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beenwaiting8years

Seaman
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About beenwaiting8years

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  • Location
    Texas
  • Interests
    Computers, outdoors, travelling, movies.

Previous Fields

  • Service Connected Disability
    100%
  • Branch of Service
    Army

beenwaiting8years's Achievements

  1. Both SSA and VA have been awarded for the same condition and SSDI has been ongoing for 9 years. Now the case is up for a review. What are the reasons why it would be revoked or is that a remote possibility in the first place?
  2. I've been recently denied Voc Rehab services and they recommended independent living services instead. This greatly discourages me since I had imagined I'd be able to get another job and the counselor said it did not seem feasible that I could be rehabbed. I was rated at 100% but not P&T. They said I would be reevaluated in five years. My question is, if I'm denied Voc Rehab services, is that a good support for claiming P&T status?
  3. I signed up with a couple veteran organizations but they were zero help, especially the DAV. I had one VSO at the DAV tell me there was no way my claim would get approved and he suggested I start over from scratch. I'm now sitting at 100% service connected with 10 years of back pay on the initial appeal. I did all the leg work, kept pushing through the red tape and collected yearly medical paperwork documenting my ongoing problems. Documents, medical opinions, and patience. I'm an eternal skeptic and just used old fashioned grit to work the claim myself, researching what I could, and just kept pushing through.
  4. It seems like you need a couple of civilian doctors to write a letter for you, detailing that what you were originally diagnosed with in the service is directly linked to the MS diagnosis you have now. The VA doesn't need ironclad evidence of the link. They are looking for direct statements from a medical professional that links what you had back then to what you have now. I recently received 10 years of retro pay, and what the VA said in my award letter was that they were not able to disregard the opinion of a medical professional.
  5. I never figured that the VA would be more difficult to get than the SSDI, but it was for me at least. I applied for SSDI, and five months later it was awarded and has been reexamined since. Still receiving that benefit. The VA was a completely opposite experience. First, they denied the initial claim and said they were unable to retrieve any military medical records on me at all. My military records somehow had vanished, so I tracked down the doctor who saw me during the service and had him write up a simple summary of dates and diagnosis. Then I appealed the VA denial, and waited another 8 years on appeal status. Finally, after almost 10 years from the initial claim, the VA awarded 100% and back paid to the original claim date. Ten years of back pay at 100%. Needless to say it was a relief to get it finished. I had so many VSOs tell me that I'd never get this claim approved. All I can tell you is to ignore the naysayers and the more medical paperwork you have, the better. I saw a doctor at least once a year and sometimes quite a bit more and submitted every shred of medical document I could get as further proof. It also helped a lot to have a doctor write that it was their opinion that the condition was directly linked to my military service. The Board of Veteran Appeals gives extreme weight to such testimony over anything a VA doctor may say to the contrary. Just keep at it, and think positively no matter what you're told. I've learned quite a bit about staying the course. Feel free to ask me any questions. Good luck.
  6. All I know is there was a VA appointment in 2004 where the doctor gave me a diagnosis of Adjustment Disorder. This seems to be the reason the VA chose to reduce the rating. What is unbelievable is that the VA doctor who did the C&P exam in 2009 rated it as the same condition I was awarded SSDI for in 2003. I'm sorry if this sounds confusing. But since SSDI has been awarded since 2003 for this same service connected condition, which is not adjustment disorder, I was hoping that I could get the reduction retroactively restored back to where it was from the beginning. If I'm getting SSDI all this time for this condition, I am wondering if that is enough evidence in addition to not being able to keep a job.
  7. Thanks for the quick reply LarryJ. In addition to filing the TDIU claim, I also filed a NOD to the initial rating decision. In their decision, they initially rated me at 100% for the first three years, and 70% for the remaining 5 years. Since I filed a NOD and sent in my SSDI decision letter, will I stand a good chance of getting the 70% restored to 100% for those 5 years?
  8. Ok so the VA sent me a rating letter where they said my condition is at 70% and retroactively paid back to 2001. SSDI initially awarded benefits for the same exact condition in 2003 and has reevaluated me in 2005 and has continued the benefit. So is this SSDI benefit enough evidence to support a TDIU claim? I only recently received the VA rating in September 2009, so can I make a case for receiving TDIU retroactively since the initial VA decision is less than a year old?
  9. It should also be noted that I never received a proposed letter to reduce my rating decision. The only letter I've received is the initial rating decision. Keep in mind that it took almost 9 years to received that initial rating decision. The VA rated me at 100% in this initial decision from 2001 until 2004. Then in this initial rating decision, the VA reduced the rating to 70% from 2004 until present. The date of the reduction coincides with a single visit I made with a VA doctor in March 2004. The doctor diagnosed me with Adjustment Disorder. Apparently, the disability was not mentioned in this doctor's notes, so the VA probably used this visit to reduce the rating. This was a quick 30 minute (if that) visit to the VA. There is nothing in the rating decision to say specifically why they reduced the rating. I am left to assume that the doctor did not mention the service connected condition in his records, so the VA took it upon themselves to assume the condition had improved. I've appealed the rating reduction, hoping to get it back up to 100% based on the fact that SSDI has been awarded for this same s/c condition since 2002. I've also applied for TDIU based on the same evidence. I'm hoping that the SSDI evidence is enough to retroactively reinstate the 100% rating.
  10. I know the relationship between SSDI and VA comp. They changed it because of a VA visit in 2004 where I saw a VA doctor for an entire 30 minute vist, never to see him again. That VA doctor wrote down a diagnosis that did not include my prior medical history. In other words, the doctor misdiagnosed me and the VA used this visit in their decision to reduce the rating. If you're getting SSDI for a service connected condition, which I am, the most obvious thought is that the VA rating should be at 100%. This isn't always the case, but as a general rule it is. The SSDI is for the same service connected condition that the VA recently awarded compensation for. Now here's the dilemna. If I'm getting SSDI for this same s/c condition, shouldn't it follow that they should reinstate the 100% rating and/or at least award TDIU retroactively to when they reduced it to 70%. Keep in mind that they reduced the rating retroactively as well. It's not as confusing as I make it appear.
  11. Well I applied for VA compensation back in 2001 for a condition that SSDI was awarded back in 2003. In 2009, the VA finally decided on my case and back paid til 2001. In their initial decision, they awarded 100% from 2001 until 2004 and dropped it to 70% from 2004 until present day. The service connected condition was the sole reason I was getting SSDI from 2002 until present. So my question now is, should I be applying for TDIU back to when I first received SSDI benefits? Should I also apply for reinstatement of the 100% rating for the same reasons? My thinking is that the condition has been granted benefits from SSDI since 2002 and since the decision from the VA retroactively downgraded the percentage, the TDIU benefit should also be retroactively paid back to when SSDI was first awarded.
  12. Thanks for this information but it does not apply in that my initial rating letter was dated back to April 2001 and I just received the rating in December 2009. So they said from April 2001 until March 2004 I was at 100% and from March 2004 until now they rated me at 70%. In this explanation you sent me, this veteran was afforded 60 days before the rating was reduced. I have not had any warning before the rating was reduced. They just went down to 70% like that. But I've had SSDI since 2003 for this condition, so in all probability, any TDIU that may be awarded will be retroactive to when they reduced it.
  13. Yes, the SSDI condition IS the service connected condition. Reduced to 70% for one condition. I saw a private practioner and her letter to the VA said I have been unable to work. However, the VA had this letter when they made this rating reduction. The VA reduced the rating due to an evaluation a VA doctor had made during a quick appointment in March 2004. It was definitely not a C&P exam. There was no rating before the 100%, it started at 100%. It was lowered to 70% because there is no percentage inbetween for this disability. You're either 100 or 70. I have had SSDI for this same condition since 2003 and I applied for TDIU once I received this initial rating last month. I was told that in this case, the VA probably will have an effective date to when I was initially reduced to 70% because it is after the SSDI award date. I hope that's how the VA does it for me.
  14. They never mentioned the SSA records at all in the decision. They have verified in the past that they had them. I was told today by the VSO that there is a case for back pay of TDIU because I have been on SSDI for this same disability. We shall see.
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