Testvet

The appeal of the February 2003 determination of an effective date of August 2, 2000 for TDIU is dismissed. The case you linked to shows the veterans appeal denied and why staged ratings suck but if you missed the filing deadline on the initial 30% award and are now attempting to try and get the extra 7 years of back pay from 95-02 I see a denial from the BVA basically for the same reasons this veteran was denied you were not deemed incompetent in 1995 you had to file an appeal within 12 months of the 1995 award date you are beating your head against a wall if you did not file a NOD before 1996 or within a year of your award letter was dated Have you discussed this case with a Lawyer that KNOWS VA law and let them decide if you have any chance of winning they won't take it if there is no possibility of winning it because if they don't win then they don't get paid by law they are restricted to 20% good luck but I just don't see how you win this

All I know is that you have to keep your claim active to keep the claim date even if it takes 10 years of appeals, NODs BVA remands etc at a minimum you should have a date stamped letter to the VARO every year asking about your claim or appeals the other thing you have to watch is the "deemed denied" issues this is especially pointed for vets that file claims with multiple issues where the VA grants one of the issues and then just ignores the other issues if the veterans do not put in a request within the year of the award letter then the VARO will deny the issues because they were never appealed. Even if you have a VSO it is YOUR claim and it is up to YOU to make sure that they don't drop the ball then there are the Keith Roberts type of cases where the vet gets it in their head that the VA "owes" them back to the date of the incident that caused their mental health issue, I have spent many hours explaining to many vets that they were NOT going to get back pay to 1959 when their ship sank or they were gassed by "mustard gas in Hawaii" during WW2 or any issue that they never claimed until 1999 or 2011 I am SMC S and they are going to be putting in a biventricular pacemaker sometime this month so I will then file a claim for the 100% award for that and for A&A so I will file those 2 issues at the same time the CHF clinic at Dorn just gave me a phone device so they can get my weight and blood pressures every day so they will be able to tell when I am slipping into another bout with CHF so far this year I have spent 3 weeks in an ICU with IVs full of heart meds and antibiotics for pneumonia in April and June was just CHF by itself April I damned near died I was 4 days in a med induced coma then when they brought me out of it here in Columbia they then sent me by ambulance to MUSC in Charleston for a evaluation for a VLAD device (same thing Cheney has) or a heart transplant the doctors all declined to operate on me in any situation I am a medicate only patient except for the pacemaker I have been SC for PTSD 100% since Dec 2003 in June 2009 I was finally granted 60% for CAD secondary to my PTSD which they had to pay me back pay for SMC S back to Dec 2003 (nice check) but this pacemaker is automatic a 100% ratingso even if the VA calls me in for a new C&P before my 10 year anniversary and attempt to reduce my PTSD rating I will be covered by the 100% for this new issue You have to keep a claim active and to get the VA to agree that you are not able to be responsible to meet deadlines for claim issues is that you would not remember your own name, your birthdate and be locked up in a mental institute then you would not be diagnosed with PTSD but some other mental health issue which they would then claim is not SC since you didn't have these issues when you left the military and use your exit exam to deny your claim. I don't see how you get them to go back to when you first filed the claim 1995 I am pretty sure that if they do grant your claim it will be to May 2010

You are going to get a different opinion from everyone. Personally I would not be surprised by more cuts. Cutting Veterans Cola has already resulted in cutting Vets benefits by a projected 8% in the past 2.5 years , since military and government employees, and especially government executives, got their raises. The cut in the debt rating for America, tho, coulld be even worse. Bronco this is stretching the truth more than a little in the past three years even people on SS and SSD and SSI and all others affected by the CPI index have not had a "COLA" it was NOT just veterans Our COLA is supposed to be around 3.5% and depending on August and Sep it could go higher or lower yet we will not know until the middle of Sep I think it may be the middle of Oct in which ever month ends the fiscal year and SS and VA will pay the increases after Jan 1, 2012 since the CPI index has not raised until this year there was no COLA's for anyone since that last 5.8% we all got in Jan 2009 you make it sound like they were only picking on veterans and that is not the case old disbled and retirees were all affected since then

yes Berta he was a "lifer" and she does get her SBP (for years she only got 35% then they increased it over 3 years to get the widows up to the 50% they were supposed to be getting (if they off set what she actually drew from SBP vs DIC I think they would still owe her quite a bit) I don't think it is as much as DIC would be though and she does get a SS check their home was paid off (the state built a freeway thru their neighborhood and bought their home, they paid a dollar for it at auction and then paid about 8,000 to have the house moved to a 2 acre lot they bought out in the country) that happened back in late 70s I don't know what the death certificate states but I know he had the pacemaker put in and the VA paid for it at Providence here in Columbia and they followed him in Cardiology at Dorn VA for over 10 years with it I believe they also had stents put in for CAD

I have a question my FIL is a Nam vet and he died from cardiac issues and had a pacemaker put in by the VA my MIL filed a DIC claim in 2002 when he died they denied as heart disease was NOT considered to be SC now that they added it will she be entitled to back pay when she first filed her DIC claim in July 2002 he died in June 2002 and since the CAD is now automatic for Nam vets shouldn't she be able to file under this before Aug 30th and get back pay one years or all 9 years? Does she file a new claim or ask for the old DIC claim to be re-opened? I have been asleep at the switch since this came out, I forgot about him dying from cardiac reasons I have memory issues thanks Bronco for posting this if she is entitled to DIC you have made one old veterans wife very happy she deserves it she waited for him while he was in Korea from 1951-1953 and again in Nam from 67-68 they offered to make him a 1SG if he would go back in 1970 he told them hell NO and retired. He had enough of war I would love to tell her they owe her back pay to June 2002 wwhen he passed away since she did file the claim and it was denied Help me on this one please anybody lol

you should take the VA compensation as it is tax free where your retirement pay is taxable I don't think Congress passed money for retirees that are less than 100% or if they have DOD has not implemented it yet I am not a retiree so I have never paid attention to the rules for it but I think eventually it is supposed to cover all retirees regardless of their VA ratings

congrats

I have them but I have stressors from an attack by fellow soldiers 7 of them robbed me and left me for dead in a snow bank in Alaska, I was on the DMZ in Korea when the axe murders happened and then Operation Paul Bunyan and then I went to the mid east for GW1 I was never really in "combat" either but if the VA rates you as 100% and you get the letter authorizing the plates then you are entitled to them it depends on what state you live in but here in SC a disabled vet gets 2 vehicle tags free they are permanent plates saves me about 600 a year

congrats you grabbed the brass ring now spend it all in one place unless you win the lottery this back pay will be the last large check you will probably get save some for a rainy day make sure you see what benefits your state offers to 100% veterans

good luck on that surgery Carlie, MUSC would not even think about putting me on the transplant list I hope your civilian hospital has a great track record on cardiac procedures not all heart docs are the same

I was seen last week in my regular VAMC and the new cardiac doc told me I had no choice but to let whomever the VA picked to do my bioventricular implant in Augusta and if I tried going to Dorn they would just send me to Augusta for the procedure, he made the remark that the surgeon that would be doing the implant has done "thousands" of them, The problem with that story is these devices are only about 2 years old, I doubt any one doctor has implanted "thousands" of them since the FDA approved them so my wife called the Heart failure clinic at Dorn and talked to them and the lady on the phone looked at my records and said yes she would make a consult for me to see a doctor in the Heart Failure clinic and they would sign off for my regular cardiac doc that I have been seeing at Lexington Medical Center to do the surgery at Providence Heart Hospital here in Columbia which is one of the best cardiac centers in the south It will be close to home and easier for my wife to deal with less than 10 miles rather than 70 to Augusta you are supposed to only be in over night but then again I was only supposed to be in the hospital for 4 days when they did my bypass and I ended up in the VA hospital for 6 weeks due to complications. Whats that law Murphy's? Whatever can go wrong will...... that usually has been my luck with the VA and surgery the lesson is never believe what the doctor says they don't know everything

the VA only has a veterans records if they file a claim then they get your C File and medical records otherwise they are held at various record centers across the nation, the majority of them though are in Saint Louis if you have not yet filed a claim then Saint Louis will send you a copy of your records if nf they have already sent them to the VA you will have to ask the VARO to copy your records for be sure to put in writing that you want every document xray that is available

in the past 16 years you never asked them what was going on? did you have a VSO? if you dropped all activity and just recently asked about it I would not count on getting 16 years of back pay if you have never contacted them in the previous 16 years to ask the status of your claim, this is one reason vets should use reps to send the paperwork thru but I was always active and many times filed papers on my own and got date stamped copies and the VSO would yell at me but I kept my denied claim alive for 7 years before I finally got a lawyer to handle it for me but at least once a year I filed an appeal an inquiry something so they could not ever claim I abandoned my claim and they closed it. I wish you luck but don't start spending all that back pay in your mind to find out that they are going to use the date you contacted them about your claim in the past year or so they may very well determine that is your earliest effective date, I hope you have a lawyer involved better to pay them that 20% if you have any chance at getting that 16 years of back pay because 100% of nothing is still nothing if they do approve your claim and use a date within the past year as your effective date find a VA Lawyer one that knows VA case law and see if they will take your case and try and get the back pay for 16 years they may take it or they may tell you that you can't win it no matter what but find a lawyer when you need to you have one year from the award date to file an appeal either for a lowball award, a denial, or appealing the effective date if you do NOT file the papers within one year then that claim is closed and all appeal channels are closed to the veteran.

it depends on your financial institution the govt has sent the electronic deposits out now it is up to YOUR bank to post them some do it the day they get them others wait until the day they are due but in the meantime the govt deposit is in their main account making them a few more pennies before they HAVE to give it to us Suntrust never posted until the day the HAD to sometimes the Credit Union I use now will post it a day or two early my SSD check is handled the same way

The VA in Columbia schedules contract C&Ps after normal work hours when the clinics are empty and on week ends and for what they are getting paid the docs show up and all equipment is available to them for any type of tests they need to do

I used an attorney after appeals and NODs being denied at the VARO level from Dec 2002- Jun 2007 then they passed the law that allowed us to pay lawyers I found one thru NOVA since me denial was before the legal date to hire lawyers they took my case pro bono after hearing the circumstances, they even paid for a new IMO they thought I needed in Jan 2009 and told me to pay them back after I got the back pay my BVA hearing was to be held Feb 4 2009 Apr 7 2009 I got the BVA decision in the mail SC for CAD and hypertension I was told by my lawyer it would be 6-12 months for that to happen they were wrong the VARO sent the deposit on June 4 2009 and I got the award letter on the 6th I think taking me to SMC S 60% CAD and 10% for hypertension in addition to my 100% PTSD, I am now in chronic congestive heart failure and was seen yesterday in cardiology about having a pacemaker implanted that will bump me up to 100% I doubt if it will make a difference in my check but on the 9th I see my PC doc and see if they will recommend Aid and attendance appeals and DRO hearings are not fast never believe what someone "tells" you believe what you see in writing you can misinterpret a phone conversation and they are not enforceable you need to have it in writing.....

http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/heart-failure/heart-failure-overview?page=2 Stage Definition of Stage Usual Treatments Stage A People at high risk of developing heart failure (pre-heart failure), including people with: High blood pressure Diabetes Coronary artery disease Metabolic syndrome History of cardiotoxic drug therapy History of alcohol abuse History of rheumatic fever Family history of cardiomyopathy Exercise regularly. Quit smoking. Treat high blood pressure. Treat lipid disorders. Discontinue alcohol or illegal drug use. An angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACE inhibitor) or an angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) is prescribed if you've had coronary artery disease or if you have diabetes, high blood pressure, or other vascular or cardiac conditions. Beta-blockers may be prescribed if you have high blood pressure or if you've had a previous heart attack. Stage B People diagnosed with systolic left ventricular dysfunction but who have never had symptoms of heart failure (pre-heart failure), including people with: Prior heart attack Valve disease Cardiomyopathy The diagnosis is usually made when an ejection fraction of less than 40% is found during an echocardiogram test. Treatment methods above for Stage A apply. All patients should take an angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACE inhibitors) or angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB). Beta-blockers should be prescribed for patients after a heart attack. An aldosterone inhibitor may be prescribed if the symptoms continue while on good doses of beta blockers and ACE/ARB medications. Surgery options for coronary artery repair and valve repair or replacement (as appropriate) should be discussed. If appropriate, surgery options should be discussed for patients who have had a heart attack. Stage C Patients with known systolic heart failure and current or prior symptoms. Most common symptoms include: Shortness of breath Fatigue Reduced ability to exercise Treatment methods above for Stage A apply. All patients should take an angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACE inhibitors) and beta-blockers. African-American patients may be prescribed a hydralazine/nitrate combination if symptoms persist. Diuretics (water pills) and digoxin may be prescribed if symptoms persist. An aldosterone inhibitor may be prescribed when symptoms remain severe with other therapies. Restrict dietary sodium (salt) Monitor weight Restrict fluids (as appropriate) Drugs that worsen the condition should be discontinued. As appropriate, cardiac resynchronization therapy (biventricular pacemaker) may be recommended. An implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD) may be recommended. Stage D Patients with systolic heart failure and presence of advanced symptoms after receiving optimum medical care. Treatment methods for Stages A, B ,& C apply. Patient should be evaluated to determine if the following treatments are available options: heart transplant, ventricular assist devices, surgery options, research therapies, continuous infusion of intravenous inotropic drugs, and end-of-life (palliative or hospice) care The symptoms in section C are the noes that normally let you and the doctors know you are in congestive heart failure, I had a VA doc put me on O2 in early June because my oxygen levels would not go higher than 88 and was normally in 84 for the hour I was there so rather than see if I had other symptoms of CHF they ordered oxygen all it did was mask the problem for a week by the time my wife took me to the ER I was in severe failure and was delirious for about 4 days on IV drips and then they had trouble getting me stabilized about the 17th they took me off the IVs and took me to a regular floor room that lasted 5 hours and I was back in ICU with new IVs hooked up where I was for another week the doctors there insist I get a bioventricular defib/pacemaker installed as soon as possible I see the VA cardiac people on Wednesday personally I hope they outsource it to Providence Heart Hospital in Columbia it would be easier on my wife and family. There are many symptoms that need to be watched for

I am sorry your father in law is in such bad shape but he has you and your husband helping to ensure that he and his wife get all the benefits they are entitled to, if he does pass from a SC issue then she will get the DIC benefits, they will also pay at least 2,000 towards his funeral if you bury his in a private cemetary they will also pay another 300 towards the plot, if he goes into a National Cemetary they won't charge anything to bury him or his wife together, when she also passes, my mom died in Mar 1996 and was buried in Riverside National and my step father was buried on top of her when he passed in Sep 2000 if they do raise him to 100% don't forget to request the free 10,000 life insurance

with their 6 dollar offsets I doubt I would get much if any since I am 10.6 miles from Dorn and I am too lazy to go stand in that long line to try and get a dollar of two or be told I get nothing I am not into rocking the boat unless it is really worthwhle which I will do after they put in the AICD and since I can't walk much more than 10-20 feet without losing my breath and having to sit down to get my breath back I am going to ask my primary care doc and my cardiac doc to write in the treatment notes that I have basically lost the use of my legs as being mobile and see if I can't get the auto allowance, the house allowance and the mortgage insurance and for A&A now that will be worth arguing about that is a lot of heavy money benefits I have a 10% ejection fraction and and in end stage congestive heart failure so I will start the claims hoping I get them done before I expire so Mrs Testvet can keep the claim alive to get the benefits that we should have obtained while I was still alive.

I have never heard of a program where the VA paid bonus money for soldiers or other military people to enlist or re-enlist in any MOS the Army, Navy, AF, Marines and CG pay their own bonuses that are authorized by DOD as far as I know the VA has never paid bonus money for MOS training or staying in a certain MOS for 3 years the VA has issues but paying DOD's bonuses is not one of them

I would say you have been very fortunate in your dealings with the VARO that you deal with very few do anything in less than one year most can't even schedule a C&P exam in a year

I rest my case yours was done before my time in 2001 how many have we heard of since? Not many and a NSC pension is easier to obtain than a SC issue in NSC pensions it doesn't matter what caused your inability to work where with SC issues you have to prove it happened on active duty and jump all the hoops the VARO throws up denials low ball ratings BVA appeals which can last from 2 years to a decade I have seen lot's of these type cases

I know they claim that a veteran can get their claims fast tracked if they are in dire financial need but in the past 11 years I have been dealing with veteran issues I have never seen them expedite a claim due to the veterans financial problems, they work the claim where it is in the stack, if you think contacting an elected official might help then by all means contact them but again my experience has been that it only slows down the process and the VARO has 60 days to respond to a inquiry from either a Congressman or Senator and 10 days to respond to a White House request but any of these will cause your C File to be pulled out of it's place in line and when it is returned it will be put back at the end of the line.

thsnks for helping me to understand I think my primary care doc will support the aid and attendence and we want to see if he will put in the treatment records that I have basically lost the use of my legs as I no longer can walk more than 25 feet without becoming short of breath and am spending most my time in a wheel chair (power chair) now I have a power lift to get me in and out of the tub now they added a new 20 foot ramp for the power chair to the front door next week they deliver the fancy new "hospital bed" i fight with ILP for years I get diagnosed with end stage heart failure and they fall all over themselves getting me what ever my wife wants to care for me go figure

JBasser I know this is going to sounds ignorant but is that a seperate rating from my CAD which is now 60% but which should be 100% due to the ejection fraction or is this like mental health issues pyramiding? Because I fit the 100% rating on 7005, 7006 and 7011 and of course my 100% PTSD lol and lets not forget the 10% hypertension although with my meds now they have my BP in the 74/57 range and the cardiac docs seem to be happy with it frankly it scares me being that low.