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stillhere

Question

Here is the answer to my Iris I posted to the VA this morning:

Thank you for your inquiry to the Department of Veterans Affairs dated November 1, 2010 regarding the status of your claim.

Claims for the three new presumptive conditions of exposure to Agent Orange will be given priority when the Congressional review of the regulation that will be used to rate these claims has been completed. As of this date there has been no official word regarding this review. Information should be forthcoming soon.

I was under the opinion this was all over and done with!! Why are they STALLING MORE!

Anyone hearing anything else???

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Yes-I just got this press release in my email from the VA moments ago:

VA Begins Paying Benefits for New Agent Orange Claims

VA Encourages Affected Vietnam Veterans to File Claims

WASHINGTON - "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has begun

distributing disability benefits to Vietnam Veterans who qualify for

compensation under recently liberalized rules for Agent Orange exposure.

"The joint efforts of Congress and VA demonstrate a commitment to

provide Vietnam Veterans with treatment and compensation for the

long-term health effects of herbicide exposure," said Secretary of

Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki.

Up to 200,000 Vietnam Veterans are potentially eligible to receive VA

disability compensation for medical conditions recently associated with

Agent Orange. The expansion of coverage involves B-cell (or hairy-cell)

leukemia, Parkinson's disease and ischemic heart disease.

Shinseki said VA has launched a variety of initiatives - both

technological and involving better business practices - to tackle an

anticipated upsurge in Agent Orange-related claims.

"These initiatives show VA's ongoing resolve to modernize its processes

for handling claims through automation and improvements in doing

business, providing Veterans with faster and more accurate decisions on

their applications for benefits," Shinseki said.

Providing initial payments - or increases to existing payments - to the

200,000 Veterans who now qualify for disability compensation for these

three conditions is expected to take several months, but VA officials

encourage all Vietnam Veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange and

suffer from one of the three diseases to make sure their applications

have been submitted.

VA has offered Veterans exposed to Agent Orange special access to health

care since 1978, and priority medical care since 1981. VA has been

providing disability compensation to Veterans with medical problems

related to Agent Orange since 1985.

In practical terms, Veterans who served in Vietnam during the war and

who have a "presumed" illness do not have to prove an association

between their illnesses and their military service. This "presumption"

simplifies and speeds up the application process for benefits.

The three new illnesses - B-cell (or hairy-cell) leukemia, Parkinson's

disease and ischemic heart disease - are added to the list of presumed

illnesses previously recognized by VA.

Other recognized illnesses under VA's "presumption" rule for Agent

Orange are:

* Acute and Subacute Transient Peripheral Neuropathy

* Chloracne

* Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

* Diabetes Mellitus (Type 2)

* Hodgkin's Disease

* Multiple Myeloma

* Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

* Porphyria Cutanea Tarda

* Prostate Cancer

* Respiratory Cancers

* Soft Tissue Sarcoma (other than Osteosarcoma, Chondrosarcoma,

Kaposi's sarcoma, or Mesothelioma)

* AL Amyloidosis

Veterans interested in applying for disability compensation under one of

the three new Agent Orange presumptives should go to

www.fasttrack.va.gov <http://www.fasttrack.va.gov/> or call

1-800-827-1000. "

# # #

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I received the same VA email yesterday, but no one with the VA is able to tell me what's happening with the claim I filed in August of 2009. I'm assuming they've completed development on it and were simply holding it for the new reg to take effect yesterday. Hopefully, I'll get something in the mail later this week or the following week. I have a relative who got approved for comp this past summer on appeal after a 2 1/2 year wait, but he got a retro check in the mail before he got the notice. The check came without advance notice, but he has happy to get the check. His disease had been on the presumptive list a long time, but the VA made a mistake in not identifying his disease as such.

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AS Berta posted the VA press release says they are paying for the 3 new conditions now! But I have not been able to find anywhere on different sites where veterans are saying they have been paid??

The VA website is now showing the same article as the headliner to their site.

I wonder as has been the case in the past. If they are going off half cocked and really have not paid but plan to soon!

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I haven't picked up anything yet either on any other sites-that indicates the check was in the mail yet.

The info I have gotten on my AO claim is difficult to interpret.It is still in Philadelphia "with the Nehmer person".

Phila VARO did handle the CLL retro claims with a Nehmer coordinator-in the past- so I wonder why all retro Nehmer claims aren't in Philadelphia.

As many of you know- the Monday Morning reports used to be a way to see what the VAROs were doing as far as getting decisions out.

Some time ago Rich Cohen in testimony before the H VAC mentioned how the Monday AM VARO report VBA link has been altered so radically it is difficult to understand.

The week ending Oct 25th for example seem to indicate only 4 new AO claims had been filed Nationally.That doesnt seem right but then again it is almost impossible to understand the charts now.

And there is nothing specific to each RO like there was in the past.

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AS Berta posted the VA press release says they are paying for the 3 new conditions now! But I have not been able to find anywhere on different sites where veterans are saying they have been paid??

The VA website is now showing the same article as the headliner to their site.

I wonder as has been the case in the past. If they are going off half cocked and really have not paid but plan to soon!

I haven't heard anything on my claim yet but I have a friend that got a letter yesterday and it stated that he had been rated at 100% for his heart condition and that his payment would be direct deposited into his account on the 15th on this month. He filed his claim in July of this year. This was great news for him since he has been making it on only $826.00 a month from SSI. They even stated that they were going to help him get housing in his area since he is presently without a home. We live in the Dallas area.

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