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pacmanx1
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Posts posted by pacmanx1
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I am guessing I need to notify the VA of this but how exactly do I notify them?
IMHO, you can fill out the form yourself and send it into the VA. Make sure that you note on the form that the company or agency went out of business. You can use block 14A and block 22. This way the VA won't take forever to begin to process your claim. Not sure how long the VA will wait but by having this form submitted, it should tell the VA that there is no need to wait because the business no longer exists. There is no need to sign and date the form, just make sure you keep copies of it or them. This is what I did, and the VA awarded me two separate retroactive effective dates. I filled the form out as going to the company and then going to the VA.
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I think I was clear, when the regional office denies a veteran’s service connection and the veteran appeals to the BVA. It is very normal for the BVA to only address the issue of service connection. After granting service connection the BVA will then remand the appeal back to the regional office for them to assign it a rating percentage and an effective date. If the veteran disagrees with either the rating percentage and or the assigned effective date, then the veteran would have to file a new appeal back to the BVA. It is what some of us call the hamster wheel, back and forth from the regional office to the BVA and sometimes the CAVC get caught up in this cycle if the BVA denies a veteran’s claim/appeal and the CAVC would/could approve a remand to the BVA and from the BVA to the regional office.
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Depending on your 90% rating breakdown, you could be 93% or 94% and the VA rounds down to a combined 90% but the additional 30% from 30% to 60% could possibly get you a 100% combined rating. All you would need is that your rating hit 95% and the VA would round up to 100% schedular.
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Due to the fact that the veteran is having multiple symptoms within this category, The VA could actually rate him higher with a 60% rating. This of course does not mean they will.
These are the criteria for each rating: GERD.
- 60 percent – the veteran experiences “pain, vomiting, material weight loss and hematemesis or melena with moderate anemia; or other symptom combinations productive of severe impairment of health.”
- 30 percent – the veteran experiences “persistently recurrent epigastric distress with dysphagia, pyrosis, and regurgitation, accompanied by substernal or arm and shoulder pain, productive of considerable impairment of heath.”
- 10 percent – the veteran has two or more symptoms of the 30 percent rating, but less severe.
4.7 Higher of two evaluations.
Where there is a question as to which of two evaluations shall be applied, the higher evaluation will be assigned if the disability picture more nearly approximates the criteria required for that rating. Otherwise, the lower rating will be assigned.
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Since you are already rated 100% P & T and working, you can only get retroactive pay (money). This is if your effective date is before your current 100% P & T rating. The problem is even though the BVA granted your appeal, they remanded it to the regional office, and the regional office has to rate your percentage and assign an effective date. The regional office could assign you a 0% rating in which there would be no retroactive payment (money) and you win but you lose with no money coming your way. It could also be that with your new ratings the regional office could assign you an even earlier effective date, if your new rating boils down to you being awarded an earlier combined 100% rating.
The VA did this to me and I had to file a new appeal. I was granted a 50% rating after my 100% P & T rating which amounted to absolutely no money in retroactive pay. When I filed my appeal, the BVA granted me an unadjudicated award going back to my original date of claim and I won my earlier effective dates.
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The only thing I can say is when I was going through Voc Rehab. The lady there told me to apply for PELL GRANT and any loans I felt that I needed. This was before I was rated 100% P & T. She told me that when/if funds are available or came available after all loans were paid out. They look for potential students that they could help and grant their loans. As to CH 35 I think I read here that a former member used CH 35 twice, once while her husband was alive and later after she was granted DIC and CH 35.
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I know this is not what you want to hear but Memos are for internal use and more for VA personnel than to the veteran.
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Veteran files a NOD on RO decision on original claim. DRO is selected. Veteran then files a new claim for TDIU. Does DRO have jurisdiction to issue decision on new claim?
I would not put anything past the VA, the thing to keep in mind is if you get a decision that you disagree with you either have to file an appeal or try to file a new claim. I have seen and warned veterans to be very careful not to file claims for secondary conditions if there was no service-connected rating or not meeting the rating criteria. Example: Veteran has ratings of 30% + 10% + 10% and file for a new claim and TDIU. The problem is the veteran does not meet the criteria and if the VA denies the new claim, they can also deny the TDIU claim.
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I may be wrong or off, and I am quite sure some others will correct me, but I think you are correct.
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3 hours ago, spirit_grt said:
This is probably more venting than anything because no one can read they mind, but I would like some opinions/experiences on why they would make me do another so soon.
Who can truly answer for someone else? The simplest answer, because they have the authority to do just about what they want. I am not trying to be a smart ass. There is no rhyme or reason why the VA does what they do. You could have an incomplete medical exam, or the medical rationale may not be clear enough for VA rating purpose.
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4 minutes ago, relatively happy camper said:
I don't know the actual name for the "blue sheet."
If my memory is correct, I believe they call these sheets legacy sheets or legacy pages. Even though these sheets are part of each and every rating decision, the VA rarely send them out with their decision, but they are in the veteran's records.
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5 hours ago, andy.clark179 said:
My question is the BOA Approved my claim for service-connected Prostate Cancer that I filed in 2015.
Typically, when the Board makes a decision, they remand it to the VARO to implement their decision.
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2 hours ago, LKF050813 said:
Anyone and everyone feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. Still learning as I go here.
Not only do you not qualify at the present time, filing any claim this late when you are already pending a decision would most like delay your decision.
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1 hour ago, relatively happy camper said:
I would file the SMC claim now and I'd request the earliest date where you felt you met the criteria. I can't see any reason to wait. jmo
SMC payments are determined by the records and when the veteran met the criteria and not by the date the veteran filed his/her claim.
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40 minutes ago, relatively happy camper said:
Anytime you file a claim the VA has the right to review any previous claims. They generally don't but know that they can.
Sorry to say, but this is just fear mongering, VA, some VSOs and other veterans pass on this information. Did you read my post? There is a regulation that states the VA cannot revise decisions in a manner that is less advantageous to veterans than the decision under review. Unless the VA has some type of proof that a veteran has improved beyond normal conditions than they cannot reduce and with this crazy back log of benefits, they the (VA) don’t have the time or workforce to review every disability claim. Heck, they don’t even have the time to get a regular claim/appeal correct let alone trying to review prior claims is way beyond their capabilities.
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Actually, I think I understand your situation and I of course do not know how your claims were filed or processed but I do believe if you have a medical opinion that your service-connected mental health issue alone causes you to be unemployable would satisfy the SMC criteria. I am not sure, but have you read Buie V. Shinseki? It basically is a precedential decision that can be cited that states the VA has a duty to maximize the veteran's benefits by assessing the veteran's disabilities to determine if the veteran meet the SMC criteria by reviewing his/her disabilities. I am quite sure it is here somewhere because I have been posting it since I found it several years ago.
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1 hour ago, Otrgypsy said:
I am rated 100% P&T. I need to appeal because without medical evidence they claimed all my disabilities entitle me to TDIU. It can not be legitimately disputed that I am entitled to TDIU based on only the brain injury and its effects. No Doc addressing the TDIU mentioned anything but the brain injury. The raters through in everything else on their own.
Trying to help and doing a little more reading. You are currently rated as a combined 100% schedular P & T and no more. As you stated the VA lumped all your conditions together and that is why they probably did not consider a SMC consideration. For SMC you would need a single 100% rating plus 60% or a single TDIU rating plus an additional 60%.
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4 hours ago, LKF050813 said:
Is SMC something I need to apply for or will it automatically be added based on my ratings?
Because you have a pending decision, it is best to wait. SMC ratings are different than regular ratings. Regular ratings go by the date you filed your claims, but SMC ratings go by the date you actually meet the criteria. So, it is possible after your pending decision, if you meet that criterion, the VA may grant it without you filing a claim.
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1 minute ago, LKF050813 said:
I’m currently at 80%, looking to increase to 100% P&T regular scheduler, but also applying for TDIU at the same time. My original thinking was to get one or the other but didn’t realize I should be trying to get both and can use the TDIU award to try for the EED going back to my last day of gainful employment.
What is SMC?
When the VA granted you 80%, they should have discussed TDIU in that rating because the 80% already makes you eligible for TDIU. SMC-S is about $300.00 to $500.00 extra above the 100% or TDIU pay rating.
A veteran can be awarded SMC-S if he/she is rated a single 100% schedular rating plus an addition 60% or a single TDIU rating with an additional 60%.
Total plus 60 percent, or housebound; 38 U.S.C. 1114(s). The special monthly compensation provided by 38 U.S.C. 1114(s) is payable where the veteran has a single service-connected disability rated as 100 percent and,
(1) Has additional service-connected disability or disabilities independently ratable at 60 percent, separate and distinct from the 100 percent service-connected disability and involving different anatomical segments or bodily systems, or
(2) Is permanently housebound by reason of service-connected disability or disabilities. This requirement is met when the veteran is substantially confined as a direct result of service-connected disabilities to his or her dwelling and the immediate premises or, if institutionalized, to the ward or clinical areas, and it is reasonably certain that the disability or disabilities and resultant confinement will continue throughout his or her lifetime.
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2 minutes ago, LKF050813 said:
If I appeal the TDIU, do I not get paid for the 100% P&T back pay (since my intent to file date) and regular pay while the TDIU appeal is ongoing?
I don’t think I have any other disability that I can claim that precedes what I’m claiming currently. The only way I see a path for a retro back pay is to get awarded TDIU with an EED going back to my last day of gainful employment.
You do not need a new disability; you would just have to prove that the VA should have granted you a TDIU based on your evidence and your symptoms of record.
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16 minutes ago, LKF050813 said:
Let’s say I get rated 100% P&T regular scheduler and they deny my TDIU bc they say it’s moot, if I appeal the TDIU denial, do I not get paid any of the back pay or regular pay for the 100% until the TDIU appeal is finalized?
The reason why I was awarded two separate increased ratings and assigned two separate TDIU ratings is because the VA failed to correctly process one of my original claims. I filed the claim around 1998 and it was denied, I then filed a NOD that got lost for two decades (20) years. It took me 20 years complaining about my lost evidence. When the BVA finally reviewed my records and granted my claim/appeal, the regional office low balled it and I filed a new NOD. The BVA finally found my NOD and granted me an unadjudicated (still open and pending) claim dated prior to my 100% schedular rating. So, with their help they back dated my awards
The only way you can get an earlier effective date, you will have to prove that you have a disability that should have been rated prior to your 100% rating. If the VA denies your TDIU rating and grant you 100% schedular. Yes, you can appeal and request a TDIU rating based on your current symptoms.
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40 minutes ago, LKF050813 said:
I’m so you do have both 100% scheduler and TDIU? I was thinking they don’t grant both, but that gives me something to fight for then
Some veterans do not fully understand that their effective dates are the key to when their protection period begins and when they are fully covered. My records contains all three ratings. I will give examples. These are not my actual effective dates, but my records show something like them. Because we have VA employees come to this site from time to time. I choose not to post my actual information.
So, let’s say I was originally granted 100% schedular P & T with an effective date of 2006. When the BVA granted me a new disability with a 30% increase that was not already included in my combined 100% scheduler P & T rating. This caused me to be granted a TDIU P & T rating with an effective date of 2004.
I disagreed with this decision and because the BVA directly service connected my new disability to my military service, I requested a higher rating and the BVA granted me a 50% rating in which that TDIU P & T rating gave me an even earlier effective date of 2003 which put me under the 20-year protection period. So, I have a TDIU P & T from 2003 protected. I have a TDIU P & T from 2004 protected and I have a combined 100% schedular P & T that will be protected in 2026.
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7 hours ago, Otrgypsy said:
Pacmanx1 I do not understand your question, "Any Idea how it was amended?" if you are referring to change on the higher-level review, they gave me the earlier effective date of claim that I was statutorily entitled to.
When the decision was originally decided, it referred to a veteran rated with a single 100% rating plus an additional 60% to qualify for SMC payments. It was amended or changed to include veterans rated with a single TDIU rating plus an additional 60% would be eligible for SMC payments. I don't think I asked this question. I think it came from Rattler.
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14 hours ago, LKF050813 said:
Crap. That's what I'm afraid is going to happen to me too. The psychologist IMO is enough to get me 100% on mental health alone, plus I'm looking at increases on some of my other s/c stuff. I don't know what to do at this point. ugh! SMH
It is what it is, just keep in mind that I have been rated 100% scheduler P & T for most of this time and the two EEDs granted me two EEDs in my ratings and in my TDIU effective dates.
BVA Remands Granted
in VA Disability Claims Research
Posted
Once the BVA grants service connection it can be returned to the regional office or the DROC-DC or even the intake center. You should get your notification letter from the BVA in a few weeks to a few months and you should get your official notification letter rating your disabilities and effective dates and any retroactive pay due. Pay close attention to both of these in each disability. If you disagree with anything you are going to have to file a new appeal.