jtg1966

well if they judge me incompetant...they they will have to reconsider the 50% rating for my bipolar...when i got the ssdi award...i had to have a payee....but my VA shrink provided a letter stating that i am competant to handle my own funds...i have a copy of that letter and will be happy to provide it to the VA....i expect to receive a minimum of 28k to 100k in retro...depends of what effective date they use for the award...because my claim is based almost wholly ion missing SMR's i think they should pay me back to 1995...but i think they are going to ignore 38 cfr 156( c) and that i'll have to NOD them for an earlier eef and a higher rating...but i'm not rocking the boat until i get the 50% bipolar SC award finalized....

I was joking....i haven't bid on a thing....it's just that my peeps (i've never actually used that word in a sentence before) have all been telling me that i have to watch my money. and right now i'm kind of urphoric about getting the retro....i have no idea as yet what the effective date is....it should be 1995, but i suspect that it will be 2007 and i'll have to fight for the proper effective date....i was just trying to be lighthearted about winning my appeal.... but the truth of the matter is that with my 50% rating, i'll actually only gain about 60.00 a month... I'm in section 8 housing, which means that i'll have to pay my full rent myself (which would eat up 400 of the 700 doallars i would gain each month)....i'll lose 88.00 a month in food stamps....and right now because i'm below the poverty level the state pays my medicare part b premium 96.40....and they pay my medicare part D premium around 20.00.... I would like to get a newer more dependable car, and possibly a bike...but regardless of what i get...i'm going to only blow 50% percent of the back pay on the car and bike as well as a new laptop....the rest is going into cd's or perhaprs a pay now annuity.... although sharon had a good idea ....the playboy mansion tour..... HEFFFFFFFFFFFFFF ....baby....

the reason that you got the november effective date was because you didn't appeal the appeal. a request for reconsideration is treated as a claim for increase or a new claim....theefoe the effective date would naturally be that of the date that you filed the claim for reconsideration....

here's the deal with social security and the va ....38 cfr 3.201...exchange of information with the ssa...there is a presuption that when one applies for ssdi, one applies for all current disabilities....regardless of whether or not you are already SC'd for a particular disability with the VA....then when the VA examines the ssa records....they notice that you didn't include in your application for benefits the SC condition...so therefore the SC condition is not as disabling as you you are claiming it is otherwise you would have listed it...its va logic, but in a way it makes sense because proof of an already accepted disabling condition can help prove either your ssdi claim or your claim for VA comp... so for the record...in the future, anyone applying for ssdi should include their already rated VA comp conditions....because when you then later apply for an increase...the VA will conclude that the SC condition is not so severe as to rate an increase because you didn't list it as one of your disabling conditions when applying for ssdi... you may....and many often do, receive both ssdi and va comp for the same condition...and are therefore intertwined... its always a good idea when you are applying for ssdi, to list all of your disabling conditions because you may not be considerd disabled merely due to a particular condition...but when conditions A,B, and C are considered....that presents an entirely different picture and may prove that when conditions A,B and C are considered relatively and in conjunction with each other that you are actually disabled.... just my 'umble opinion...but it certainly seems logical.... "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil... is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)

moses wandered aimlessly in the desert for 40 years...i'd bet money that you beat that timeframe...but perhaps by only 6 months...the entire claims process is a long fusterating grueling process...there are no definitive estimates as to how long the process takes...it could be 2 years....it could be ten....nag your POA and make inquiries via iris....call the 800# ....read the CFR's and the bva and cavc opinions...educate yourself because the POA, won't be nearly as proactive as you, because frankly they are overworked and they don't have the same level of interest in your case/claim as you do...hang in there brother...

so as y'all know i was notified that i won my appeal....but haven't rec'd the money yet... the question that i have is this... is it wrong that i'm watching an ebay auction for a 2008 hummer which also has gold plated handles and lug nuts and furry dice hangin' from the rearview mirror made from actual mink. not to mention that I bid on a hooter's tour which includes airfare , transpotation to 38 hooters world wide and all you can eat or drink for 19,000?

I can't think of a better compliment then for you to say i sound like you....except for perhaps saying that i look like brad pitts and george cloony's exceptionally handsome love child....*laughing*

hey berta, can you pm me your email...i'd like you to look over the actual IRIS diolouge and let me know what you think....i would very much value your opinion....thanks....i will be discreet with your contact information...

I'm not able to work...and i will indeed nod them...but i got the initial rating...i'll fight for the 100% or tdiu later on appeal....but thanks bertha...you unknowingly helped a lot...i've stalked you and read many of your posts....thanks dahling....john

I am not able to work...but i will worry about that later on appeal...i find that it's easier to get an increase once a rating is assigned then to worry about an inappropriate rating...back on the merry-go-round i go....

so i guess i won...yeah....yeah....yeah....

got a response from an IRIS inquiry....i was hammering them hard about what kind of medical opinion was needed...they said they couldn't or wouldn't tell me exactly what kind of medical opinion was needed...told them that under the VCAA they were required to provide me and my represetative notice of what evidence was required. I also stated that my VA psychiatrist provided a nexus letter on 04/03/09 and that any additional medical opinion would be considered an attempt by the VA to acquire evidence against my claim...and that if they were stating that my VA shrink was not competent to provide care to me or other veterans that they should please alert me so that i could petition the Sec of VA and the director of the wpbvamc to remove him from service before he did any irrepairable harm to me or other veterans that he is unqualified to treat....and this is how they responded verbatum: Mr. : I understand that you are extremely upset with they way your appeal has been handled. I am the Assistant Coach of the Public Contact Team. I have gotten with the Decision Review Officer in appeals and asked him to take a look at the information that has been submitted. He just contacted me and informed me that his decision is to grant you Service Connection for your bipolar disorder at 50%. and you will receive a letter within the next couple of weeks. Your file will need to go down to your POA (which is American Legion for them to review) so at this point there is no further information that we can provide. I sincerely hopes that this answers all of your questions. Thanks again for serving your country.

got my approval letter today....50% for bipolar disorder....yeah!!!!!

bad news...the ARC in waco kicked the claim back to the St. Petersburg RO for a "medical opinion", although at the present time they could not tell me the reason for the medical opinion... I really thought i was close...should have known better... now i have to wait for a CnP evaluation or some other delay tatic...

carlie...I do have an overwhelming amount of medical records now associated with my claims file...30 hospitalizations since discharge and the clinical records from the last 55 days of service... 2 IMO's connecting the dots between all three prongs...current disability, incurrence in service, and a causal relationship between the two... SSA records granting SSDI in 2007, saying that they consider me disabled since 1992...ironically enough it was VHA records that comprised 90% of the medical records for the SSDI award...go figure... i don't actually expect an initial rating of 100% for the acquired psych disorder...i do expect an initial rating of 50-70 percent back to 02/07...and then on appeal i expect to get IU...

i'm hoping john (my name too btw) for the letter from the VA granting the SC...then i will be dancing in the sttreets...clothed this time i promise....

yeah carlie i agree that retro back to '95 would be terrific...but honestly i'm not a pig...i'd be happy with 100% monthly just so's i can eat real regular...it's a struggle most months...and completely devastating if say I have to replace a tire... a $90.00 tire means i don't eat the last 10 days of the month...i wish that the VA in their infinate wisdom understood that....

i really just want to get the SC first...then i will go after the RO/BVA/CAVC/FDCA/US SUPPREME Court... for the earliest possible effective date...I just need them to give me SC first...*makes the sign of the cross, AND says two hail mary's and an our father* I'm nerveous about waco....seems the guvment ain't a never done nothin' GOOD in waco texas...

under 38 cfr 3.156c , if a previously denied claim is later granted based wholely or in part on the basis of newly discovered offical service records ... then the va will reconsider the previously denied claim (38 cfr 3.156c3) and the effective date will be that of the previously decided claim... under vigil v. peake... attached is a powerpoint presentation developed by the vnlsp for training vso's NVLSP_VigilVsPeake.ppt

currently the American Legion has my POA... this most recent claim has been pending for 3 years...

yes i understand that the legal representation might just be worth 60% of something... yes they did have an obligation to have those records earlier...as early as 1989 (when i was first SC for asthma and ulner nerve entrapment) i would think...but i didn't put in a claim for an acquired psych disorder until 1995, and yes it was denied because of the missing records...especially the missing SMR's.... but then i'm counting on vigil v. peake ... ie. 38 cfr 3.156c for the VA to pay me back to the original claim date...

no i don't have a lawyer as yet...i've spoken to a few and they want to do a contingency agreement for 40% of the back pay....that seems a bit much for representation....i think the $10.00 cap was a good thing (wink,nudge)

eleceted a BVA travel hearing at the end of JANURARY 09. as i mentioned here before, the RO never acquired my inpatient SMR's nor records from private medical facilities...well they have them now...and my c-file has been brokered to the waco, tx RO for the purposes of adjudicating my claim...sooooo, the question is this....why did they broker my claim to another RO? now i did find a fast letter fl09-006 that says that the va has established two Appeal Resource Center's to fast track appeals...one in waco and one in seattle... anybody had any experience with the two ARC's? i have attached the pdf of the fast letter..... FL09_006.pdf

my 20% is for asthma, and ulner neuropathy...each rated @ 10 each... no the SSA does not have the clinical records from the 55 days i spent as an inpatient @ winn army hospital... i have not submitted the Medical Evidence for my multiple hospitalizations....i have on every claim listed hospitals that i was in...but the VA has not requested those records...because in chief...they are saying that my Service Medical Records are completely silent for any mental health issues...so they haven't developed my claim for medical evidence...although nearly half of the 2 dozen times i have been hospitalized for depression or bipolar have been at a VA facility...so they acknowledge that i'm nerfed in the head...they just say that there is no evidence of it happening in service... well...i started writing everyone and his brother about my circumstances... so....i finally reached someone who thinks that my case needs further development...i didn't receive the 5/23/08 SOC nor the VA form 9 ... it was sent...but returned...so when i filed a new claim on janurary 16th...the Secretary of the VA rec'd a letter from me on janurary 22... with the NPRC's refusal to provide me my clinical records... citing "32 CFR 310.30(f)" while i am entitled to my medical records...a portion of my requested records can only be properly explained by a physician...no where in 32 cfr does it state that the dod may refuse to release records because of my inability to comprehend them(it does say in 32 cfr 310.17(f), that when in consultation with a physician , if there is a finding that the requested records would be detrimental to myself or a third person...they could withhold the records....anyway...on janurary 26th, i rec'd a call from the secretary's office in washington d.c., asking for clarification on some issues i'd raised...on janurary 29th...i rec'd a call from the VARO, and the representative said that they would accept my transmittal on janurary 16th as my VA form 9, and that they would request the clinical records from the NPRC.....and that a dro review was in the works... the bit about the informal claim was to put on the record that i had written on a c&p evaluation form for an increase in S/C for the asthma and the ulnerneuropathy that i had been hospitalized twice for depression in 1990...tryiing to run an end game around the finality of the 1995 decision, and an earlier EED for the bipolar...although...under 38 CFR 3.156© i believe that i would probably get a rating back to the 1995 claim... i believe that the missing clinical records and the overlooked lab report would certainly have manifestly changed the outcome of the 1995 rating decision...i thought i was clear about the specifics and the manifestly different outcome if the facts as known at the time were reasonably considered....

ty t-bird...testing out my new privs