Testvet

hey if England could sell the London Bridge to Arizona and move it I am sure it's possible to move the Brooklyn-Manhattan Bridge but I think all them New Yorkers might miss it

the VA claims system does not operate in the hi-tech world, it still operates in a paper filled world just like it was still 1945 waiting is what the VA does best makes veterans wait forever for a comp claim they do not have deadlines for anything they have a when we get around to it attitude and we have all had to deal with it it never gets easier

unless the injury occurred while in basic training a veterans must have 24 months of service to be eligible for VA medical care if the injury caused the member to be medically discharged then they should be entitled to VA care and compensation they are probably claiming it was a pre-existing condition and was not able to be seen prior to her episode of pain while in training and rather than deal with her they just discharged her getting them to pick up her future bills will probably be impossible the cysts did not develop between her enlistment and her arrival at basic they were just not detectable the Army is not going to offer her further medical care and I don't know how the VA will respond to her request for care this might be the case where you ask your congress critter for help

I got a bridge in Brooklyn I can sell cheap

most of the same meds can be obtained at Wal Mart for 4 dollars a month in generic form an many of the pharmacies are also doing the same program the VA is not the cheapest place for meds any more if you have Medicare Part B I think you would have an easier time getting a scooter thru them than you would the VA, when I got mine back in 2003 I had to first get the recommendation from my primary care doc and then go to a physical therapy team 3 docs and they all had to agree that it was medically necessary at Augusta VA you see quite a few scooters and power chairs at Dorn you see almost no scooters or power chairs and a lot of vets with the long arm brace crutches instead I never see those at Augusta VA so it also depends on the VAMC and what the director decides is the appropriate method I am glad I stayed with Augusta for medical treatment rather than move it to Dorn all the buildings may say VA on them but they all do not behave the same way

SHAD vets are classified as level 6 VA patients and all medical care is paid for if you feel it was caused by your exposures during SHAD/112 that covers all physical and mental issues but as you were told earlier there are NO presumptive disorders that get compensated some have been SC for PTSD caused by the human experiments but that is the extent of it the IOM is currently reopening a new study of long term health problems caused by the exposures but it will be 2-3 years before the study is completed given that most SHAD vets are already in their 70s this is not a good option but it is the only option 2 congressmen are working hard on this issue Mike Thompson and Danny Rehberg on the other hand none of the other human test subjects get Category 6 level VA health care just because they were in the human experiments at Fort Detrick from 1955 thru 1972 or Edgewood Arsenal from 1941-1975 or Dugway from the 1940s thru 1975 or at Fort Greeley in the 50s, and 60s nor the radiation vets unless they can prove they have one of the presumptive list cancers which is a long list they were also entitled to file a RECA claim thru the DOJ and get 75,000 dollars due to the radiation exposures. Human experiments are still a very closed mouth issue with the VA, DOD, CIA and Congress and the IOM seldom finds any issue with DOD projects that find DOD liable for damage to veterans.

the only rule change that I knew of was for PTSD if a soldier has PTSD so bad that he is no longer able to serve on active duty they can no longer put them out on 20% or less they have to put them on TDRL at 50% and before 5 years they either have to permantently retire them at 50% or reduce them to a lower level if the have improved but that seldom happens other than that I don't know about rule changes

getting SC at a 100% will not get you medicare you have to be disabled by SSD or get regular SS to get medicare if you get at least 50% SC then the VA will cover all of your medical care regardless if the issue is SC or not except for dental care that you have to be 100% for or have a SC dental issue

I have been treated just as bad if not worse at private hospitals and not all VAMCs are the same you could not pay me to go into Dorn about 5 miles from my house and I willingly drive 70 miles to Augusta VAMC as I have an excellent Primary Care doc, psychiatrist and would not get better care anywhere in Agusta not to beat a dead horse to death but VA Medical centers have nothing to do with Linda Bilmes and the claims process that she advocates changing to the IRS system of processing accept them onn face value and then audit the ones that make the alarm bells go off the cooks who went on secret black ops and their files are top secret and not even the DOD can authorize the VA to review them you all have heard the war stories that even make us laugh in disgust yes there are stories of bad medical treatment at the VA across the nation but then again there are also stories of bad treatment at medical centers across the nation that the hospitals settle out of court all the time standard business VA settlements are open records as part of FOIA requests GM despite people's political ideals is not a government agency it is a stock owned business that will be sold to private investors and the taxpayers money refunded if govt action had not been taken when it was to save all of the us auto dealers even Ford who didn't need the funds would have forced into bankruptcy as parts supplies would have been forced out of business if GM and Chrysler had been folded now we still have the million plus jobs and American are now buying more GM and Ford and Chryslers than foreign auto's the taxpayers may actually make a profit on the deal before it is over but it is not a govt service like the Post Office, the IRS, the VA, the FDA nor the EPA and no not all of them make money govts function is not to make a profit it is to provide services that average citizens can not do for them selves like provide military service, intelligence service, highways, FBI etc the revolution to privatize as many govt jobs did not help us in many ways it has caused the cost of these functions to rise tremendously some of these jobs should be returned to federal service and take private contractors out of the loop because the jobs are still going to be done just should we be rewarding CEOs and stockholders with profits on jobs that should be done by govt employees? The VA has is't problems but it is not all bad.........lord knows I dislike the claims process......9 years was just plain bad

buy gold from his sponsors and everything will turn out right in the world you could help your stomach by turning off all news shows and talking heads stick to newspapers it cut my anger in half and my stomach problems way down

examiners do not grant SC all they do is write up their medical opinions and send the, to the VARO the raters will decide if you are service connected and at what percentage and with the info you have here there is no way to even make a WAG other than you could be rated anywhere from 0% 10% 30% 50% 70% or 100% or 70% TDIU which still pays the same as the 100% level mental health awards are never awarded in even percentages 20, 40, 60 or 80 they are always odd numbers except the 100% award I use the concept I don't believe anything I am told by anyone at the VA I only believe what they put in writing and I trust them even more after the deposit is made to the bank calling the 800 number is usually a waste of your time and the people on the other end will tell you anything to get you off the phone and it's usually wrong

then you won hypertension is at most a 10% issue but it is a gateway to heart disease so getting the 0% SC is a huge win in case the vet has a heart attack given his other rated conditions the 10% would not make a difference but you were right in pushing it blame lawyers as blood sucking all you want but 80% of a win is better than keeping 100% of a loss there have been more wins for veterans with lawyers especially on complicated issues where if the veterans loses do does the lawyer if a VSO loses they don't lose anything they still have their paychecks, their meals, their vacations, their cars and their homes of a claim is lost the vet and their family lose it all I used a lawyer and won a battle I had fought for 7 years and the entire time the VSOs all told me I could not and would not win American Legion, DAV, PVA they all told me to forget it and start over and ask for hypertension and then file a claim for CAD after they hypertension was granted at 10% I was to stupid to give up on a claim I filed in Dec 2002 and start over I kept the claim alive thru NODs, DROs, reconsiderations and pissing off Senators and Congressman, President Bush and VP Cheney, before it was over I found a lawyer in July 2007 that due to the rules could not take my claim under the new rules for the 20% but she could take it pro bono and she did, she even paid for a last minute IME she felt was necessary to push the claim over the top showing how the high triglycerides my medical records had showed for decades were a precursor to CAD written by a Chief of Cardiology at a prominent cardiac center the BVA Judge used my 3 IMOs and 1 IME to say my evidence put the VAs into relative equipose amd granted my CAD and hypertension secondary to PTSD this was before this was a common connection and it still is not as easy as some people would like to think, many of these claims are still denied. Lawyers for Vets earn their compensation, they do it on faith, faith they can help you and your family obtain a lifetime of benefits and they have no guarantees they go in with the idea they can prove that the military caused your medical problems and they work hard finding doctors to substantiate their opinions, they spend months in additional classes to learn the VA claims process CFR 38s the VBM manuals, they meet about every 3 months for continuing education classes and they have some great organizations where they work together to help each other work out strategy, tactics and how to present evidence, few of them make a lot of money doing this, some earn a decent living with large clientele's I don't begrudge them a nickle they make they took a lot of stress off my wife and I and in less than 2 years took me to SMC S with a back pay check of 20,000 NOVA lawyers have it going on and I will recommend them until the day I die.....

congrats on this huge win sorry for your health

if you get TDIU or 100% from VA you should file a claim for SSD between the 2 checks you should be fine money wise if your spouse is working then part of your SSD might become taxable I think it is 32,000 joint income anything above that becomes taxable if you do have another source of income I really advise you get a tax professionals advice to save you any headaches from the IRS they are usually unforgiving of unpaid taxes and add penalties and ignorance doesn't work as an excuse lol actually I think I get more take home now than I did working full time at the Post Office I have lost 2 of 3 letter carriers to VA disability since I bought this house it must be contagious I don't know........and tax breaks on house and cars helps a lot also there are NO dumb questions like I had a drill sergeant tell me many many decades ago the only dumb question is the one you have that you don't ask then when you get caught and penalized you will wish you had asked the question at that point it becomes a "dumb question"

it depends on what the original board decision was if it was an award stating you were to be granted 100% P&T and they issued this then you just got ripped if it overturns a previously denied decision then it's good it really depends on what the original decision of the board was

dang and I wanted to see Carlie go all "terminator" and stuff rofl

congrats on the SC for heart disease now just make sure it keeps beating my ejection fraction is less than 30% and has been since Oct 2002 so the meds do work there isn't any surgeon that will touch me anymore for anything so I keep taking the meds and keep hoping I wake up tomorrow it has worked so far keep your doc appts and listen to the spousal unit not listening could be hazardous to your health I don't care how good your heart is rofl

I don't have a clue about the program as I am a Nam era and Gulf War vet and when you add foreign country to it then you need an expert

again it depends on how severe they rate your level of disability we are not very good with crystal ball type questions

are you an OIF or OEF veteran if not then the caregiver law does not apply it is my understanding it only applies to new veterans

if your spouse is at least 60 years old she will get 75% of your SS check also we figure my spouse will get about 2600 a month and we have enough insurance to pay the house off she won't have any money problems the state lets her keep the property tax just not the free car tags again each state is different and you have to check yours

the raise in your PTSD from 30% to 70% is what they used to base your TDIU on from what I see and based on your other rated issues they would have denied IU before that date negating the SMC S issue you can get a lawyer and try and fight the issue but that staged rating will be hard to overcome the VA has been doing staged ratings for years to avoid large back pays don't feel picked on it's not personal they do it to almost everyone I don't think you would even have much luck getting a lawyer to take this on when they dig into it it looks ugly but there is no there there if you understand it they could spend years in appeals to BVA and CAVC and not see a nickle even lawyers need to eat they have to see a way to win and staged ratings are hard to over come

yes the VDBC recommendations were quickly shelved when they were presented to President Bush Congress would not touch that blue ribbon panels recommendations that is why I am not worried about the current "cat food commission" that has been getting a lot of bad publicity due to some poor statements from Senator Simpson about 310 million teats committees get people all worked up but the last commission that actually did anything was the BRAC commissions I think 1 and 2 were an all or nothing basis and they both passed and the military was slashed across the nation they called it savings from the winning of the Cold War lol defense spending is higher now than it has ever been so much for saving think how we could increase consumer spending though if they did give us those huge increases they were mentioned in that fantasy pay chart I would have that used Cadillac CTS the day after I got the pay hike in the bank the last time I was at the VA you can tell the 100% vets by all the Humvees, Lincoln Navigators, BMWs and other expensive cars myself I bought a used Chrysler Sebring for 14,000 and we love it gets great mileage and is a hybrid so I can buy that E85 if gas goes sky high again I have a great life between SSD and SMC S with or without COLAs or a huge pay raise I am like Pete when coffee is on sale for 4.99 a can we buy 8 of them when be find paper towels on sale for 3.99 we buy about 4-6 packages of it toilet paper the same way it's not like we are ever going to quit using it I buy ribeye when they have them on sale for 3.99 yes you have to buy a chunk of meat between 8-14 pounds but the freezer holds it and we have great steaks for 2-4 months depending on how fast we cook them I have them sliced 3/4 of an inch thick and we cook one steak and cut it in half that is plenty for my wife and I a salad and a baked potato I don't think there is a better meal and at this point in our life eating is our entertainment I use the sidewalk sales at the commissary to especially when they had canned drinks for a dollar a 12 pack who cares what flavor they are they have all sorts of neat things at the sidewalk sales once I got the large candy bars 6 to a pack for 40 cents a pack a case of ramen for a dollar there are ways to make your own COLA adjustments I quit the daily paper I read it online the only thing the paper issue was for was the crossword puzzle for Dori and to start BBQ's yes I used to make a lot more working especially with all the OT as a T6 carrier I think the last year I worked I made 70,000 in 1999 I worked a lot of OT including Xmas day. But now I am not eating lunch out every day, I don't pay taxes for anything but sales tax I don't have to buy as much gas since I don't have to drive to work and home daily etc yes I wished I had my health back but I don't and it ain't going to get better so now my goal is to live as long as I can I am 55 if I make it to 65 I will be happy if I make it to 70 or longer I will be estatic being 100% plus SSD isn't really all that bad financially especially when it is tax free

congrats on your TDIU John the VA does not do outreach very well and we all know this to many vets walked away after their service and never asked what help is available to me then you have the older vets from Korea and WW2 that felt if they had deserved anything the govt would have "given" it to them when they left the service and would feel like welfare types if they "asked" for benefits so they wouldn't do it or they did not want the VA benefits reducing their retirement checks (my step father was in this mind set I could bot get him to realize the VA money was tax free while he was paying income tax on his AF retirement) some old people have a mind set that you just are not going to change and the VA is not going to go to them and say we owe you this that will never happen

yea the VA docs aren't really great at diagnosing internal issues until it usually is past the point it needed to have been found they don't do much with MRIs and cat scans unless they are forced to do so usually has been my experience most of the cancers I read about thru the VA are stage 4 and terminal I am getting like John if you want to live a long life you really should have medicare if not a different health plan other than the VA so you can see a doc that might do some investigation into your problems if you rely solely on the VA you might shorten your life span