hypertension hypertension

[jhilly]

The BVA granted me service connection for hypertension with "3 blood pressure readings of 110 diastolically" from 2004. My local office here in Florida gave me 10% from 2010. I thought I read somewhere that a 110 diastolic reading was 20%? Also, if the order from the BVA says 2004 why wouldn't my local office show service connection from 2004, rather than 2010 as they have?

 

jhilly

[Berta]

No. Retro is based almost always on the date the claim was filed.

If VA denied you for the HBP in the past however,in an unappealed decision, this newer rating award could be a basis for CUE, to gain more retro.

Every  vet who has been denied by VA in the past, for what is now a SC disability, should consider that they might have made a CUE in the past denial or should determine if the awarded claim falls under 38 CFR 3 .156,in some way.

It just makes sense. If you were denied in the past for a disability , that has since become SC, and it was at a ratable level when they initially denied it ( 10% or greater) and documented on the older rating sheet, that is a good basis for a CUE claim to get more retro.

[lotzaspotz]

Berta, I've wondered in general about the date upon which retro is based because of the VA's canned statement on their SOC's that says they've obtained and reviewed the veteran's service medical records.  If there's some condition that the vet hasn't claimed upon initial application (as it appears here), but it's clearly in the service medical records or manifests itself within one year of discharge, would that not be an inferred claim?  If it's clearly there and would support an earlier effective date, I wonder if an argument could be made that this being a so-called non-adversarial process, if the evidence is there, and the VA supposedly reviewed the records in their entirety, the VA should rate it anyway because they were aware of it through their records review.  Especially when the veteran has memory problems like organic mental syndrome or the like?  I think it would be a struggle, as all claims appear to be these days, but is there any basis in the statutes that could support this rationale?  I think my question speaks to jhilly's post.

 

Edited October 12, 2015 by lotzaspotz