Two Year Wait For Dro Review

[free_spirit_etc]

I just got an answer to the IRIS I sent December 8 which informs me that the reviews on my NODs will be two years after they were received.

"A review of of your two pending Notices of disagreements are still pending. The Department of Veterans Affairs has maintained the dates of the notification you have sent to the Chicago Regional Office.

The Notice of Disagreement for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation which has been noted as being received as of November 12, 2008 with a Decision Review Officer (DRO) is scheduled for November 13, 2010.

The Notice of Disagreement for Helpless Child claim has been noted as being received as of July 16, 2009 with a review scheduled for July 17, 2011.

All notices of disagreements and appeals are worked in order of receipt at the Regional Office."

Ughhhh - two years.......

However, I also received my VCAA Notice in June 2007. It took almost a year to get a copy of the C-file. I asked for an extension of time to submit evidence, as I was not provided with the information I needed from THEM until almost a year after the VCAA Notice.

And actually, I had been specifically requesting a copy of my husband's discharge physical and the Medical Opinion they used to deny my claim (in order to get an IMO) and still have not received those.

However, I did submit my evidence in June 2008 (within one year of the VCAA Notice), as I was not informed whether my request for extension was granted. In that I submitted the evidence within one year of the VCAA Notice, I requested that my claim be re-adjudicated. (In that they adjudicated my claim seven months prior to the one year allowed for me to submit evidence and six months before they had provided me with a copy of the C-file).

The VA denied getting this - though it was sent by certified mail, though I have a signed return receipt, and though I sent an IRIS the day I mailed it informing them that I sent it and the Certified Mail receipt number. (In all the communication back and forth on that IRIS, the VA employee never mentioned that they did not receive the evidence..)

Anyway - I resubmitted the evidence under the Special Claims Handling for Missing Documents.

So do I still have the right to ask that my claim be re-adjudicated - as the evidence should now be considered constructively received by the VA as of the date I mailed it, or the date they signed the return receipt card?

Would it be wise to request this? Or will I just be adding another step in my claim that will make it take longer? (...in that if they don't grant the claim at the initial level - I will have another two year wait for the DRO review.)

And if they do re-adjudicate it - can I still submit evidence to be considered? (i.e. an IMO)or will they only consider the evidence that was submitted within one year of the VCAA Notice?

Thanks,

Free

[Berta]

Perhaps the OSA could help you as it is concerning that they said you did not have an open claim.

AS I understand the funeral expense claims-

VA sent me 300 too but no refund of the funeral expenses.I attached the funeral bills to the Application many years ago and also re subbmitted them and this is in process.

My funeral expense refund was contingent on establishing a direct service connected death.That is a refund separate from any burial claim.

The Office of General COunsel- VA does not get involved with the VA claims process unless it requires their invention (in rare cases) because VA is improperly applying or not applying regs and VA case law.

The situation has to be highly unique.I was awarded DIC under 1151 and then in April under direct SC death.My case is the first of it's kind that I or even NVLSP are aware of.

They got quickly involved in my claims because I called them and said my FTCA matter was still an open issue and I sent them the evidence for that.When they saw that two separate retro payment matters were deliberately being withheld from me in spite of my award -they took action as the VA could have been sanctioned if they continued to withhold this money.

Maybe the OSA could help you find out the status of your claims-it is very upsetting that they consider one of the claims as not open.

If this is fact-you would have to re-open that claim.

I found that OSA had sent me email that they had contacted the Secretary's office on my situation.

However OGC had already moved fast to contact the VARO and my claims are now in authorization for payment.

Is the DRO review to determine whether the NOD was timely?

[Berta]

I might be misunderstand the burial allowance you have applied for.

I posted in next topic the VA's explanation of these benefits.

[free_spirit_etc]

Lois,

I am sorry I missed your post. The odd thing is that I saw Carlie's post that quoted your post, but then I looked at the thread and didn't find what you had posted in the first place. I wondered if you had deleted it. But it is there plain as day now. B)

Thank you for responding.

I am certainly not opposed to waiting until November for my DRO review. That will give me time to have my claim all in order and have an IMO submitted before the review.

It might also be a good idea for me to drive to the RO before then and view my claim file and make sure everything is still there. Since my husband's discharge physical, my initial burial claim, and packet of evidence disappeared (and since I found medical records of other vets in my husband's C-file) I don't quite trust that even evidence that was acknowledged will stay in the file.

My biggest question about the review is: (concerning the right to have the claim re-adjudicated based on the evidence I submitted in response to the VCAA Notice. VCAA Notice June 2007. Decision November 2007. Evidence sent June 2008).

Should I just wait for the DRO review in November and skip requesting the re-adjudication again? Or should I request my claim be re-adjudicated - adding one more step to the process - and probably more time - especially as my claim would probably not be re-adjudicated as early as November 2010. There might be two year wait for that. And if it is not granted, that would make it another two year wait for the DRO review.

And if I skip the re-adjudication, do I run the risk of the BVA remanding my case because my claim was not re-adjudicated upon receipt of the evidence submitted in response to the VA notice.

Thanks,

Free

Free

It really concerns me that your claim is being treated this way.

On that note, I have a Veteran friend that I am assisting going through the same situation (no acknowledgement of receipt of fast letter reconsideration or evidence that he submitted many years ago) despite the Fast Letter Instructions.

While there are Laws, rules, regulagtions, fast letters, Court Decisions and etc. that supposed to be adhered to by the VAROs, the problem is that there is nobody, to include the Office of Veterans Administration Inspection General, that has a personal interest of the individual veteran.

One Vet informed me that he wrote the VAOIG Hotline last year and did not get as much of a receipt confirmation from the site.

Despite the many substantiated complaints that Veterans make in regards to the treatment of thier claims, there is only temporary solutions that are like short candles that burn out quickly and the veterans are again in the dark.

While these forums are a good place for gathering information on how to best file and track your your claim, it will do nothing to change the VARO claim delays. The reconsiderations submitted under Secretary Peake's fast letter 08-41, is not even being discussed in any particular polictical or for that matter Veterans forums. Check it out if you do not believe me! Fast Letter 08-41 is old news on any internet search engine site.

While the claim is important to you, please do not stress over it to much, that will only keep you stressed out! If you have done all that you can do, my recommendation is to just wait it out-WITHOUT STRESSING LIKE MANY VETERANS DO!

TAKE CARE AND GOOD LUCK!

Lois

Just somebody that is helping Veterans that cannot help themselves.

[free_spirit_etc]

Berta,

My burial claim was for the $300 funeral and $300 internment expenses. My husband was eligible as he was in receipt of disability pay. They paid $300 funeral but no burial. They said there was no evidence I incurred any internment expenses.

Of course, if my husband’s death would be granted SC, then the funeral burial amount would be larger. But that is a tad bit down the road.

I am assuming that my claim IS still open – as it is set for a DRO review. I have no idea why she kept telling me that my claim was closed. But she did tell me that I had to file an NOD for the claim. If it was still in the NOD period, it was not closed. I received the decision in November 2007. And in June 2008 she was telling me the claim was closed.

The odd thing too is that this was a whole string on the same IRIS. I initially requested an extension of time to submit evidence in response to the VCAA notice, as I still had not been provided with a copy of my husband’s medical records to obtain an IMO. (Almost a year after requesting them).

I then got a copy of the C-file – and responded that the discharge physical was still missing, and that I had only received a partial copy of the medical opinion that was used as evidence to deny my claim. I asked for:

1. A copy of the entire opinion.

2. Additional time to obtain an IMO in response to the VCAA Notice. – as I still hadn’t received all the medical records I needed from THEM, and as I only had a few weeks remaining in my one-year period.

She responded that the thread had been forwarded to the raters who would determine if I could get an extension.

As I did not hear back from them about my request for an extension – I went ahead and sent what I did have within the deadline.

I sent an IRIS ON THE SAME THREAD that we had been talking about the issue. And said - As I have not heard whether my extension is granted – I am submitting the following evidence within one year of receiving my VCAA notice. And I gave her the Certified Mail Receipt Number.

Yet in the SAME THREAD – her response was just something along the lines that if I wanted to send evidence, I needed to inform them what claim I was sending it for, as my record showed the only open claim was the burial claim. She did inform me I needed to submit an NOD for the DIC claim.

We had several communications back and forth – where I asked to have my claim re-adjudicated on the basis of the evidence I submitted in June (in response to the VCAA notice.) But she just kept telling me that the claim wasn’t open and that I would need to submit an NOD. She never ONCE told me that they didn’t receive the evidence that was the TOPIC of the discussion in the thread. Not until I asked POINT BLANK in October. THEN she said – No, we did not receive it.

My questions about the OGC was more in reference to my Social Security claim. I have a claim with the OCG of SSA – but have not been able to figure out how the OCG office operates. And, yes, as you mentioned – they do not get involved in the actual decisions regarding benefits. But they can get involved in matters of how the claim was processed. I haven’t really considered the OGC for the VA. But I was looking for more info for how OGC offices handle complaints in general.

I don’t think the DRO review is to determine if the NOD was timely. Though that may be part of the issue. But I think it is a DRO for the original NOD, since they are scheduling the reviews two years away, and I filed the NOD November 2008 – and it is scheduled for November 2010. I filed the NOD on the decision of whether my NOD was timely in October 2009.

I requested that they CUE themselves on the timely decision first (February 2009) – and waited quite awhile to see if that acted on that before I filed it as an NOD. Asking that they CUE themselves was a disagreement with the decision. But I labeled it as a Request for Correction of Clear and Unmistakable Error. Since I did not hear back on that – I re-submitted the same info as a clearly labeled Notice Of Disagreement, so that they couldn’t say that I did not file an NOD on the matter.

Thanks for all your help,

Free