brokensoldier244th

Google va benefits matrix.

So am I. I really hate moral absolutism. It’s inflexibility resembles a similar framework to that of the morals of a 6 yr old. I hope they lose every ruling.

The only reason they are still experimental is because the review period for them wasn’t waived. If you work in health care, you get vaccinated. Anything less is irresponsible. They do have a choice- vaccinate or find something else. Same choice private medical has. Pretty much every state is an at will state so it’s not a discriminatory act because other employers are requiring it too. . I haven’t heard a peep from the Union either and if there was something they didn’t agree with they would have raised it months ago. Would you have the same morally offensive stance if you or another veteran went to a VHA facility and was infected, got sick, or potentially died? especially if it could be traced to one or more non vaccinated employees?

One and three and five. Sec two says in big black letters to ignore it unless it applies.

Put it into secure messaging back to them. Secure messaging stays in your vamc medical records. Even if they don’t do something to modify the notes they wrote we’ll still see it during file review

Sucks- im sorry to hear it.

I don't know about the medical side, but we on the benefits side are almost all vaccinated at this point and have been for awhile. We weren't mandated to do so but we've been pretty bullish about it, and they are down to scraping the corners of the flour drawer to find people that aren't.

Yup, I just got the email. CAS

All the vet reps knew this information *shrug*, most of them were working from home just like us. They should have been putting it out there. The exam vendors were automatically rescheduling appointments repeatedly up until around March of this year when they finally stopped due to non response from veterans or several no shows- in some instances I counted over 10 attempts to contact a veteran overs few months in order to reschedule an appointment that were ignored, because the vendors send us Contact attempts reports before they stop trying. I then created a couple letters that I would send to veterans alerting them to the importance of contacting to reschedule after the vendors finally quit. I’m still contacting some of the same people that don’t respond to me The last 4 weeks my RO has had overtime available on weekends for volunteers (us) to call veterans to ask if they still want exams. Many of those are ignored, too. In some cases it’s not the vendors, vsos, or va that dropped the ball on communication and it’s frustrating.

If you have a standing ITF it's applied to the next claim you file. You can only have 1 itf at a time. https://benefits.va.gov/BENEFITS/factsheets/general/intenttofile.pdf

Because of covid the date of claim is either the date it was uploaded by your VSO, the postmark on the envelope that you mailed, or, in absence of an identifiable postmark the date is 20FEB2020 until the President ends the covid national emergency. Google VA letter 20-02. There is also a separate guidance letter about granting extensions, link below. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/08/27/2020-18839/disruption-of-mail-service (Federal Register version of VA Letter 20-02 regarding postmark acceptance) https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.veteranslawblog.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F09%2FCOVID-Extensions.pdf (guidance letter about extensions) You can file a claim with no evidence and send in stuff as you go up to the decision date- every time you upload something it triggers the claim to get re-routed to someone to look at.

No, its per claim. You can file a 20-0995 regarding the IU filing, though- if within a year it will preserve your original filing date. Why didn't you send up the 21-4192 and 21-8940? We do most of the leg work on those anyway, all you have to do is provide the employer's contact information, and obviously, have your provider/providers fill out the 8940. What i'm not clear on here is- did you actually file a claim, or just an intent to file? Intent to Files are good for a year, and you don't get a denial letter for those. Did you actually file an 8940 claim and we sent you a letter with the 8940 forms and you never turned those in (which, would result in a denial because there was nothing to base the claim on)?

No, but if you submit your claim its dated either by the postmark, or 29FEB2020, and you can still add evidence to it throughout. (VA Letter 20-02) It's better to file and add evidence rather than sit on an intent to file date anyway, especially due to this letter (above). You can submit a claim without even having evidence to submit if you file a Fully Developed Claim (meaning that you provide all the info up front, 21-4142/4142a so we can get private records, etc). We search federal databases for STRs and personnel records and VAMC anyway, so if all your evidence was contained in there- you have a fully developed claim. If you have private treatment then the 21-4142/4142a is where you note those providers and give us permission to get those records. If we have to send you the forms later to request that information you d claim is no longer "Fully Developed" but it doesn't really change how your claim is handled, other than potentially speed. If you submit a claim for benefits that isn't FDC the same rules apply, so you see, there isn't really any difference and right not there isn't really a reason to do an Intent to File when you can just file the claim anyway and build it as you go. Per the above letter you can ask for extensions for providing evidence and responses to VA letters, also. I see them all the time and have for the last year +.

no, we cross reference income for IU veterans because that's the way the law reads but if you are still being treated and find a job that works with your disabilities you just have to stay under X amount, and I would recommend the further the better. That said we ( VA ) don't go out looking for people to reduce, either. You aren't required to tell us, there is no annual filling anymore. That stopped some years ago.

No other letter, no major changes other than p&t, possible state access to a car registration or homestead tax reduction, and you can't work and make more than the poverty level of 1 person, so in general don't work and you don't have to constantly pay attention to that part.