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4 hours ago, Scottish_Knight said:
This is basically what I was on about. I honestly don't feel the VA do an in-house-senior-leadership review before the initial decision is made.
This may be a bad analogy considering the current matters.... but when I was a CID agent... when an agent is working an investigation....once every 7-10 working days, the agent's team chief (TC) would review the case file. One a month, the special agent-in-charge (SAC) would review it. This would continue through the life cycle of the investigation. When it was time to close (solved or unsolved), the case agent would type the final report, the TC would review said report (most like changes would be made) and then it would go to the SAC for final review and eventually signing off. CID got this from the FBI. Can't say if NCIS and AFOSI do the same. This ensured thoroughness.
Difficult to compare an MCIO to the VA. A CID special agent might have 20-25 investigations at any given time. How many claims do one VA claims rep have at a time? Dunno. A criminal investigation need be done quickly and thoroughly. Does the VA have time constraints? Again, dunno. But a tiered review process, at least when the final decision is made, might prove beneficial and reduce the number of appeals being made.
In regards to the claims process, the VA is about as transparent as an iron curtain. I feel that if every veteran or spouse (like Berta) who's had to go through the appeals process only to have the BVA or CVA award in favour of the vet, wrote a letter to their congressman detailing the facts and circumstances, it would get the attention it needs.
Out of curiosity, where did you get the 37% figure? I was trying to find one for my first post in this thread and pulled 40% out of my arse. Not a bad guess.
@Fat, aye the M21-1 is a guideline, and to some degree so is 38 CFR and USC. What I want are the in-house SOPs and directives. Those would be a goldmine!“According to the latest data, the VA made 85,451 Board Legacy Decisions and 17,202 Board AMA decisions in 2020.
Of the Board Legacy Decisions:
33.8% claims were allowed
40.6% percent of them were remanded (sent back for reconsideration)
20.3% were denied
Of the cases decided by a Board AMA:
37% were allowed
28.2% were remanded
27.6% were denied”
https://disabilitydenials.com/blog/va-disability-appeal-success-rate/
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21 hours ago, Fat said:
I agree with Scottish Knight.
First, I believe most VA employees do a fantastic job; however having to abide by production standards might be causing some claims to have appeals.
You have to hire more workers.
Give workers more time to properly vet claims and the evidence submitted.
Remember the benefit of the doubt rule.
Approve claim if possible.
Last, veterans do your part too.
Give the VA evidence: inservice incident/sickness, current disability (with residuals), and nexus linking 1 & 2.
The problem is with BVA appeals, about 37% of appeals are issued grants. This means too many initial claims were denied, which should not have happened in the first place.
From my experience, the VBA has claims adjudicated as fast as possible but dumping it on the BVA appeals process to do the heavy lifting. Thus, creating a huge backlog.
- McRay and Scottish_Knight
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4 minutes ago, Berta said:
OK, thanks for update. My husband was only 45 when he had a stroke.
It became 100% P & T when he died from AO IHD, AO DMII, and due to VA medical care itself.
Did you have high blood pressure in service and if so have you had HBP since service?
Not that every vet who has HBP has a stroke---- don't get me wrong- there can be many reasons for a ischemic stroke
I never had high blood pressure during service but do now.
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1 minute ago, Berta said:
Hudcast:
I assume the stroke was not claimed yet?It could be from AO IHD, or AO DMII, and many other reasons , and it could be a secondary condition."
Are you a Blue Water Navy vet who served on a ship that was within 12 miles of the coast of Vietnam?
I’m only 40 years old. I haven’t filed service-connection for stroke yet.
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18 hours ago, GBArmy said:
Winner, winner, chicken dinner. Congrats to you! Working on any secondaries? If you can get to 80%, you can work at it and get to 90%. Re-eval anything you have wrong with you, especially if it isn't s-c already and see if they can be linked as secondary to your s-c disabilities. And, of course with VA math, it is a lot easier to get from 80% to 90% scheduler, than 80% all the way to 100% unless you can do the TDIU route.
Good going.
I had an ischemic stroke three years ago and was verified by a VA radiologist on an MRI without contrast.
I don’t know if I can get it service-connected but I’ll try the secondary route.
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On 5/7/2021 at 6:43 PM, pacmanx1 said:
Congratulations!
Way to go.
Now the good, the bad and the ugly part of this award.
The Good, it appears that the BVA has granted your claims.
The Bad, your claims have to go back to the local VARO for them to assign them effective dates and rating percentages.
The Ugly, the local VARO can screw up your effective dates and your rating percentages causing you to have to file new appeals back to the BVA.
Sorry for the bad news but this is what I am going through.
Also, if it says that you should see a difference in your pay in two months, well, it took the VA at least a year to implement my BVA Grant.
A win is a win.
Just got 80% (updated on va.Gov) and retro pay going back to 2018 in one month from BVA decision.
- McRay and Carl the Engineer
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54 minutes ago, pawmbi said:
Then why have these cases published if we can't use them to keep regional offices from continuing to commit error after error. If they would make following certain steps precedent, then that my avoid some denials.....I dunno just a thought but of course the VA doesn't always make sense.
To make it seem like the VBA is doing a good job or who knows really.
As far as I know, only CAVC cases set precedence not BVA decisions.
When my attorney sent an argument letter in lieu of a hearing, CAVC cases were cited to prove service connection and the incompetence of the C&P examiners.
The judge basically threw out the negative C&P exams because my attorney argued the examiner’s opinion was inadequate and cannot be used for adjudication purposes as the basis for denial of service connection.
- Vync and Carl the Engineer
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You won’t know until you get the decision letter or until you see “Granted” in green on va.gov.
Find a hobby to keep your mind occupied.
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3 hours ago, pawmbi said:
Did a search and didn't find an answer to this question....but would previous BVA decisions be considered "new" and "relevant" evidence to open up a Supplemental Claim? I thought about just submitting for a HLR but I want these two cases I found that are on point a part of the record. There is no other evidence I am submitting. My argument is the rater did not follow already existing precedent which is what these two BVA cases represent.
Nope because every BVA case is different. You cannot use previous BVA decisions to apply to your claim.
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On 5/7/2021 at 6:43 PM, pacmanx1 said:
Congratulations!
Way to go.
Now the good, the bad and the ugly part of this award.
The Good, it appears that the BVA has granted your claims.
The Bad, your claims have to go back to the local VARO for them to assign them effective dates and rating percentages.
The Ugly, the local VARO can screw up your effective dates and your rating percentages causing you to have to file new appeals back to the BVA.
Sorry for the bad news but this is what I am going through.
Also, if it says that you should see a difference in your pay in two months, well, it took the VA at least a year to implement my BVA Grant.
A win is a win.
According to my attorney, he looked in the system and seen the regional office has rated me 10% for migraines and 70% for bipolar disorder with effective date of April 2018. Obviously, this is not final.
I will most likely appeal the 10% rating for migraines because it’s a low-ball. I assume the RO based the rating on the bad C&P exam in 2018.
But I also have TDIU remanded, so I’ll see how all of this shakes out.
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I won!! Thanks to hadit for keeping me sane going through all of this.
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Checked va.gov this morning and a new issue appeared:
“Service connection, bipolar disorder”
Even though I have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, once again, my lawyer didn’t argue for service connection in the argument letter.
I’ll take this as a positive sign.
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47 minutes ago, broncovet said:
Yes. Your attorney does not have to hold your hand every time he sends in a new claim, if he thinks you are eligible and it will increase your compensation. That is not the only way it can happen, but probably the most likely. A thorough review of your medical file can reveal things you are eligible for, that you/your VSO missed.
My attorney never argued for major depressive disorder in the argument letter though.
The argument letter was based on service connection for migraines and PTSD.
Hence why I asked the question because I’ve never read anywhere on the internet where an appeal is currently being reviewed by a judge and a new issue was added.
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Update: so I looked at my issues tab at va.gov and now an issue was added:
”Service connection, Major depressive disorder”
Has anyone seen this before?
Thank you
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My status changed to this:
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Update: so I called the White House VA hotline about the status of my appeal three weeks ago. Someone from the BVA hotline called me back stating my hearing was going to be rescheduled... But my attorney already sent in a request to waive the hearing along with an argument letter last month.
This person then looks up on his computer to verify the hearing request waiver and then he apologized for the holdup. He went on to say my appeal would now be sent to a judge.
Talk about being ridiculous.
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Just now, Buck52 said:
Ok BUT are you sure its good to waive this appeal? I know your attorney is going to request they waive it just hope he is right.
My attorney waived the hearing request, not the appeal.
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1 hour ago, Buck52 said:
Sorry not that failure with your case.
NOT SURE WHAT LANE YOUR IN FOR PROCESSING OF YOUR CLAIM? REMEMBER IF YOUR IN THE HRL (Higher Review Lane) no new evidence allowed but surely your attorney knows this.
Was you denied your benefits? is this a case were you disagreed with their decision? or did you apply for Increase?& Denied?
Whatever the case maybe I sure hope your in the Supplemental lane have new evidence that has not been summited & I hope your Attorney is correct in canceling your Hearing.
My reason for saying this is because the BVA is better and most favorable to get your claims approved because the VA always are pulling tricks out of a hat that bogus our claims
you might want to call into the exposed vet hadit show TONIGHT and ask them about this,VA Agent-Bethany Spangenberg. & Hadit elder member VA Certified /Accredited Claims Agent Alex Graham will be taking our questions
these guys are top notch Certified /Accredited VA Claims Agents and its Free Information.
the call in #(515) 605-9764 show starts at @ 7:00pm 6:00pm Central time
Good Luck and let us know How it turns out.
I am currently waiting at the BVA with my appeal.
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I think it’s time I take a break from the internet. I’m reading too many posts where veterans file an initial claim with no in-service documentation and still be granted service connection.
No lie, the shit pisses me off when I have plenty of documentation from military medical records and still was denied.
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1 minute ago, Berta said:
Hucast-I think we were online at the same time.
Cruiser is just an internet bully and many vets are afraid of these bullies-
I am glad you took him on !!!!!.
I am not afraid of ANYONE.
And the problem I had here and my searches revealed information on this individual that I was absolutely stunned to find out .
I’m stubborn as they come Berta. I don’t put up with BS especially when I have the evidence to back it up. A veteran asking advice for obtaining an IMO/IME because of an unfavorable C&P exam is not some ungodly sin as some may think.
It’s the only way to counter a bad C&P exam. As Bronco mentioned, the culture of denial in the VA is rampant.
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1 hour ago, Berta said:
I don't think cruiser is still a rater-I wonder if he ever really worked for VA.
When I corrected him ,with evidence from VA case law, on some ridiculous advice he gave
veterans , a few years ago at that site, they banned me from the site.
However they did leave my correction up on the site.
Vet sites who condone bad advice loose members.
Worse of all ,is that bad advice , supported by no case law or regulation, hurts veterans and their survivors.
I got into it with Cruiser because I explained that my initial claim had a ton of in-service documentation about my conditions but I ended up with an unfavorable C&P exam, which ended up in a denial.
I asked the forum about obtaining an IMO/IME, and Cruiser gave me crap for it stating if the C&P examiner didn’t find a nexus then I shouldn’t be “fishing” for service-connection.
I then posted screenshots of my STRs showing how ridiculous his opinion was and how incompetent C&P examiners are at the VA. I left the forum shortly after and came here.
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1 hour ago, broncovet said:
It means you will have to wait for a decision, and you may never know, internally within VA, why. The Va is not very forthcoming in their entire compensation process, and we are not privy to all the goings on inside VA.
If its worth it to you, you could apply to work at the VA, and you would know more. However, even advice from "inside VA" is not always unbiased, and its not necessarily in your best interests.
Example: On another Veterans website I was advised by a person who alleges he has been a va rater and trainer for 20 years to basically withdraw my claim as it had zero chance of succeeding. Instead of taking his advice, I appealed, and, eventually won everything I had asked for.
You see, there seems to be a "disconnect" between BVA appeals, and VARO. In this instance the rater advised that "tdiu under 38 cfr 4.16 b (extra schedular tdiu) was so rare that it was not worth persuing. In my appeals to the BVA, I specifically asked BVA for "extra scheduler consideration" under 4.16b, as I was not even previously considered for it. This ex Va employee basically "scoffed" and said nobody gets 4.16 b consideration. I responded that "What was the regulation (4.16b) there for if VARO was determined to ignore it? Allow me to post what it says:
Does the term "all Veterans" sound like its "rare" to you? Notice the term "shall" be rated totally disabled. "Shall" means they are required to do so, where "may" gives the VARO discretion to do so or not.
The board agreed with me and awarded benefits in conflict with raters who said its not happening.
Does this va rater go by the username of Cruiser? That guy thinks he knows everything lol.
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The answer you might not want to hear is “no one knows.”
The VBA will get around to it whenever they decide to do so. This is where finding a hobby can be beneficial as it serves as a much needed distraction from the VBA hamster wheel.
Regardless, I hope your decision will arrive soon and in your favor.
Was Awarded 90% IU P&T
in Success Stories
Posted
I was just recently awarded 90% IU P&T by way of a HLR. The HLR took 19 days to complete with a nice $50k+ retro check that will be deposited to my bank account in a few days.
I cannot praise enough of how valuable legal representation can be when it comes to your VA claim. Yes, the best law firms will take their cut but this is a small price to pay compared to all of the horror stories that I have read about veterans fighting the system for decades in order to get justice or end up quitting.
Thanks to everyone on here for keeping me sane during my journey these three years. I never thought I would have ended up in this position but here I am.
The VA finally acknowledges my disabilities that was plain to see in my SMRs and current medical records.