broncovet

I would like to thank TBird, Pete, BERTA, and Carlie and other moderators. Yes, I know you have to make judgement calls that sometimes others are unhappy with..which posts to close, etc. These calls really are for the good of all, we want this to be for Veterans, and not to further anyones political agenda. This board is much better than Veterans Benefit Network, tho some people here are also on VBN. My sincere thank you for your sevice, you have volunteered countless hours with a goal of helping Veterans. Merry Christmas to all. May God Bless

Carlie.. Thank you. I am not sure about the "one shot" Cue thing either, that is why I am asking! I will try to find a link, but I seem to recall reading it on hadit that Vets only had one shot at the CUE. I guess that question could also extend to a NOD...what if a Veteran timely files a NOD, then realizes, for example there were unadjuticated claims! Can he file a second NOD on the same claim, but maybe with different issues?

I respectfully disagree that there is no politics in whether or not Vets get a Cola for several reasons: 1. First, this government formula determining Cola is subject to manipulation by the powers that be. A really good example of this is the political mathematical genius that figured out that half (50%) of $2673 is $770. This formula does not use math we learned in second grade, but rather is a manipulation extraction that makes the budget work, and shafts 50% disabled Veterans out of about $500 per month. I may not be a rocket scientist by my calculator says 50% of $2673 is $1336.50 and not $770. 2. If some presidents are given credit for a good economy, then others should have to take the blame when the economy goes south, even when they are in the same political party. 3. If there was truly zero inflation last year, why did seniors medicaid go up which results in seniors social security payments actually going down from last year? 4. If "the other" political party was in power, and we got a zero Cola, would the president not be blamed for shafting Veterans? 5. If this CPI-W is truly a reflection of the bad economy, then who is to blame for the bad economy..the previous administration?

In what way is it treated differently than an "original claim" or "new and material evidence" claim?

I read that in filing a CUE a Veteran has only "one shot" to get it right, or forever be barred from filing a Cue again. Does that apply to a single decision? What if that decision has multiple issues, and there were multiple CUE violations? What about "unadjucated" issues, that is, what if a decision failed to address an issue at all, so the Veteran was unaware the decision was "deemed denied"? I just realized this "deemed denial" thing opened up a can of worms with Cue. In case you are not up to speed a "deemed denial" means if you apply for 3 issues, and the VA issues a decision on just one, the other two are "deemed denied" and the one year appeal clock starts..Veterans are required to file a NOD for claims that have never been decided because the court considerers them denied. Its one of those Va loopholes that frustrates Veterans.

James May I ask as to what is a "continiously prosecuted claim"? This is a term I am unfamiliar with. I am guessing it means that it has been denied a few times, and the Veteran continues with an appeal. Is it treated any differently?

The statement, "If we can't get it under a liberal congress & white house, it will be a cold day in h#ll under a right wing administration." Is highly political, inaccurate, and should be removed, noting that under the Republican administration, Veterans got a Cola, not so under the current administration.

I think mags is right. Unless you are retired military, it would not apply. My guess is that it would apply if you were getting retirment, then got a VA disability. Since VA disability is non taxable, you would be entitled to a refund of the taxes you paid on your retirement pay. My advice would be to ask your tax preparer to look into this for you, explaining that your VA is non taxable, while military retirement is taxable, and that your retirement deducted your taxes, and later the VA said that it was disability pay, not retirement pay.

Well, yes, fee basis is limited and tightly controlled, but isnt VA medical care the same? Its not like the Va has "no rules or restrictions". Ever try to get, say, Chiropractic care through the VA? I dont know about you, but I would gladly trade my Va medical card for a private insurance company health plan.. Even tho I would have to pay a copay/deductable, I could see any doc I wanted and not just a VA doc, and I wouldnt have to put up with VA crapola anymore. I find it interesting that a 100% Pand T Veterans spouse can elect Champva or VAMC care, while Veterans are not offered the same option.

Timetowinarace is right. Joining hadit is like getting married...all you have to do to join is to let your emotions cloud your judgement..but then..getting a divorce from hadit is much harder. In order to unmarry hadit, you have to prove that you are an unfit BS'er. Sorry, Larry, you dont qualify for a divorce from hadit as your hat automatically qualifes you as an accomplished bullshooter.

McAfee It boils down to their word against yours, about the "bodily harm threat" thing. Unfortunately, in the VA system, the gworker's word is always taken over the Veteran, while it would make sense that a Veteran has sacraficed MUCH MORE than a gworker, and therefore, has a much higher committment level. The Veterans word should be taken over the Gworker. You know, kind of like the police officer's word is accepted over the criminal. We are the ones wearing the uniform! Its all backwards. I would advise you to keep your goal in mind. If your goal is revenge..it wont happen, and you need to forget it and take refuge in your God. If your goal is to obtain a certain benefit, then you are much more likely to achieve this if you remain cool and collected, and patiently state your case. It almost seems as if you have, at least in part, achieved your goal with the "fee basis call". That is, you said you didnt ever want to go to the VA again, and it sounds like that opinion is mutual..that the Va is offering you "fee basis". By offering you fee basis care, the Va is saying we will pay your medical bill to keep you off the VA premisises. I think I would oblige them, then savor in your victory! I cant get "fee basis" except in special circumstances, so you are getting much better health care than I am, because private industry health care is superior to the VA, in part, because it is easier to sue a private doc for malpractice than it is to sue uncle sam for the same.

I agree with TEAC about P and T, and how the VA looks at it differently than the Veteran. (Gee..what else is new..the VA looks at everything different than the Veteran). I would add that RO decisions are inconsistent about specifiying "eligibility for DEA". Sometimes, I think the VA says something like, "No future exams are scheduled", and that means, to THEM, it is P an T. However, for example, to your local tax assessor, he may not know that "no future exams are scheduled" means that the Veteran is P and T, and is eligible for a property tax exclusion which is offered by some communnities for "P and T Veterans". While I am pretty sure that no one listens to Veterans, why does the VA not have a "box" that says..Is Veteran P and T? Yes No? Since there are many state and even county benefits, why is it that Veterans are often frustrated at obtaining them, even after they have received a P & T award, because it is often confusing as to whether or not it is P and T. I think I can guess an explanation. VA does not like to use the words P and T, because, if 5 years later they call for an exam and try to reduce the rating, the Vet can come back upon appeal and say, "but you already said I was P and T, and now you are changing your mind...you said P and T, and that decision became final a year ago".

Someone brought up the age old question, "Should you have a VSO or not?" IMHO, if you are not sure, or you dont know what a VSO is, then you should probably have one. You should only represent yourself if you are confident that you can construct a meaningful sentence, and have a good working knowledge of VA lingo. I would add that if you lack the skill to, say, search a CAVC case, then you probably should have a VSO, because you are probably going to have to appeal. Only a small percentage of claims are awarded in full the first go around, most of the awards are granted after at least one appeal.

I would add that I recall reading somewhere that, "You only have ONE shot at CUE"...can anyone confirm/deny this? Example: You file a CUE on a 2005 decision, because the 2005 decision failed to address a particular issue. Later you find out there are other CUE errors, that are more probative. Is it true that you cant file a second CUE on a decision?

There are two rules to remember when duking it out on hadit: 1. Many Veterans who are on this board have mental issues such as PTSD, depression, MST, violence tendencies, inability to get along with others, bad memory, battle relapses, forgetting Christmas, etc. so try to remember that and get along. 2. I dont remember what the second rule is.

Berta.. May I ask how you get these phone numbers? In the VA, telephone numbers are a carefully guarded secret (gee..I wonder how that fits in the the presidents new idea on government "transparency"), so they seem to be very hard to come by. I would love to have my RO's phone numbers. The VA's excuse for not giving out phone numbers is that they would never get anything done..answering questions all day long. However, is it really any more productive to let those questions go unanswered, like they are now, and the Vet is denied, then goes through a lengthy appeal? Is it not, in fact, faster to answer a Vets question than for the VA to do a SOC and I9?

I would not be too fast to discredit this...I would not put it past the VA (or IRS or other government agency) to not tell Veterans about some of the benefits. In fact, the VA often buries details of benefits deep in their website so you cant really find them, or figure out how to apply.

Rock..altho Pete is right...the VA will break every regulation in the book to deny. They do this on purpose because: 1. Many Vets dont know better and never appeal. 2. Many Vets die waiting on the long appeal process and never get paid. 3. Even if the Veteran is successful in the appeal, the monies paid the Veteran will get paid out of next year or the following years budget without interest. Its a no brainer for the VA...both delays and denials save the VA billions. As long as it is profitable for the VA to continue delaying and denying, it will continue. I dont know where the regulation is that governs this, but when a Veteran applies for benefits the VA must assume the Veteran is seeking the maximum benefit allowable under the law. They cant just say...ahhh heck..he isnt seeking benefits for his amputated leg, he is just seeking benefits for hearing loss so he can get free hearing aids. You see, if the Veteran goes to a VA doc and tells him this amputated leg he got in the military is causing him phantom pain, that constitutes an informal claim for an amputated leg in addition to Vets current claim for hearing loss. That is, the Vet going to the doc complaining of his phantom pain from his amputated war wound leg, "specifies the benefit sought". I do recall somewhere about a judge scolding the VA for inisisting on dividing a Veterans claims up...a claim for hearing loss, another claim for tinnitus, another claim for amputated leg, etc. The Veteran is seeking VA benefits...the maximum in which the law will allow! Even raters do not understand this, and the VA RO's often tries to weasel out of this saying the Veteran must specify the benefit sought. I think, under appeal, you could likely win, if you sought treatment for those conditions. However, the VA requires "chronicity of treatment". If you had a war injury in 1970, but got no treatment for it until 2009, its gonna be hard for you to win that claim for that benefit.

It sounds like this bill "forgot" someone...oh yea..they forgot Veterans. They have forgotten about Veterans so many times that they didnt even notice they "forget" them this time. The powerful, well organized, well funded united AARP lobby didnt even bother with Veterans either because they know the VA lobby is weak, underfunded, divided among VN/WW2/OIF Vets and consists mainly of groups like the DAV/VFW etc who collects large portions of their money from Veteran's advesary...the VA. The DAV/VFW knows if they lobby for Veterans Cola, the VA could make them start paying rent they now enjoy for free at the VA Regional Offices, because the VA uses money they take from Veterans to fund lucrative "friends and family" contracts, and VA executive bonuses. So, the VSO's caved again to the VA.

Test is right. Did you have two zero percent ratings which would equal one 10%? Or, try the fuzzy math calculator. I am thinking if its over 54.45% it rounds to 60%, but I am not sure.

The Nexus letter needs to say something VERY close to: "The Veterans (medical condition) is at least as likely as not due to ____________ sustained while in military service." Or: The Veterans .......is most likely due to ........ in military service. ========================================================================== If he says The Veterans.......might be due to military service or The Veterans.......could be due to military service. Your claim will be denied as the VA considers it speculative.

VBN has something on it, though not very much. Try here: http://vets.yuku.com/reply/147340/t/Re-VA-...er-Refund-.html I am still confused as to what they are talking about. When you reach 100%, you no longer have a co pay on prescriptions, so, yes, you can get that money you paid to copays back..all you need to do is apply at your VA. Also, if you have VA life insurance, you are entitled to "waiver of premiums" ,that is, you get the life insurance free if you are disabled. Check with the vA life insurance for more on this. As far as the IRS goes, VA disability compensation is non taxable, so if you paid taxes on this I guess you can get it back. Finally, if they are talking about Property taxes waiver, then that may apply. In some states, there is a property tax waiver for 100% p and T Vets. In my area, you get a 25,000 waiver..that is, if the property is in the VEts name, he does not pay property taxes on the first $25,000 property value. I would be more than a little hesitant to send private information to a guy who was supposed to get me a refund.

My 2 cents on this, Thad. 1. As long as you have filed a NOD within one year of the decision, forget all about CUE. Cue is harder to prove than a regular appeal, so dont make things more difficult on yourself. Cue only applies when you fail to meet the one year deadline for filing a NOD. 2. As to your question about "when is an informal claim not a claim", it is true that the regs require that you "specify the benefit sought". However, if you filed a formal claim for benefits, and then went to a VA doc and his medical records say something like, "Doc, I am depressed due to bad things I saw in military service and I can no longer get a job and I need help"...then that medical exam meets the "specify the benefit sought " clause and is an informal claim. You dont need to use the words, "I want to apply for TDIU". The law is required to give a liberal interpretation of all the Veterans filings and this does not require you to have intimate knowledge of all the VA's many TDIU requirements and lingo. The VA is required to assist you and assume you are applying for the maximum benefit allowable by law. 3. Make sure your decision addresses all your issues. If you told your VA doc you we depressed due to the war and cant find work, and the decision does not address depresion or TDIU, then include in your NOD something like. "I disagree with the decision dated Nov. 10, 2009 as the decision did not address my claim for depression and TDIU made at Dr. Kevorkians office on June 1, 2008." There are new court cases where the VA can just blow off Vetrans claims and not even address them, and address other issues with a decision and those are "deemed denied". "Deemed denied" is a term I use which means, in this context, secretly denied, as you never got a decision.

Obviously Frandsen wants a job as an executive at the VA, and will put this article in his CV or Resume. The VA wants more executives who can distort the truth, while keeping the VA agenda in mind. This article demonstrates that Frandsen can distort the truth, and even make the distortion believable to the gullible public. The VA is preparing Frandsen's executive bonus check now, to make sure that it wont be late by even one day.

Good Point Berta Also make a seperate folder for: 1. Post Office Receipts, and returned mail cards for stuff you sent to the VA, making a note of what it was you sent. 2. Copies of resubmitted evidence that the VA lost or shredded, often it is shredded multiple times, even with post office proof of mailing. Shredding is so widespread, that it is not a question of if evidence was shredded, but rather, how much evidence did the RO shred, and was the shredded evidence probative. Do any Veterans disagree with this last sentence?