hypertension Va Worker Told Me Im Screwing His Company?

[killemall]

So....

July 2014 I was bumped from 40 to 70 percent.

However I was denied sc for both knees...depression...sleep apnea and hypertension.

March 2015 I started the quick claim process for those issues plus a few others where I will be submitting more evidence once ready.

I decided that I should do a NOD for the issues that were not service connected in my July 2014 award letter since my one year window was almost closed.

The point was to make sure I could secure my back pay on those issues in the case that the va does SC some of them.

I explain why Im doing the NOD to the VA counselor and he tells me Im trying to screw his company.

I said what company?

He said the VA.

I explained that hes not a car insurance officer who is telling me that they dont wanna pay for my busted car.

I was very mad and pointed to the hearing aids ive been wearing 13 years since I was 22 and exclaimed..

Im xxxxxxx broken! Im not a car. Im a guy who did what I sighned up to do and you are here for me and not any xxxxxxx insurance company.

I then told him Ive never complained about anything in my life but I was considering going to higher about his remark of me screwing his company.

His composure changed very quickly and he filled out the NOD for me.

Whew....I was pissed off!!!!!

Anyways...is it true that a NOD can make me wait three years like he was saying?

In the past I would just do a nod within one year to show I disagreed and then submit claims for the same issues I disagreed with and a year later Id get my award and retro pay for the issues that were now service connected.

The nod was just used to lock in my origional claim date.

Has somthing changed???

Why is he saying two to three years?

Also. Can I just submit my new evidence for these decisions I disagreed with today into the quick claim process???

Or is somthing not gonna jive???

Thanks for any help and damn he pissed me off!!!!!

[Chuck75]

File the NOD before the clock runs out!

[Andyman73]

Killemall,

Yeah, see....that's the problem here, too many of them have the mentality that we are "screwing their company". They run it like a HMO, deny deny deny, ok here's a few dollars, go away.

[31Bravo]

Yes Sir, you can submit new evidence with your NOD.

[broncovet]

1. It should be illegal or unethical for VA employees to advise you against applying for benefits of filing a NOD. Like you, I had a VA employee tell me, "Oh, you can file a NOD, but it will be a waste of time and they will look at everything else and try to reduce you, holding up the rest of your benefits". Its simply not true. The VA has a procedure for rudicing benefits, and they can/do that all the time. BUT, there has to be evidence of same. There are "reduction criteria" such as you not seeking treatment for your SC condition for an extended period, but the criteria does NOT include: "Reduce a Veteran if he seeks an increase". That malicious rumor is false, you will likely be reduced if you meet the criteria for a reduction, not because you sought an increase, or because you have purple hair. These attempts at "reducing the backlong" by strong arming Veterans into dropping their appeals/claims are very bad.

2. As far as "the NOD making you wait 2 or 3 years", unfortunately, that is true. In fact, an appeal to the BVA is more like 4 years. Right now, for the most part, VA does not process both appeals and claims to the same Veteran at the same time. This is because their is only ONE paper copy of your cfile. Your Cfile can be sitting at the BVA waiting on an appeal or in your RO, but not both at the same time. SOME Vets have had their cfile scanned in, but most of the rest of us are still on paper. Further, I doubt that, if yours is one that is scanned in, that does not mean your claim will be "pushed ahead" of Vets who are still on paper. You can kid yourself but the backlog of claims is a reality, and the VA uses any excuse to try to make your claim another one of the longer ones. If VA can delay your claim another year, that is money in their pocket. It means your benefits, if you dont die or give up on your claim first, will be paid out of next years budget. The only thing Va likes better than delaying your claim to 2016, is delaying it to 2017 or 2018. The VA has delayed me for 13 years, so far. Yes, I got some benefits, but I never did get "any" benefits, none, zip, zilch, nada, back to 2002 when I applied.

Edited July 28, 2015 by broncovet

[Notorious Kelly]

Good for you standing up for ALL veterans when you remind clowns like him that they work for US!

[pwrslm]

The new system is be electronic, no more paper C Files. The EBenefits site accepts uploads of every document you have. If you cant upload it, your VSO can, and its free, no postage involved. Entire claims are contained in digital format, and can be accessed from multiple locations at the same time. They are processing every claim file into digital format as we speak, so it wont be long before everyone's CFlie is digitized. Unfortunately, the oldest files, the biggest files, take the longest, but this has been an ongoing process for a few years now and that is good news.

The old rules are ineffective. They need to allow new claim processing separate from appeals and DRO's. As long as the new claims are not related to the existing appeal, there should be no reason nor rhyme to deny Vets the right to claim what is lawfully due to them.

Decentralizing the VBA claims and putting them at VAMC locations would also help.