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brokensoldier244th
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Posts posted by brokensoldier244th
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Use this and just plug in the numbers of the disabilities you have, and then play with the last one to see what percentage you need.
http://www.vvaarizona.org/combined_disability.php
CAS
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Over the years I got to 80%, then 90% and it would take at least a 50% rating to cover that last 10%. It depends on your individual ratings and how they add up, then how it is rounded at the end, and if you have bilaterals. 90+50 I get 95, which rounds to 100. I did not quality for home bound until my P&T was decided but I never researched the ins and outs of that. I never expected that portion of the rating when I got my letter.
CAS
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That is huge!.
The CHAMPVA forms can be downloaded, filled out, then faxed back. I think it took me about 8 weeks with a little back and forth (to fill out the other health insurance info correctly) Remember, that in dealings with CHAMP you are not the beneficiary- your dependents are. SO, if you are calling CHAMP ever to discuss anything and your dependents are NOT minors, CHAMP will defer and say they must talk to the beneficiary. This is normal and expected, but a bit jarring after spending so many years shepherding your benefits around for yourself and dependents.
If you have no other health insurance then you will just have to fill out an OHI (other health insurance) form for EACH beneficiary. Don't do like I did and fill out 1 and include a note that said "its the same for all beneficiaries". They don't like that very much. :-)
Check, also, your state Regs RE: school (secondary education). You probably live in a state with a Uni system that has programs for dependents of 100% disabled vets- most of the ones I have seen say something along the lines that dependents of 100% veterans can attend for free. SO. you get tuition off, you don't sacrifice grants and scholarships, depending on income guidelines, and your Chap 35 monies for subsistence allowance are still in force. My wife is thinking about getting a 2nd degree in library science after deciding to change careers after 13 yrs, and this takes a HUGE amount of stress off of how to pay for it. It works for all of your dependents, within certain limitations of time, but there is a deadline on these. Its years (48 months of benefits, and they have to be used within X years of your rating). The sooner you start on it and get it out of the way now the better.
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It should be part of his out processing
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The processing out usually includes one or more meetings with VA reps to start paperwork. It's different now than it was 10 or more years ago.
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Most of the veterans here that I have read, and myself, were 100% for quite some time- a year or more in many cases- before requesting P/T status due to the conditions being stable. It really depends on your treatment records and what they reflect as far as if your conditions are or are not likely to improve. File a claim requesting it through Ebenefits or through your VSO and see what happens. I know that the MDD and Apnea can sometimes improve or get worse as time and treatment go on (personal experience) so pointing out to the VA and your doctor (and having your doctor opine on whether or not its likely to improve) will go a long way towards getting a successful claim.
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Thing is, you have to get your doctor to say that case applied to you too. Just finding a ruling doesn't help that much.
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Its not an automatic 50% just because of a CPAP- you can develop apnea later in life not connected to service, too. It depends on the type of apnea and what it is secondary to. I was diagnosed with SA/sleep disturbance at first and given a CPAP. No ratings change because it was first diagnosed as secondary to obesity resulting from low activity due to the fact that I don't move that much and pain causing the sleep disturbance and I was already rated for pain and DDD. Not VAs fault. I later got some more sleep studies after I changed my pain medication regimen and we could separate out the pain portion (better controlled now) from the apnea and found that it was still present. I also found better records from in service showing it was probably present then, too. Then I was rated.
You have to make sure your records can show that you had SA symptomology of some kind in service, or that the type of SA is tied somehow to what you already have going on. If its just due to obesity, for example, I don't know if you'll have a strong case. Ive not seen one approved based on that yet, and my doctor even tried to equate the two prior to my finding service records. VA shot it down saying that while obesity was a symptom it could not be directly correlated just to military service. I went in heavy and then dropped in service, and then got heavy again- I have a pre disposition for it. *shrug* I appealed and then used that time to continue building my case. It was then returned later as being 20%- a compromise, I guess, between sleep disturbance caused by pain and sleep disturbance caused by not breathing. Later it was increased when I was rated 100% and P&T to the normal 50% that many see. This took about 4 years total.
If you have central apnea you probably have a good shot, and Ive seen other SA ratings tied to PTSD in some form or another so you are probably in better shape for a rating than I was, just make sure your records and your doctor both support you, and be prepared for a possible appeal. (I already said that, didnt I? :-) )
Good luck! :-)
CAS
- Vync, rwskitch and Rocket1949
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You file a claim requesting P&T status just like a standard claim. They will then give you a form (or you can download it) that you give to former employers to fill out with some basics of work history and challenges that you had. Then you send it in and wait.
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ED is S.C., but always 0 percent. I did not get smc-k though. At the time they said i had still fathered children so it wasn't non functioning. (Which was true) The radiculopathy was increased to 20 percent from 10 percent each leg. Ultimately I did not appeal the nonpayment of ED after my IU increase because I'm housebound now, anyway. Not sure it's worth the fight for 100 a month, even with a little backpay.
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that was an earlier workup, too. Ultimately, I would have done it a bit cleaner and not used the footnoting at the end, but later claims used a more streamlined look. I don't have a copy of one of those off hand, though. You see the basics. I scanned relevant things, pasted them into the document as needed, and then just referenced them throughout as necessary. I think that one was less than 15 pages overall with scanned enclosures.
One thing I have found to be a real help is "CamScanner" (paid or free version). Its a smartphone based scanner app that I have used for years, and its as good as a scanner, especially if you don't have one, or don't want to buy one specifically for this. Its also handy for receipts and other things since it saves right to your phone and you can email it to yourself later and print it out.
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See attached as an example of a NOD I did in 2010. I eventually won it.
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If your 100% is for mental you probably won't be round rehab able under Voc and you may be able to get P/T that way. My CP for mental noted 'total and social and occupations impairment' so I have a host of things that add up to 100% in VA math anyway, even if they dropped my MH rating, but my MH Rating alone is also 100%. Ive read a lot of guys/girls on here that got their 100% rating and then after a year or so of treatment applied for an 'increase' to PT status using the stability of their treatment records as evidence of totality.
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Yes, in the last year or two VA partnered up with MetLife and Delta to offer dental coverage, and its not unaffordable. Check your network though, I was surprised to find that in Lincoln, NE there are dentists in established practices that don't take either. Don't pay for something that you can't use, and all that.
Research, the name of the game.
Good luck!
CAS
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Also, depending on your financials you may also qualify (the kids, anyway) under medicaid, Child Supplemental, or whatever they may call it where you live. It dovetails in with Champ, too.
Congrats, of a sort, and welcome to the club- one of the few that people don't wish they were a member of.
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If you are P & T (permanent and total) then your dependents qualify for ChampVA. The signing up for it is pretty simple, you can download the forms from the ChampVA website. Fill out (I faxed them), wait 2-3 weeks and then call to make sure they were received and processed in. They may ask for information about OHI (other health insurance) but that is, in part, to know if they can cover something if your eligibility date is backdated from a medical visit. All in all its taken about 6-8 weeks to finalize my dependents and verify that they are covered.
It does not cover dental or cosmetic procedures, but most any of your medically necessary stuff and routine visit types of things will be billable to VA, just give your doctor/billing the social security number of your particular dependent. The biller then calls ChampVA in Denver and uses that number to identify the appropriate dependent for billing.
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If that is their determination then that is the statement they will use. You can always contest it, or counter it with a separate opinion.
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It's there a psych component to your disabilities, or just physical? My physical c and p was like this but my mental c and p noted work deficiencies.
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You are probably already in the know, but for those who are not: For males, it could be about not being able to get to "attention", not being able to finish your duty, or for removal of the hydraulics for a variety of reasons. Even with these conditions, it might be possible to father children. Remember the "D" in "ED" = "dysfunction". Something is not working as it should. Don't worry about age. You've probably seen the news articles about 60 year old men fathering children. It can happen to just about anyone, but it tends to be different scenario for us veterans. Vets been through much more than the average person. Perhaps hypogonadism could be SC. If one develops tesicular cancer, and if it spreads elsewhere, then it would be bad. Remember, for your spouse (if you have one), it could be worth the DIC factor. Also, by getting it SC, the VA would not be allowed to charge any medical insurance you have for treatment of the condition.
Absolutely, this. You can still fire away without having an erection. Remember HS and those occasional stories from someone along the lines of "But....we never .....'had sex'.........." Heavy petting and the right circumstances for guys will still net you a brand new you, way before you actually consummate something. Keep that in mind and consider a vasectomy if you are at a point where that would make sense. Don't assume that the inability to rise to the occasion won't still get you an occasion.
On the other side, though, don't assume its the end of the world for you and your spouse/sig other, either. Again, remember HS and how much fun could be had that didnt involve actual sex? If nothing else, find someone receptive to your challenges and then open the old dusty playbook and blow off some cobwebs. My wife and I have found it to be quite a lot of fun and there isn't all the pressure and stress around it, either.
- Vync and blahsaysme2u
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And here we go again- de-railing the conversation/question that was initially posed.
see again-
I don't think that bashing the VA in the body of a post of otherwise useful information provides anything helpful to the discussion, and it certainly detracts from someone's initial question.
IMHO if you want to complain about the VA then go to a VFW or Legion hall.
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My ED was found to be connected to lower sacral spinal/caudal nerve impingement along with my bilateral neuropathy. All the fun of diabetes, none of the dietary restrictions! :-) (sorry if that isn't funny to anyone in particular)
I do get the joy of the weekly testosterone injections, though, I will say that it has helped with my stamina in walking daily at the Y and a bit of my pain recovery. Ill see how it goes for awhile. Ive been at this since I was about 23. Ugh. Im 39 now.
Slow and steady and all that-
CAS
- flores97, Vync and blahsaysme2u
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Good to know. I'm 38, so pretty far outside the low t spectrum for age. ED is a separate rating for me, but my hypogonadism is not currently SC since I had a pending IU / PT claim going at the same time. Don't know about that one. This is all kinda new to me, yet.
Chapter 35 educational benefits for "child"
in VA Disability Claims Research
Posted
Are you TDIU or P& T ? They are separate things. If your award letter says that you are P&T with no further exams scheduled then you qualify for Chap 35 benefits. Depending on when he graduated and when he started he may qualify for Chap 35, but there is a time limit on the number of years from which he became eligible based on your P&T effective date and now. The EED may or may not figure into it depending on when it falls and what time period your son attended school.