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brokensoldier244th
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Posts posted by brokensoldier244th
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I don't think you can use a buddy stmnt from either of them if I understand you correctly. You didn't serve with the 1 guy, and the ATTY isn't representing you so I don't think prof. ethics allows them to write a buddy letter, either. BVA cases aren't citeable as evidence since they don't set precedence of a binding legal theory. You may have to attack this from a different angle, or locate some of the people that you did serve with, if possible, and then you could write buddy letters for each other.
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They wouldn’t look at the original DBQ they already did that’s what got your original rating.
More likely they’re considering your statement, and the private medical information you submitted, and they’re sending it to someone to do a medical opinion based on ace. We can do that sometimes without creating an entire examination request in the schedule because we have a few C@P doctors that we can email and contact directly rather than having to go through a vendor.
As much as I hate to say it, I take whatever the one 800 people say with as much salt as you guys do, because they can see very little of what’s actually in your claim file on what’s happening, they can only read the notes that we submit. Unfortunately, some of my bread and leave really crappy notes that don’t really explain what’s going on also so when the 800 people go to look at the notes the information they have available to pass on to you is not very good. And for that, I apologize. It’s a constant thing that we’ve been working on in my regional office at least for quite some time now for employees that are new, and also via corrective training with the current employees.
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48 minutes ago, broncovet said:
I advise timely appealing the effective date, by filing a nod. This is the procedure of correcting an error. You can also try filing a cue, BUT, once the 1 year appeal period expires you cant appeal. You can make all the phone calls in the world, but, only by filing a timely appeal do you preserve your effective date legally.
Broken Soldier: I give up, what is a "VERA" call. It sounds like one of those where Veterans are not privy to this information. I have no idea what "Vera's" phone number is, nor do I know how to look it up. ITs been my experience, Veterans are not given access to internal (VA employee) phone numbers and/or tiltles 99 percent of the time.
You google VERA. You go to the website and set up an appointment with one of the VERA reps in your RO. They have the ability to see more of what is in your claim folder than the 1800 phone people.
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LIke, the specific case file? That likely belongs to the legal side, they would provide the finding narrative or whatever, and that would probably be in your C file. I've not seen more than 5-6 1151 claims in the time that I have been with VA- they don't come to us very often except to request the records from the VAMCs, after that they go somewhere else to get finalized. I've not seen a completed (good or bad) 1151 claim. Part of that is once I request the records, or mark them as received, it goes to Rating, and then whatever they do with it after.
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Still goes to C-file, but we are required to contact the VAMC where it is claimed to have occurred and request all records available from registration to present. The request goes to a specific place, on a specific form, though, so it's not logged in your VAMC medical notes because it's treated as a benefits claim. We request CAPRI (VAMC) records daily and while I'm sure those requests are logged somewhere because we are audited for security, they aren't part of your Capri notes.
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A VERA call, or talking to a VSO. The phone people do not have access to look in the claims file
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It won't happen. The veteran needs to claim unemployability. There is no reason to have the examiners do the extra part of the exam unless the veteran is saying they are unemployable. Would you like it if every exam you went to the examiner just assumed you were not employable? What about if you got a rating based on that even if you didn't claim it, would you then quit your job?
That employment assessment language has a specific purpose and time to be used. Its not a 'general' part of all exams, and it likely won't be.
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Sorry, I was referring to Section II where the veteran, or provider (I've seen both) list whatever the veteran is claiming for IU.
Forget about LHI- its not an LHI form. I can order an IU exam with an Employment Impact statement from any contract provider or VAMC, provided the VAMC has capacity to do the exam. What you found may have come from LHI but it is not an LHI form, and its not a DBQ, it's an addendum that gets added with a checkbox to be included with a DBQ when it is sent to the provider. A private doctor can write up whatever they want with regards to IU if they have enough information from the veteran to make an assessment with a rationale to support it.
The root form on the site you posted from doesn't list LHI anywhere on it, or it doesn't now.
https://www.seankendalllaw.net/library/VA-EXAM-MO-re-TDIU.pdf
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8940 is the application for IU, and in its current form a doctor fills out a portion of it. That form is then submitted with whatever other evidence is sent and if an exam is needed an employment impact statement is asked of the examiner. There isn't a DBQ to be made available to the public because it isn't a separate DBQ, it is an addition to whatever DBQ(s) the examiner is completing- at least in its current iteration within the last 5 yrs, and probably longer because my IU determination (at the time 2014) was also an addendum to my existing DBQ.
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It isn't its own DBQ. Its an optional field that can be applied to any exam type or contention that the veteran has claimed on an 21-8940.
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What are you appealing? Certain COD's are barred regardless of law changes unless you have had your discharge overturned by the Discharge Review board, that isn't VA.
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1 hour ago, Lemuel said:
But the fight about entitlements continues. SMC-T The rewrite of law by the secretary is an example.
It is the funding overall that is the problem. My home care visits are shutting down because the contractor is not getting paid enough to pay the employees. So, our care is worse than the hold up of your paycheck. We lose services even to the death of us. Subject to the budget fight but those contractors have to eat the losses and thus quit. So much for privatization.
Yes, I get my benefits compensation check while they are fighting instead of having to wait like you do for yours. But we both get the check.
All I was pointing out is that the money for benefits comes from somewhere else insulated from budgetary pressures, for now, at least. The rates set by SSA, VA, Medicare, Medicaid, ChampVA etc- not my monkeys, and I or my dependents use some of those so I'm not unaware of some of the challenges.
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26 minutes ago, Lemuel said:
Absolutely agree, Bronco. Both SSA and VA had the same documents to verify my wife. Easy to see the date was transposed but it took three years to get it done. I think the look for ways to cut the entitlements in the VA when there is a budget fight like now.
We then get the "Dlay, Deny, Wait Until They Die" policy augmented in the short run--short run being less than until they die or maybe make your NOK fight for it because they give up easier.
Disability benefits are funded out of a different place in the budget and are not subject to the yearly bickering back and forth over the operational budget. Thats why if there is a shut down we continue to work without pay until it is resolved but veteran disbursements continue to go out.
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They are periodically required to verify the status of dependents. They don't know if you are still married or not. I don't think a letter every few years is that onerous and its a lot better than not reminding someone of it and then finding out 2-3 yrs later with the veteran now owing a debt because they never updated anything. Ive been married for 25 and I still get them also.
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100% is one hundred percent. You'd have to get rated for something.
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Yes, medical records, service treatment records, all having to be new and/or relevant-basically the same stuff that you send with any claim.
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Keep in mind that the call center people (800-827-1000) are not cleared to see your whole claim- there are limits to the information they can provide, and they aren't trained to work on claims so there are big pieces of the process that they legitimately wouldn't know. They can read our notes, input noters for us, and provide directions to the correct places to call/talk to, and discuss things like what form(s) you need for whatever action. There is a separate avenue for information called VERA which has RO personnel that work within it- they can get a lot more hands-on with somethings. Google VERA and you should find the page to set up an appointment via phone or in person if you ever need to.
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You can just upload a 4138 or call in to the National Call center (800-827-1000) and tell them. There shouldn't have been a request for it, anyway- if you haven't worked since 1999 its irrelevant. In any case, a claim cannot be denied solely on the lack of returned 4192's, we receive far fewer back than are sent.
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Unfortunately, by law, a rater determines what is “enough” or “adequate” or “complete”. Partly why I’m not a rater; 1. I don’t want the drama, 2. I’m better at finding the bread crumbs as a researcher. I’d rather help build as strong a case as I can by mining “your” records- you’d be surprised what’s in there, however subtle, that I can usually add to your already submitted evidence that was overlooked or deemed inconsequential by someone.
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instead of focusing so much on the DBQ you need to have your lawyer look at the exam request itself because within that is the question or questions that are being asked by the rater, which would then be the driver for the new C&P exam. The DBQ‘s may look to be complete, but I see DBQ‘s sometimes that are full of all kinds of things written down as rationale, or citations for medical documents or reports or studies, and other things, but none of it actually addresses what was asked.
Kind of like those term papers you write in college every now and then after you’ve had a bad weekend and there’s something due on Monday. You throw literally everything you can add to it and hope that the instructor gets lost in the details without seeing the whole picture, and the simplicity of what was actually being asked.
I see this a lot with the swampy type of lawyer firms that basically upfront promise to increase your rating by X etc., etc. and then the documentation that they provide to the ratings people is full of all sorts of legalese and half theories and generally rubberstamp opinions from examiners that they have agreements with or relationships with, but none of it necessarily matches up completely with your service treatment records or your personnel records. The opinions being made are not supported with a decent rationale or citation of the medical records as to why that opinion is being made by the examiner, it just sort of comes out of nowhere.
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Insomnia is rated as a MH condition, unless it is specifically physical like OSA.
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You can always use both just remember that if you send us. 4142/4142a release to gather private records file you that does not compel your outside provider to cooperate, cooperate timely, not charge for records, etc., and VA is not budgeted an allotment to pay for private records whether they be medical, civil, or criminal (in the case of MST, for example). In those instances it’s faster that you do whatever it is your private provider or local LE requires to release records to you and then you copy or scan and send to us.
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Yes, you can continue to submit up until the point when it is in "Rating".
Rating multiple VA claims at the same time
in VA Disability Claims Research
Posted
Yes, though the secondaries may be deferred until the primaries are finished. Secondary claims have to be secondary to something that is rated.