Vcaa

[Berta]

Within the 459,315 cases at the BVA, the word Remand appears in 344,075 of them.

Often it refers to a prior remand-

However -ALL claims filed after Nov 9,2000 or were undecided as of that date,

are required to get a VCAA letter notifying the veteran of what evidence their claim specifically needs to

succeed.

Of the 344,075 cases at BVA with the word Remand in them -

many are like this claim:

http://www.va.gov/vetapp03/files/0305362.txt

This is a disgrace-

every time I read one of this I get really angry-

Vet (Army NG) filed claim probably in 2000) the decision says it was filed Prior to the VCAA enactment-- it can take at least two years to go to the BVA- it was pending at time of new VCAA regs

this decision is dated March 21, 2003,

the vet had 3 years in already and then got a remand-much more time added to the claim-

This is disgraceful-

The vet had no POA- but POAs are allowing this to occur-

When I got into the veteran's community in 1986 here in NY- the saying was "most of these Sos and vet reps are in bed with the ROs"-

They dont have to get in that position-now- all a vet rep or SO has to do is stand idly by and not challenge the lack of a VCAA letter when a claimant gets their first denial-

if they dont want to do much to help the vet- this sets up a remand and gets it all out of the vet reps hair-as they sit back in their PC chair and wait for their retirement date to come-

If you had a claim pending on or filed after Nov 9, 2000- got denied and didnt get a VCAA letter-

unless you provide them with significant additional evidence, your claim will go to the BVA and then= one-two years later , it will be remanded back to the very people who should have sent you the VCAA Notice.

What a scam and vet reps are putting up with this-in support of the VA.

[Guest jangrin]

Berta,

My question is if you get a VCAA notice and your have researched and gathered all your records together so you go ahead and send in everything to the RO. Then you sign the election letter and send it in stating for them to go ahead and address the evidence.

It clearly states that if you have more evidence you have up to one year from the date of the VCAA notice.

to send in evidence.

What happens if you add more evidence after you sign the VCAA notice? Do you need to sign another VCAA or are you supposed to get another VCAA letter? Should we all make extra copies of our VCAA just in case?

When we went to the SO this week she acted like when we added more evidence (we signed a VCAA about 4 weeks ago) that we needed to sign another VCAA letter. I can't remember if she had my husband sign a another one or not.

That means that vets need to make copies of the VCAA election notice so that each time they add evidence they date a new VCAA, (which probably allows the evidence t obe considered (I think??)

What are your thoughts?

jangrin

Edited September 2, 2006 by jangrin

[Berta]

Jangrin- good question-I need to read all the info in the VBM as to

"What happens if you add more evidence after you sign the VCAA notice? Do you need to sign another VCAA or are you supposed to get another VCAA letter? Should we all make extra copies of our VCAA just in case? "

I would make copies of every single thing I send to them just in case- and the VCAA election should go Certfied or priority with tracking slip-

You are RIGHT on the additional year they can give you----this too ticks me off----

Under VCAA claimants get a lot of time to send in evidence- yet the VA can deny and then they have to submit an NOD within that year with new evidence-

Since the VCAA Notice subsumes all other DTA regs-

this additional year (not the same as the NOD appeal year) can be CRITICAL to a veteran.They are not on appeal-no decision has been made----they are given more time to support the claim-

I was given 30 days to respond to something, then 60 days to respond to an SSOC- had I been sent proper VCAA I would have had a year more- without being in the Appeals process----

In my case I have so much med evidence that I always respond to them 'yesterday'-I have all post office stuff right here and if I cant get to the PO the rural carrier takes it in-

This is why I just sued them again too-

I sent Counsel a nice living color scan of dozens of my UPSC tracking slips-all to the VARO-

I want my postage fees back too-

ALL of the mailing I have done for 3 years has been in vain- when I discovered my local vet rep screwed up my claim- his boss said send both him locally and the main RO vet rep all copies of the stuff- as well as the VARO-

So here three separate offices have gotten my evidence for 3 years and none of them have read it-

I use my own ink and paper at a cost- and then the postage fees-

and had I been given the year of the VCAA election I could have saved my postage fees and gotten a FOURTH IMO for real cash money but they would not read it anyhow-

That is ------they didnt read my stuff until a few weeks ago-something has been going on there-since Aug 8th. My phone service has been off for over a week due to weather-

and the VA has not responded to my last inquery-

my former vet rep said his email has not worked for about 2 years yet my new vet rep at the desk 20 feet away from him has same email service that works-

Hs problem is that he gets so much email and is so busy because he knows what he is doing (I think)

that his responses are always behind by days-

I told him something was going on and at this point he might not be able to find out more than I did-

They said in hard copy 2 weeks ago that the issue they re-opened in Aug for me at the RO-is for service connected death----so I am just sitting tight there-

and my CUEs are with the adjudicator

I will read the VBM stuff and post it here-we might lose power any minute so I will get back on this later- a VERY Important ISSUE for ALL!

Edited September 2, 2006 by Berta

[Berta]

After reading the NVLSP info in the 2005 edition of the VBM I seem to believe- the VCAA is required for each claim.

A claim could involve more than one issue-all should be addressed in the VCAA Notice but one Notice for each claim and that must be specific to what the vets needs in each claim.

I dont think you need any more VCAA notices unless the evidence you submitted was not sufficient and then they would prepare another SOC and probably have to include another VCAA notice-??? hope not---

I am hoping to get the 2006 edition of VBM in mail any day now to see what the latest take from NVLSP is on this-

Isnt it ironic!

One of the most important decisions ever made for Blue Water AO vets (I was hoping to live long enough to see it-thought it would take years more) is NOT going to be in the new VBM as to the Aug decision unless NVLSP held up the publication-----possible----????

Edited September 2, 2006 by Berta

[Done wit this]

Hi Lady's and Gent's

Someone should post a copy of a Blank VCAA election form. So everyone could make a few copys and send them in whenever they feel the need . You are all right they don't send the election form with every VCAA letter .I have always stated in a letter to the RO that I would like my Claim decided on as soon as possible. But They have not elected to do that yet. Hadit needs to get as many of these types of forms that they can get their hands on and have them avalible for the people that need them that would be a very positive thing to have here along with all the great Info on this site. Just an Idea.

Macool B)

[Berta]

I was going to do that Rick- then I realised they would have a signed form from me and I could not push the issue that they violated my rights-under procedural defect-I just love pushing that issue because it gives any gripe I continue to make to Cong/Senate more personal experience clout-

Another thing-

it isn't just the form that you make election on-it is the specific statement they make- and they usually underline it as it was done in Jangrin's attachment as to what the claimant needs-

They should have told me I needed an IMO before they first denied years ago-early 2004-I could have gotten one then-I figured-heck I didnt need one when I won wrongful death case- so I never got one-

but my daughter said I should in fall of 2004 just so I would not go through the rigamorale that the Sec 1151 claim was- so then I got an IMO,and I went through more of a rigamorale then I ever thought- this time around-

I seem to feel that a VCAA election notice is what triggers them to actually read any evidence-

they have never ever read my IMos or considered my evidence-

Either they figured out this is big time retro-which it is so stall it- or they just decided for some reason I was a claimant in the stack that doesn't get a VCAA notice.

They tried to CTA-they stated they sent me a VCAA letter in an early SOC-

I thought what I got-

Important Reply Requested- was the VCAA thing- it isn't at all-

it gave me 60 days to send more evidence-I did- and still none of it was read-

the VCAA election gives a vet or widow a whole year to come up with some evidence before they can deny-

Rick- we have same POAs- they seem a little out of the loop if you catch my drift-

I cancelled my appt with Pete last week because I realised the other guy never had any copies of my stuff in my file there-

I aint copying all that again-I summarized my claims for Pete and sent to him the latest status-on one page-why talk about it-

I added regs and M21-1 stuff in support of my recent Cue request to Ms. Kloc and he got the Recon for the CUE denial which went into adjudication last week-

I have a feeling he looked at this summary and said oh no--

I file claims full of VA regs and legalize, I attach their regs and VA case law as to how they should handle it, from M21-1, and of course my medical evidence is excellent-and I tell them what I want and why.

I know he uses the VBM because I donated it to them-but

I think you all realise that there is more intellect regarding VA legalize and the way to get claims resolved here-and not in some POAs office.

My claims were buggered from the git go- I still cannot understand why the other vet rep did this to me-

his boss at the RO sent me some email when I mentioned my DRO review was coming that sounded like they didnt even represent me-I have all of their emails- they straightened that mess out-he DIDNT know he was my POA- and then something else went down at the DRO conference that no one seems to want to talk about-no notes, no docs about that meeting-but

I blabbed to the feds what went down because I know what happened-

In any event- the actual VCAA notice from them is critical and I dont think it would be to a vet's advantage to copy a blank one and send it to them at all-

(I hope my new vet rep knows what VCAA Notice means-

never thought about that-cripes they probably have dozens and dozens of vets right there at the VA in Bath, denied before they got one too---)

I expect my new POA will try to do a good job with my claims----but

if that is an illusion I am suffering from, then their big boss will sure be hearing from me.

[Guest jangrin]

I thought I would add the copy of the official VCAA letter that was sent to my husband for his claim. This topic comes up quite frequently now and for those new to the board it may help to actually see one of these.

This is the second VCAA letter he recieved. He recieved this when he filed a claim for conditions secondary to AO DMII and Peripheral Neuropathy.

Jangrin B)

vcaa4.doc

Edited September 3, 2006 by jangrin