broncovet

Papa is right. Its the VA's way of "rationing care". We have to have a "referral" from the prime care doc to see another doc. Then we have to have a referral from the ent doc to see the sleep doc. Do Veterans need this third party preventing us from getting the care we need? I dont think so. Expect more of the same, except worse, with national health care. Non Vets dont have to put up with this. They need an optometrist..they go to the eye doc. They dont have to go to a prime care to get a referral to the optometrist. Its the VA way, the least efficient, most complex way possible or the hiway.

Yes, Berta. I am appealing the effective date of the 2009 RO decision, in part because the 2004 decision has not been made final because the appeal is still pending (tho it does not show up in ebenefits, so I know the RO wants to continue to ignore the 2004 NOD) I have had about 5 RO decisions since 2004, most of them were denials. The 2005 RO decision did award partial benefits, and the 2009 decision awarded 100% P and T. According to Case Law Review, as reported on Jim Stricklands website: Case: Jones v. Shinseki, CAVC No. 06-2036 BVA Decision: March 16, 2006 CAVC Decision: June 18, 2009 Key Issue(s): When is a claim that was appealed in a Notice of Disagreement (NOD), but for which VA never issued a Statement of the Case (SOC), decided? Law: 38 U.S.C. §§ 7104, 7105 What was decided: The Court decided that where a veteran files an NOD for a claim but VA fails to issue an SOC in response to the NOD, the claim is resolved in a later appellate adjudication of another claim, where both claims stem from the same underlying disorder and the claimed disabilities are identical or substantially similar. What this means to veterans: A Veteran has a right to an appeal of a claim denied by VA. If a veteran submits a proper NOD and VA does not follow through with a SOC and the rest of the appeal process, the claim remains “open” until and unless VA properly resolves the appeal. Claims which VA has “forgotten” keep their original effective date and so can have accumulated very large retroactive payments. Any veteran who believes that he or she has filed an NOD but has not received a VA acknowledgment of the NOD or a SOC after a reasonable time (several months at least) should review their records and submit a copy of the NOD to VA along with a request for an investigation into what happened to the original NOD. If VA cannot provide documentation of a final decision on that appeal or another claim stemming from the same condition and for the same disability, the veteran should request a decision on the appeal and an effective date of the date that the claim was originally filed.

Most often a 21-4138 Form is used when no other form works.

I got PT from the VA and the last few sessions were devoted to me learning exercises that would help with my disabilities. My advice is to go ahead and take the PT and ask the PT for exercises you can do on your own.

I am seeking help to decide what to do when the RO simply ignores my NOD since 2004. One option I am considering is to file an I9 with the BVA and the RO starting something like this: I9 Notice of Appeal The Veteran herewith files a notice of appeal to the BVA in the decision dated.......The Regional office has received my NOD (RO date stamped copy enclosed), but has failed to respond with a Statement of Case. Therefore, the Veteran is proceeding with the appeal "as if" the Regional Office had performed their duties, and requests the VA make a ruling on the merits of the case. While some of the Veterans issues in 2004 have been successfully resolved with later RO decisions, none of them have successfully resolved the issue of the effective date. The Veteran contends he is entitled to an earlier effective date because the RO has admitted to recieving the Veterans application for benefits on .......date, the date the Veteran requests the effective date be made.

The best time to hesitate in filing a claim is NEVER. Bottom Line: Some people hesitate to file another claim as they feel it will delay their current claim. Sure, it will delay it. It will also delay it if it snows on Thursday and if the Saints win the Super Bowl. Too many Vets applying delays your claim. The Iraq war delays your claim. The VA does not need an excuse to delay your claim..they delay them on general principals, or because they put on socks that dont match that morning. Worrying about delays to your claim is like worrying about it snowing and slipping on the ice. Its gonna happen. Do not hesitate to file your claim because you are worried about delays. Hesitating costs you money. If you are awarded 100%, then each month you delay costs you about $2600 if you are single. How many $2600 can you afford to loose?

Ok, here is the bottom line. You have two choices: 1. Appeal (file NOD) within one year. 2. Not appeal within the one year time frame and you have to meet the strict "cue" standard UNLESS you can reopen the claim with "new and material evidence". If you did not appeal within a year, then you can post the information in the "Cue" section and someone can answer if they think a CuE is possible.

This is good news for you! My experience has been any embarrassement the RO has works in your favor come decision time. I mean think about it. If your waiter makes a mistakes and brings you the wrong food, what is he going to do? Tell the chef: Oh, I made a mistake on this persons order so please delay their next order as long as possible so I wont ever get a tip from that customer... I dont think so. The IRIS people have already directed the predetermination teem to speed up your claim and put it on the top of the pile. So, when the rater gets it with a yellow sticky note on it from the boss that says, "Expidite"...the rater goes..gee this must be important...the bosses cousin or something, so I had better rate this one "approved" right away if I ever want a bonus. Now for those that say this never happens, I suggest you re read some of the GAO reports...on, oh, say the "Shugga Momma"s case or a few other ones. Nepotism is alive and well at the VA, and if your claim gets stuck in the "good" pile by mistake, what is the VA gonna do? Say something like this: Were sorry your claim was accidently approved as we thought it was the bosses cousin. Instead, it turns out you are not the bosses cousin so we are reducting your rating.

The memory test I took was a little over an hour..maybe an hour and a half. Of course, I cant generalize that yours, Tbird, will be the same. If I recall, part of it was written, but most of it was just the Psych doc asking me questions. He did ask me to remember like 4 or 5 things at the start of the test, then asked me to recall them. I think I got part of them. The bottom line for me was that it did not affect my benefits one way or the other. If I remember right, they told me my short term memory was not so good, but my long term memory was better.

Yes, Tbird,Thanks.Thats what I had in mind. In a nutshell, If I were a homeless Vet, and went to the library computer (where you only have a half hour) and went to the hadit website, I would want to be able to quickly find: -Where to find shelter for tonite? (That is a link, possibly with a map, that shows where the VA hospitals are located) -Where is the local VSO, or at least a phone number? -Suicide hotline phone number etc, etc..for new people to hadit, again, most of the seasoned pro's dont need this info...

I had the memory test. It was not for A and A, but because I was forgetting to take my meds, and my doc was not happy about it. I dont remember all that much about it, but it was not a big deal. I went to the Psych's office, he asked me a bunch of questions and that was it. You will do fine, Tbird. I used to kinda worry about the possibility of reductions, but I dont worry about that anymore. I am 58 years old, and they have to have a pretty good reason to call for a C and P reduction exam for someone over 55. Someone even posted that they dont do reductions while in appealate review..I am not sure how reliable that statement is, but it does make sense to me. Reason: With just one paper copy of your file, if your C file is in the appeals department, it wont be in the "reduction" department. My father, who is now deceased, said it this way. "Worry never robs tommorrow of its sorrow, only today of its happiness."

Carlie I am going to take a guess that your "security warning" is based on one of the following: 1. You updated Windows (your computer may be set to receive security updates from Microsoft automatically), and the updates may have changed some of your security settings. 2. Of course, someone who uses your computer could also have changed security settings to the "notify me" setting, possibly by installing some security software which could change your security settings. 3. You/someone who uses your computer could have updated Adobe reader which could also change the security settings. 4. Finally, whenever someone asks me about "strange" things going on with their computer, the first thing I think of is malware. Is your computer slow or does it have other security issues?

Josh this is a lot of questions. First, you NEVER want to post stuff with your name and address. I suggest you redact your name and address and re post. First things first. It sounds like it is important to you that you get your retro before Christmas. I would focus on that, since that seems to be the most immediate need. It sounds like the VA held up your retro pending a decision on whether or not you are competent to handle your own finances. If your wife is your fiduciary then it sounds like their is a possibility that the VA witheld some money and sent it to her as your fiduicary. You might want to make sure the VA has your correct bank numbers for you and your wife. If you are friendly with your wife, it may not make a whole lot of difference if she gets the money or you get the money..either way would mean your kids would get Christmas presents. Who told you you would get money for Christmas? The VA? on the phone? Your Veterans service officer from the Texas Veterans commission? Unless that person was a VA official, there is no guarntee you will get your money before Christmas, tho the letters make it sound like you should get your money before Christmas. Make sure you check your bank account, your wifes bank account, and your mail each day because it is possible the paper work could have gotten lost. I think it is reasonable for you to contact your VSO (Texas Veterans Commission) and ask them AGAIN what is the status of your payment. Remember, the VA may have messed something up. Hang in there. Maybe someone else will answer some of your other questions

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Berta.. You ARE GOOD. Thanks. Wouldnt it be nice if we knew, for example, if you met ANY of the A and A requirements, you would be awarded A and A? They always make things vague and complicated. TBird It is probably good news that the Va is asking for a memory test. That is, they are at least considering A and A and working on your claim. Its kind of like when you go to a C and P exam..

It has been my experience that the VA is especially stingy about awarding IU, most often requiring appeals, and about a 5-10 time frame. Since it sounds like you dont currently meet the "40%/70% standard", it is going to make it especially difficult, probably requiring an increase in disability percentages, or another new condition approval. That being said, my guess is that if you persist long enough, you are likely to win in appeals tho you probably need to figure 5-10 years realistically. Shinseki promesed to "break the claims backlog" this year, but his promise plus $5 will get you a cup of coffee in most places in town..(.without Shinsekis promises, you can get coffee for $4 or less in most places). If you have not already sought an increase or asked for benefits for other conditions, then sooner is better than later to increase your chances of meeting the 40/70 rules.

John.. You posted," You don't have a DRO decision until you get the letter in the mail. " I respectfully disagree. There are multiple cases on the BVA CAVC websites where Vets were "deemed denied" benefits without the benefit of a written decision, that is, a sub silento denial. When a Vet assumes his case has not been denied because he didnt receive a letter, he is setting himself up to loosing his benefits. Vets are required to appeal even deemed denials within a year, or be forced to meet the strict CUE standard of review that they may not be able to meet.

Tbird if I humbly may make a suggestion on the new home page: IMHO there are two classes of people who would visit the hadit home page. First, there are the seasoned hadit members, many of whom are skilled at knowing exactly where to go to find out what they need to know. The second category is the new or first time visitors who lack basic skills such as knowing where/how to find a VSO, how to find the address of the Regional Office, (or even what a Regional Office is) how to apply for benefits etc. You know..very simple basic stuff that seasoned hadit members know. My suggestion is that a link "Where to go if you are new" be included, where things like links to the va website, my ebenefits, locations of VSO, locations of RO's be found. While most regular hadit readers well know, for example, well know how/where to contact their RO, I recall when I was new and had no idea of where my regional office was. I also remember my county VSO, and not knowing what a "Veterans Service Officer" was. I had no idea of knowing if my VSO was doing a good job or not. I didnt even know the VA had their own website. I think it should be clearly on the home page where homeless Vets can go to get help...these guys may only have one or two chances to visit the library where they may be desperately seeking help..and not knowing where to turn. They may only have a half hour on the library computer, and desperately need to know where the nearest VA hospital/VSO is located...fast. They may not have time to go over pages and pages of hadit posts. They could freeze to death if they cant find help TONITE. How do I know this? Because I was one of them...foreclosure notice in hand, and desperate to find help, not knowing where to turn. As we well know, the VA hospitals are famous for letting homeless vets slip through the cracks. Yea..maybe we could get help if we knew where to go..but we dont..and all VA hospital employees dont know either.

Sargent G I dont see a benefit to you in contacting the VSCM. Regardless of what the VA tells you the average claim time is NOT six months like they say. This is an absolute falsehood perpetuated primarily by political interests. Here is the real deal: The GAO reports that only 4 percent of Veterans are awarded their benefits on the first go around, that is in the first six months. NINETY SIX percent of the rest of us have to do some level of appealate review. A DRO review may be a little bit less, but Veterans for common sense says that it takes the BVA an average of four years to do an appeal. THEN it goes back to the RO for "implementation" which is often a remand, which means start over. Bottom LINE: Since most Vets dont get their benefits until at least five years after initial application, it probably is not going to help much to contact the VSCM to complain they have delayed your claim since 2009. She will probably say, " Delayed since 2009? Ok..well contact me again in 2014 and we will see where we are at then." Reality: The VA claims process is a 5 to ten year project usually. Complaining about the maddening delays wont speed it up. A pastor friend of mine said it this way: "You are NEVER going to make a stupid person smart by telling them they are stupid." Ditto for the VA. You are never going to get your claim processed faster by complaining to the VSCM or others about how slow its going. Veterans claims move at about the speed of a glacier...measured by inches per year. I know its maddening.. beleive me, my home was foreclosed while I waited on the VA to process my claim. Dont listen to Shinseki's Rhetoric, the VA does not care if you loose your home and become homeless waiting on benefits. In fact, they do that sometimes because they know if you are homeless you wont be able to keep up on your benefits..and if you dont have an address, they can mail you a notice of a C and P exam, then deny you because you didnt show. It is your responsibility to give the VA your address and if you dont have one because you are homeless waiting on benefits the VA saves money by making Vets homeless. This is why there are more homeless Vets than homeless civilians. I submitted a "hardship request" to speed up my benefits and the VA has "no record" of my hardship request. My request went direct to the shredder bin, and your request to the VCSM will go there also, and your claim will be placed at the bottom of the pile. Instead, try this: Send an IRIS email, maybe about every two or three months that asks the VA to give specific details, so they will at least have to find your file. Be very respectful, never threating. Sample IRIS request: Dear Regional Office Rating REp: I humbly request that you verify the status of my IU claim. Specifically, have you received the THIRD COPY OF my report from General Motors where I was fired from my job because my PTSD required that I visit a mental health clinician three times per week. (Sometimes you can really rattle their cage with something like this: Was this GM report part of the evidence that was shredded, or was it other evidence that was shredded?) Of course, DO NOT USE this example unless its true. NEVER LIE and never insult. Hang TOUGH. These are good reasons why Vets say that the VA is a worse enemy than Sadaam Hussein.

Doogie... At least one source says that the VA only awards 4% of their claims on "the first round". This means that most Vets, including yourself, will need to go through appealate review before you will be awarded benefits, so hang in there, keep trying and dont give up, if you think you have a valid claim. It has been my experience with the VA that if you had 3 raters independently rate the same claim, you are most likely to get 3 entirely different results. The VA consists of thousands of different people from different backgrounds and different agendas. Frankly, if you are turned down by one, you simply need to proceed to another one who may well give you what you asked for. There really is no "standard" with the VA, pretty much everything is "shoot from the hip" because, for one thing, the VA admits they dont have adequate training. Use this to your advantage. If you are not trying to get benefits back to 1966 and are more concerned with getting benefits AT ALL, then I may humbly suggest you try applying again only using a slightly different "condition". That is, if the first time you applied you sought benefits for a "heart condition", then try again and use "pulmonary artery insufficiency" instead. You may get a rater who is more sympathetic the next time. JMHO

I have had several claims "closed" for no good reason by the VARO. It has never been good. It puts the claim "in limbo" and makes it difficult/impossible for the Veteran to get it going again. Personally, I think this is a VARO "trick" to make it look like there are fewer claims pending, when they are not. That is, it makes them look good, like they finished more claims than they actually did. Remember, according to some recent CAVC decisions, the RO does NOT owe the Vet a written decision on a claim and can, instead, "deemed deny" it. It is called a "sub silento" denial. It means that your one year appeal clock starts ticking and if you dont appeal this deemed denial, then it becomes final and you can never appeal it. Bottom Line: File a NOD JMHO

The VA gets away with it because they can. Altho this story is from a while back, I would welcome someone to publish a link to more recent numbers. This seems to be an area where it is a "carefully guarded secret" at the top levels of the VA. Im sure they dont want the media to know that 96% of Veterans who apply get nothing the first round. http://vnvets.blogspot.com/2010/10/how-va-gets-away-with-it.html

Berta, I am not sure how you "bypassed the RO" unless you mean skipping DRO review and going from denial to BVA. I think I understand what you are saying about the "staged ratings"...you indicate the medical evidence was just not there to go back to 1988 for SMC M. I beleive it was Katrina Eagle (the lawyer for Veterans) who said to not say anything in your NOD (or other VA correspondence) that does not "further" you position of obtaining additional benefits. I think I made that mistake. I pointed out errors the VA made, even tho correcting them was not going to produce any additional benefits. I do think it is possible that the VA sometimes awards more than you expect. Years ago, in sales training, they taught us that the guy that brings up the numbers first, looses. You always want them to suggest a number, or, if you have to suggest a number make it way more than what you expect. Just one example of this was overstock.com. They would say, this item sells for $999. Our regular prices is $499, but if you purchase in the next ten minutes its just $299. They always "plant a number in your head higher than what they want, so then when you go down to the asking price, it seems low". Oh, yes, and overstock .com got sued, because their 999 item was for sale by competitors for 175, and was never priced at 999. Overstock.coms excuse was that all companies do the same. Im not suggesting you lie..ever..not that you would follow that suggestion anyway. But you can tell the truths that are beneficial to you. Example: Even tho the Veteran had disabilities so severe they eventually caused his death suggesting the maximum Special Monthly Compensation (N), the Veteran can clearly demonstrate that the medical records on....date suggest that a minimum of SMC M is supported. Even tho Dr. JJJJ s report suggests a level of SMC M is warranted on that date, this does not mean he did not suffer similar symptoms earlier. In fact, this is precisely why he went to the doctor, because he had previously suffered the symptoms. ..... In the case of SMC, these are supposed to be inferred, and the Veteran is not required to claim them, that is, there is no "claim date" but the effective date will be established by "facts found". Just because the doctor reports that he had those symptoms on that date, does not necessarily mean that is when his symptoms began. This was discussed on another forum. The VA classically uses the C and P exam date as an effective date for increase. However, the Veteran DID NOT get sicker at the C and P exam..this suggests the C and P examiner made the Veteran sick! Instead, the C and P examiner NEGLECTED to give an effective date by stating something like.."The Veteran has been experience these symptoms since ........ date." Rather, the C and P examiner says nothing, and the VA assumes the date of exam is the date the symptoms began. Im guessing this will work for the VA. You know they are going to "cut" whatever you ask for, so ask for much more than what you want.

Berta.. I just would comment that someone posted to the effect that "M21's" are not regulations that the court enforces. I have not seen a single CAVC case where it cited regulations from M21. Further, even the 38CFR's are supposed to be supported by USC regulations. Also, it would appear that trying to get "staged" ratings may not produce the best result for you. In other words, if you applied for the maximum benefit, at the earliest effective date, then let the courts "stage" the ratings according to "the facts found". In other words, if you could get SMC M back to 1988, why would you want less? Maybe my ignorance is showing...just trying to help.

Emily If you have a question about your claim that you would like answered here, may I humbly suggest that you 1. Supply a link to your decision if you would like an analysis of it (or post relevant parts of it, always omitting personal information such as name, city, etc). 2. Keep your questions Simple. Remember these people offering help are volunteers, giving of their time and resourses to help Veterans and Widows. Berta, for one, has helped hundreds of Veterans on here, including myself. Altho she does not always give the answer the Veteran WANTS to hear, her answers are well thought out and researched. I love it when Berta answers my questions, and I do understand she is too busy to give any more hours to Veterans. She already probably donates 40 or more hours per week, and she certainly deserves "a life" away from the computer. Finally, if/when you do get enough help on here and acquire the knowledge to win your claim, then share what you have learned with others, that they also may win their claim.