airborne18

if you take him to the VARO they have NSO's that will help him. If you know nothing about the process, then you should probably help him by getting everything together. ( medical records, service records, etc ). Then driving him and making sure he gets where he needs to be. From what you have posted his claim is not simple, he has a work related injury and is already on disablity. If he is mentally incompetent then the VA will refer him to a social worker. The VA is privacy oriented, and it is hard enough to get spouses and family members access to veterans files. Most of the VSO's that are appointed at local veteran's posts are not qualified to handle claims. At the least the VA requires training for a person to represent veterans claims. Most of the Veterans organizations at least have a person at the department or state level. The DAV is ususally the best, because all they do is handle claims, though it does vary by area.

OK I have both.. no they do not offset, but I have a feeling soon I will lose VocRehab. I was on Vocrehab when I filed for TDIU, and in my award they sent the Vocrehab paperwork..Apprently the 2 sides don't talk. There was also a letter encouraging me to apply for Vocrehab and try to get to a point where I was working. Even said I would not lose TDIU until I have had 12 consectutive months of gainful employment. I read somewhere in the code, that if you are under 45 i think, vocrehab for TDIU is recommended and cannot be used against you.

I would not worry about the cost, the VA selecting you for Vocrehab has already committed itself to spending $75000 on you. I would worry about getting accepted and passing the SAT's. I think one issue you might have is the Vocrehab counseler trying to leverage your current degree for employement.. It is a fine line, convincing them your disablity prevents from music, but not engineering. Good luck and I wish you and your family the best.

This is exactly how the VA PT people instructed me on cane use. The whole idea is to eliminate any gait problems introduced by favoring the non-injured side.

Thanks Philip, You can be my service officer any day.. Actually do have something I am going to email you about.. AATW, Marc

I actually never tried, because http://www.vetcenter.va.gov/Eligibility.asp clearly states you have to be a war zone veteran, which I am not.

No it is how the law reads in my state.. I actually cannot get DAV plates in my state, even though I am a member of the DAV. The woman is quite proud that she had worked the law that way. so people like me who didn't serve during wartime and don't deserve the plates don't get them..

In my state I am not eligible.. It is not the percentage that matters, it is your period of service. Combat does not matter, just that you served during a period of war. Since I served in peacetime I am not a Disabled Veteran... I am a person who served in the military who has a service connected rating.. A civilian who works for the DAV in my state wrote the law, so go figure. same person that took pleasure in telling me I was not eligible for the plates. funny though I am allowed to join the DAV, just can't get their plates..

This might be of some help.. First figure out which priority group you will be in based on your income level. Let say you are required to pay copay's, and they bill your insurance ( they will try this even if it is service connected ).. If you win your service connection, they have to pay it back, and you can actually go back two years and file for your medical bills to be reimbursed. ( I am not sure if this works, but I was told this, but I don't entirely believe it.. ) but either way your VA bills will be taken care of.. Also when you get your bills from the VA, call the billing department and say you are in the middle of a claim, and these bills will be service connected. You can even let it pile up for a few months and ask for a hardship forgivness of the bill. If you are smart in your scheduling.. you really only have one copay per day, no matter how many appointments you have.. So you just schedule as much as you can in one day. As far as them billing your insurance.. they will try and whatever they get, they get, but if your insurance tells them to go pound sand, then they will not come after you. Not as long as you are enrolled in the VA health care system and assigned to a priority group. I would say that your delay is related to the fact that you are not being seen by the VA. Did you submit all of your private medical records and military medical records with your claim?? The VA will still request them from your doctors, and that is what delays the initial claim.

All The Way Bro.... So my question is.. how does he salvage his PTSD claim at this point?? appeal his denial?? Vet Center will not deal with non-combat veterans.. he might have eligibility due to his service dates.. I know I am not eligible.

pete, great posting.. I could have sworn my letter said 10 years.. My daughter is starting college next year for Electrical Engineering, and except for a few core requirements, he will basically have to redo his courses.. The math is intense, along with the other courses.. Most engineering schools have a very specific academic track they have to take.

PR, He has already been denied PTSD. I believe he has a mental health disorder from the trauma. I had an accident in the military and have a mental health disorder.. But the issue is specifically calling it PTSD. They are jerking around combat vets with PTSD claims, so why would anyone think that they wouldn't jerk around peacetime vets? I was diagnosed with PTSD due to my trauama. But when I filed for it, my NSO filed for "any mental disorder".. and the rating that came back was for anxiety, not PTSD. I really do not disagree with you, just there is a subtle difference in claiming PTSD vs depression or anxiety on the veterans side, but it is a big difference to the VA. PTSD is a fight, where as a general mental health condition is not. I thiink the big hurdle is filing for it 20 years after the incident, especially if there is not a treatment history.

You won't ever get straight answers about VR&E from anyone.. The reason is that it is completely up to one person, your VR&E counsler. first, you only have 10 years from the date of your award to file for Vocrehab. Second, they will help you figure out a career, though they will try and find you one that will not require going back to school.. The goal is for them to help you figure out a career, and if you need education to achieve that goal, that so be it.. They will test you and interview you to see if they are going to invest the money. ( Unlike the GI Bill, there is not $$$ limit for schooling in Vocrehab ). They will give you aptitude test and psych tests, and they will review them with you. .they will suggest career paths. And they will advise you on which would interferre with your disabilities. The issue you will run into is that you are 70%, and VR&E gets stuck with too many people getting close to a degree and then they file for IU. So they are very careful. When you go to your first meeting, have a school selected, and even better apply to the school. Dress like it is a job interview and take it very seriously. The story you laid out in your posting is exactly what I would tell them. Getting or not getting Vocrehab has more to do with the person.. If you impress them, you will get it. The 70% and you filing for TDIU is what scares them.. You sound sincere and as long as you are. I would actually tell them that you need a new career, you have a family to support, and the VA compensation is never going to be enough, even at 100%.. Tell them you want a career that won't get in the way of your medical problems, and you need their help.. ( they always like hearing that you need their help. ) The VA wants you to work, and they want to help you.. Even if you do Vocrehab you can still file for IU. They don't penalize you for trying to be productive.

I think you are going the wrong way with MH. PTSD is a sticky point with the VA, you should just focus on depression or anxiety. Have you tried Vocrehab? That is my suggestion. You need a pattern of working and trying to work. One issue is that the you have never worked. You have not shown the VA that you cannot work, you have only shown them that you are not working.. there is a difference. Also they only consider your service connected conditions.. If you have Non service-connected conditions, that affect your ability to work, then you are not going to win IU. Your posting states that it is your MH conditions that impact your ability to work, not your SC issues.. So you need to get a SC mental health condition.. I will say that I won my IU on physical issues, not mental, even though my mental conditions have a higher rating.

congrats.

here is the fact sheet from the va site.. it is new, dated june 2009 http://www.va.gov/healtheligibility/Librar...ntal/Dental.pdf

I was more repsonding to the the other posts.. But I agree if you were allowed to just put a tape recorder on the desk in a C&P exam it would work.. Fact is you can't, and a hidden tape recorder would not achieve what you want. But what will help is taking someone with you to your c&p exams. One time my wife could not go with me, and yes the guy was a jerk. Life goes on. In all of my dealings with the VA, no matter how much of jerk they are, I am always nice to them. Always. I don't argue, I don't get mad. If I have an isssue I simply go above the person.

Apparently my packet didn't come with alot of things.. I got a paper with a list of benefits for P&T, but no details.. It did come with the Chapter 35 apps, but not the ChampVA. I should have also received the letter for the Military ID.. So maybe they did send the ChampVA seperately and it might be in my PO Box. I do not have eligiblity for SSDI.. I do not have enough wage qtrs. In the past 5 years I have only worked 1. And now you have to have worked 4 years out of the last 10. I am also not eligible for DAV plates either.. go figure.

I thought it was VA policy that a claim from a worker has to be handled at a different VARO in a different region?

Iraq, That was my plan as well.. I needed the money that it would pay and figured after a year or two I would file for the P&T. I basically got the highest from the start.. they could easily have made it temp. when I called my NSO to clarify, he said you got it all and no more claims need to be done... It really is about the P&T part, whether you are 100% schedular or through unemployable does not matter.. It is all on whether they designate you as P&T.. One other point.. I got my TDIU based on a physical problem, not mental... Though my highest rated disability is mental ( 50% ).. they based their decision on my back, which I have two seperate ratings ( 40% each ).

I had 2 employers in 5 years.. really only worked the last year. One repied, the other was the US Census.. The employer form asks for your supervisor to sign off.. really you could choose anyone in your chain of command. In the regs is says they cannot hold it against you if your employers refuse to do the forms. However, I think you will have a problem if you have 4 employers and none of them return the form. I didn't put the employer addresses on the IU form, so I got the employer questionaires. The VA called me asking me for the addresses, but I told them my wife was getting the forms completed. I told them the Census was probably not going to return the form.. When I went to my employer, I had the form filled out.. I basically told them the VA needed to verify that I am not getting any worksman's comp or other disability money from the employer.. ( not a lie, the form does ask about it )... Some advice, which seemed to help.. I didn't resign my job, I took leave under the federal leave act.. that created a paper trail that proved the medical side of it.. even if the employer doesn't return the form, I still had a paper trail that said I left under medical reasons.

I think the VA will attempt to hit your insurance either way. If you insurance pays, great, otherwise no big deal. The VA is using this "bill and and all insurance" rule to create a big revenue stream.. I don't blame them, they are playing the same way all hospitals play, except the VA will eat the unpaid bill in the end ( in most cases ). One of my docs at the VA really laid this out for me once.. the VA hospitals have hired an army of insurance billing specialists to enforce this new program. Quick story- I had a non-service connected surgery in May.. Last week there was a message on my phone from VA billing department.. My private insurance lapsed when I stopped working.. The message was basically a threat ( and she lied ).. here is what she said.. " Apparently your blue cross is not valid.. I need you to call me back with an insurance policy to bill so we don't have to bill you" At the time in the system I was 80%.. ( my TDIU was dated back to may 1st, but was not in the system).. Either way I was priority group 1. There is never going to be a bill to me. I stopped at the insurance billing desk and asked about the phone call, they looked it up and said they have no clue what she was talking about.

I thought they would do dental emergencies if it could impact your overall health.. I think an abcess( sp?) would be serious, that infection can spread easily.

I had a similiar experience.. He sent me to the C&P office to get my travel money voucher and he followed me in about 2 mins behing me. He watched me as he was pretending to go through files for the next person. And even came over to shack my hand ( my cane was in my right hand ) to see if I would just put my cain aside. Though my C&P experiences are different, I have gotten increases, though I have only had a few c&P's.. I went to 100% in 18 months and only had one annual.. now I have no future exams. But I do believe the SOP for C&P docs is what you say.. The moral of the story is always follow the rule: you are always being watched at the VA.. And you never know who is behind you in the hallway or elevator. This was advice posted somewhere by someone who worked at the VA. And it is true.

I actually found out why they relaxed enrollement for group 8. It is a funding issue and group 8 is lucrative revenue stream since the VA can bill any insurance, not just Medicare. Each VA hospital has hired a legion of insurance billing specialists to aggressively do billing. I know my hospital announced how they hired 200 new people, but what they didn't say was that most of them were Admin staff and specifically in the billing side.. They actually laid off all part time medical staff.