tdiu Why Do You Veterans Wait? Tell Me, What Are You Waiting For?

[LarryJ]

I have, over the last couple months, heard several of our new (and some not so new) Hadit members make statements such as "We're waiting, and as soon as we get an increase in my disability percentage well, then we're going to file for TDIU."

REALLY?

GEE?

WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU WAITING FOR? NO, REALLY, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

If you even have the hint of possible success in filing for TDIU, DO NOT WAIT for some other increase, or whatever. JUST FILE your form 21-8940. BECAUSE YOU ARE COSTING YOURSELF MONEY. SERIOUS MONEY!

After all, when you file the proper form, you ARE filing for an increase. If you do NOT file the "proper form" then the VA is not going to "inferr" that you qualify for TDIU.

COME ON FOLKS!

SHEEESH!

I've added up the number of folks on here in the last couple months, plus the folks that I have coming to me OUTSIDE of the HAdit Forum and I've counted 11 people that I remember.

ELEVEN. THAT I KNOW OF.

And, most do not and will not, file for the proper EED.............geeee, just look at all the money you saved the VA. I, for one, am proud of you......................

[LarryJ]

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but what would a "hint of possible success" be? What would be the minimum criteria?

If I get even a whiff that I might qualify, I'm applying. I'm only 20%, going to submit a NOD on that decision, and have been to the C&P for PTSD and waiting for that decision. I should wait, shouldn't I?

I haven't worked in 12 years, due to PTSD problems.

SUUURE, why not, it's just gonna cost YOU, not ME!

I'm gonna go out in the garage and get my ball bat and I'm gonna beat this into SOMEONE'S HEAD, TODAY!

I am looking at someone else on this very board, with a new posting, telling about how they've WON from 70% to 90% and they MAY EVEN THINK about turning in a claim for TDIU........when they get around to it, if it's okay with their veterans service officer and if it ain't raining next week!

YOU WILL NOT GET TDIU UNTIL YOU FILE THE CLAIM, USING THE PROPER CLAIM FORM. In the meantime it ain't COSTING YOU BUT, oh, say around $2,700 a month, and NO you can't ASSume that the VA will be nice and kind and INFERR that you are a totally disabled unemployable veteran and do the WORK for you..........NO HAPPENING, NOT IN YOUR LIFETIME.......and NO they are NOT going to PAY YOU BACK to whenever it was that you got to where you could NOT work.

SHEEEESH, PEOPLE!

(I haven't worked in TWELVE YEARS.........really?)

[hedgey]

Larry, take that bat and smack me a few times, because I'm still not getting it. My dear VSO not only didn't mention TDIU, but when I asked him about it he told me that I had to have at least 70% and ONE of my conditions had to be rated at 50%.

And yeah, really, for the last 12 years I've been mostly hiding in my house, thinking up excuses not to go outside and trying to face the fact that I'll never go hiking again, or dancing, or volksmarching.

I know you're frustrated, but at least in my case you're dealing with someone for whom a lot doesn't compute, so please forgive me!

I'm sorry I have to keep asking the same questions that you've heard a million times, and that I'm not taking advantage of things I had no clue were remotely within my reach. The same thing that's annoying the bejeezus out of you is smothering and agonizing to me. I'm sorry.

So I guess you're saying I should file, and not wait for my NOD to be ready for submission (waiting on 2 IMO letters, should have them next week) or wait for my PTSD claim decision letter. Thanks, Larry, for the info and the bludgeoning. I'm sorry to be so damned thick!

Anyone got a link to the form?

[pacmanx1]

Larry, take that bat and smack me a few times, because I'm still not getting it. My dear VSO not only didn't mention TDIU, but when I asked him about it he told me that I had to have at least 70% and ONE of my conditions had to be rated at 50%.

And yeah, really, for the last 12 years I've been mostly hiding in my house, thinking up excuses not to go outside and trying to face the fact that I'll never go hiking again, or dancing, or volksmarching.

I know you're frustrated, but at least in my case you're dealing with someone for whom a lot doesn't compute, so please forgive me!

I'm sorry I have to keep asking the same questions that you've heard a million times, and that I'm not taking advantage of things I had no clue were remotely within my reach. The same thing that's annoying the bejeezus out of you is smothering and agonizing to me. I'm sorry.

So I guess you're saying I should file, and not wait for my NOD to be ready for submission (waiting on 2 IMO letters, should have them next week) or wait for my PTSD claim decision letter. Thanks, Larry, for the info and the bludgeoning. I'm sorry to be so damned thick!

Anyone got a link to the form?

I think this is the form

http://www.vba.va.go...21-8940-ARE.pdf

This is the regulation:

§ 4.16 Total disability ratings for compensation based on unemployability of the individual.

(a) Total disability ratings for compensation may be assigned, where the schedular rating is less than total, when the disabled person is, in the judgment of the rating agency, unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation as a result of service-connected disabilities: Provided That, if there is only one such disability, this disability shall be ratable at 60 percent or more, and that, if there are two or more disabilities, there shall be at least one disability ratable at 40 percent or more, and sufficient additional disability to bring the combined rating to 70 percent or more. For the above purpose of one 60 percent disability, or one 40 percent disability in combination, the following will be considered as one disability: (1) Disabilities of one or both upper extremities, or of one or both lower extremities, including the bilateral factor, if applicable, (2) disabilities resulting from common etiology or a single accident, (3) disabilities affecting a single body system, e.g. orthopedic, digestive, respiratory, cardiovascular-renal, neuropsychiatric, (4) multiple injuries incurred in action, or (5) multiple disabilities incurred as a prisoner of war. It is provided further that the existence or degree of non-service connected disabilities or previous unemployability status will be disregarded where the percentages referred to in this paragraph for the service-connected disability or disabilities are met and in the judgment of the rating agency such service-connected disabilities render the veteran unemployable. Marginal employment shall not be considered substantially gainful employment. For purposes of this section, marginal employment generally shall be deemed to exist when a veteran's earned annual income does not exceed the amount established by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, as the poverty threshold for one person. Marginal employment may also be held to exist, on a facts found basis (includes but is not limited to employment in a protected environment such as a family business or sheltered workshop), when earned annual income exceeds the poverty threshold. Consideration shall be given in all claims to the nature of the employment and the reason for termination.

(b) It is the established policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs that all veterans who are unable to secure and follow a substantially gainful occupation by reason of service-connected disabilities shall be rated totally disabled. Therefore, rating boards should submit to the Director, Compensation and Pension Service, for extra-schedular consideration all cases of veterans who are unemployable by reason of service-connected disabilities, but who fail to meet the percentage standards set forth in paragraph (a) of this section. The rating board will include a full statement as to the veteran's service-connected disabilities, employment history, educational and vocational attainment and all other factors having a bearing on the issue.

This basically means if a veterans' condition warrants it, the veteran can claim TDIU but being awarded TDIU is still up to VA. Sometimes VA will increase the veterans' disabilities to meet the percentage standards then award TDIU.

Edited July 24, 2010 by pacmanx1

[hedgey]

Pete, Thank you!!

I guess if I didn't need someone to speak slowly and repeat things, I wouldn't be unemployable. Thanks for the form and the spelling it out via the reg. In red, highlighted and underlined is what I need to get it into my dense noggin and past the swamp of confusion!

thanks!

[pacmanx1]

Pete, Thank you!!

I guess if I didn't need someone to speak slowly and repeat things, I wouldn't be unemployable. Thanks for the form and the spelling it out via the reg. In red, highlighted and underlined is what I need to get it into my dense noggin and past the swamp of confusion!

thanks!

As Always Hope The Best

[john999]

4.16b is just not in the vocabulary of most VA employees and most VSO's. Larry is our exception being a Hadit graduate. I know a vet who was on SSD for about ten years and yet had a rating from the VA of 50% for the condition that put him on SSD. No one at the VA ever told him to file for IU. He never even heard of it until I found out about it and told him to file. He put in his TDIU form and got 70% and got his IU. Then because he was confined to his house pretty much he put in for housebound and the VA raised his rating to 100% and granted housebound. The VA knew these facts about him but never told him to apply for benefits he deserved. It is just about saving a buck at the vet's expense. They create all this smoke to hide our eligibility for benefits from us.