pacmanx1

This post is quoting 38 CFR 4.16a This post is only half true and is misleading because it is 38 CFR 4.16a but if you read a little further in 38 CFR 4.16b it states: (a) Total disability ratings for compensation may be assigned, where the schedular rating is less than total, when the disabled person is, in the judgment of the rating agency, unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation as a result of service-connected disabilities: Provided That, if there is only one such disability, this disability shall be ratable at 60 percent or more, and that, if there are two or more disabilities, there shall be at least one disability ratable at 40 percent or more, and sufficient additional disability to bring the combined rating to 70 percent or more. For the above purpose of one 60 percent disability, or one 40 percent disability in combination, the following will be considered as one disability: (b) It is the established policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs that all veterans who are unable to secure and follow a substantially gainful occupation by reason of service-connected disabilities shall be rated totally disabled. Therefore, rating boards should submit to the Director, Compensation Service, for extra-schedular consideration all cases of veterans who are unemployable by reason of service-connected disabilities, but who fail to meet the percentage standards set forth in paragraph (a) of this section. The rating board will include a full statement as to the veteran's service-connected disabilities, employment history, educational and vocational attainment and all other factors having a bearing on the issue.

Yes Sir Mr. Broncovet is correct and beat me in his response. Here is another I agree and disagree, and VA and VSOs tell veterans this all the time, but I have helped several veterans get TDIU when they did not meet the rating criteria. When a veteran files the VA form 21-8940, it is a claim for an increase as well as a claim for TDIU. The VA can and has in the past increased some veterans rating percentages to help them meet those criteria but a look at the veteran’s current disabilities that veteran may not qualify but with medical evidence and a medical opinion it is very well possible to be granted TDIU.

That information should be in your January 2017 rating decision or the decision that rated you TDIU P & T with the effective date of TDIU January 2017.

We have our opinions and there are times we agree and disagree, but I would say that since this thread is old that Danny grip start his own thread. He is not the OP (ORIGINAL POSTER), and this thread is already too long with different opinions about different posts. Yes of course redact all personal information. I only disagree with Danny should start his own/new/separate thread. Sorry GBArmy not trying to step on your post but wanting to make it easier for future opinions.

Unless something unusual happens, you will not likely get any retro. Reason being is that the VA has already been paying you at the 100% TDIU compensation rate since January 2017, even if your rating is increased to the 100% scheduler rating that would only balance your payment to equal the same 100% compensation rate. Now if for some unusual reason that you meet the SMC criteria it is possible, but many would say that it is way too early and pure speculation(GUESSING) because we do not know what you are service connected for and what is in your records.

Yes, I agree but the only way you will get a difference is you will have to file a disagreement. I have been rated 100% scheduler well over a decade and the BVA recently granted/rated me a separate 1998 unadjudicated effective date for one of my earlier claims. This rating was not included in my 100% rating, so it granted me retro pay all the way back to my original claim. This claim had to go all the way to the CAVC for a joint remand and then the BVA granted me direct service connection. The VA/BVA has been fighting me over two decades and finally granted it after my CAVC remand. It is possible but I figured that I might as well fight now while I have the mind and strength because I may not have it later. I figured that since I filed earlier claims and the evidence was always in my records that I should go ahead and fight now. I realized that since I will never work again this should help me for all the years that I could not work. I went into deep, and I mean deep debt and I lost everything all while this evidence was in my records and the VA did everything, they could and deny my claims. I even filed for financial hardship and the VA quickly denied my claims causing me to be destitute. I feel that I am only trying to recover the benefits that are due me due to my symptoms and the regulations. I fully understand that with CFS/Fibromyalgia/depression and the medication I am on I feel like a zombie, and I miss days because I can’t get out of bed except going to the bathroom, putting food on my stomach and taking my medication and that is about it. I learned the hard way to make sure I put food on my stomach while taking medications. Some days can be really challenging so I decided to fight now versus later in life.

I think I understand, but most VA employees will not, and you may very well have to file an appeal to the BVA and or the CVAC. You are currently rated as 100% as of February 2020. The problem is that since you are rated 100% the VA looks at the fact that you are maxed out and that you cannot received a higher rating (NOT INCLUDING SMC) but due to the fact that you filed other claims prior to the VA granting/rating you 100% then you may be entitled to earlier effective dates in which they may not only be able to increase your combined ratings prior to the VA granting you 100%, those earlier effective dates could possibly allow you to meet an earlier effective date for your 100% rating. I have been in a similar situation where my claims are now at the BVA waiting for my new decisions. What the Local VARO refuses to accept is that Clemons V. Shinseki 23 vet. app. 1-5 (2009) changed the fact that veterans can appeal their decisions and request compensation based on symptoms and earlier filing dates. Since you filed several claims IMHO (IN MY HUMBLE OPINION) the VA should grant you earlier effective dates, but you have to consider pyramiding. Some of fibromyalgia symptoms can be rated separately but not sure how the VA would grant them plus your CFS and depression . Clemons states: In accordance with "Clemons V. Shinseki, 23 Vet. App. 1, 5 (2009)" (when determining scope of a claim, Secretary must consider the claimant’s description of the claim; the symptoms the claimant describes; and the information the claimant submits or that the Secretary obtains in support of the claim”). Clemons concerned VA's failure to consider a claim of entitlement to benefits for a disorder other than the one specifically claimed, even though it shared the symptomatology for which the Veteran was benefits. The Clemons Court found that, where a Veteran's claim identifies a condition, without more, it cannot be a claim limited only to that diagnosis, rather must be considered a claim for any disability that reasonably may be encompassed by the evidence of record. The Clemons Court indicated that, when a claimant makes a claim, he is seeking benefits for symptoms regardless of how those symptoms are diagnosed or labeled.

Let's agree to disagree that we all speculate because we do not have all the facts. We have to accept the fact that the BVA, CVAC, Veterans Federal Court and even Hadit.com was created for reasons that veterans felt/feel that their claims were/are not rated correctly.

Since this thread is several years old you should start your own/new thread.

It happens more than you could think, and the VA does not post this information.

John, I know some of your frustration, but I think Clemons V. Shinseki 23 vet. app. 1-5 (2009) changed all this to allow compensation based on symptoms and evidence of records and not diagnosis. This is how I won a 1998 Earlier Effective Date.

Social Security Announces 5.9 Percent Benefit Increase for 2022 Social Security and SSI beneficiaries are normally notified by mail starting in early December about their new benefit amount. Most people who receive Social Security payments will be able to view their COLA notice online through their personal my Social Security account. People may create or access their my Social Security account online at www.socialsecurity.gov/myaccount. Press Release | Press Office | SSA

Two kinds of blood pressure medication recalled for possibly too much of a carcinogen. Two kinds of blood pressure medication recalled for possibly too much of a carcinogen (yahoo.com)

IMHO (IN MY HUMBLE OPINION), you can’t trust this metrics. It does not line up with VA.gov, my days of waiting for a decision is well over this time period. Then again the VA.gov is also unreliable so who really knows.

It really depends on all the evidence in your records, but you will have to wait for the VA to make their decision and go from there. Keep in mind that if you disagree with the effective date that they give you, you can file an appeal.