Service Connected

[john999]

If I want to find out exactly which of my conditions are considered service connected and which are not what is the paperwork I need to ask the VA for when I go to the VAMC. I know there is some screen to ask for and I want to get the low down on just where I am at. I am going to go to the records dept Monday or Tuesday and ask some questions.

[Berta]

John-it should be on your last rating decision- listed as either NSC or SC-with a rating-

M21-1 says they have to list all disabilities.

Also- if you have a SO or vet rep- in your file with them should be the Blue Rating Sheet with this info too.

Agent Orange vets- I always look over AO decisions carefully as to those ratings under NSC-

In some cases- the vet had received a NSC rating for what then became a SC AO disability-

The Nehmer Court Order and Stipulation accounted for retro like no other regs ever did-

NVLSP found that the VA had snookered vets out of mucho retro under Nehmer-

Even in my case- I had no idea there was retro involved-but there is almost 12 years of retro due the deceased vet and/or me in DIC-(per NVLSP)

It depends on the specific dates the regs were published- and prior denials where the AO was listed as NSC.

Nehmer was a Class Action lawsuit on behalf of Beverly Nehmer (widow of vet) and every Vietnam incountry vet is covered by it.

The VBM starting on page 601 has significant info on this and I am sure I have posted Nehmer info and the Order here in the past. It is also at the NVLSP web site.

Example:

Vet filed claim in 1988 (page 606) for lung cancer- and he was denied.

Vet re-opens in 1996 - 2 years after the lung cancer regs were oublished and he gets award for 100% -VA sends the vet $23,000 in retro (June 1995 to Oct 1996 EED)

Dec 1999 NVLSP finds this vet in their review of some VA decisions-they owed him actually $86,000 more-

Of 1,200 protate cancer vets, NVLSP forced the VA to almost 5 Million bucks to these 1,200 vets they identified under Nehmer Retro rules.

If you have an AO disability it pays to check the date the regs were published for it, and if you have been denied for this in the past- and VA listed it as NSC-you might have retro potential-

might- it depends on the dates and other factors-

This is one reason I feel the VBM is absolutely invaluable to buy-

It was something in their 2003 edition that got me to call Ron Abrams- and I then found out that my AO claim was worth by far more than I thought.