New Proposed VA Reg Vets Should Know About

[rootbeer22]

Vets:

I appears that the VA is proposing legislation that would require a Vet to prove an incident occurred in service first before a C & P Exam can be granted? I guess this would save the VA a pile of money from limiting CP exams  but I can't help from thinking that trying to get the claims service connected would be much more difficult. I know that the MOAA and the other Veterans Advocacy Groups are providing position papers to congress VA Oversight Committees today and there is congressional testimony starting today at around 2:15 PM EST Today to review the proposed policies. Who knows, maybe congress will reject it?

Rootbeer22

Edited May 24, 2016 by rootbeer22
typo

[TALON II FE]

I haven't read the proposal, but it sounds like they want it to be SC BEFORE they will C&P; so my first question would be who establishes/verifies the SC?  Will they need a whole new department now?  Sounds like bureaucracy at it's finest once again!

[Andyman73]

Just one more way to screw Vets out of our promised care and compensation. Eventually the VA will be the main reason people will not consider the Military before other career options. Why join an outfit that won't give what they promise you?

[Guest]

The crazy one here, I don't think this is new.  Of course it's definitely sounds like a different tactic but VA have been denying veterans claims for years, saying that the veteran did not have a chronic condition in-service but only an acute condition and refuse the veteran a C & P exam and when the veteran gets a current diagnosis then VA would schedule the veteran a C & P exam.  That is why it is very important for veterans to have a current diagnosis prior to filing a claim and definitely before going to a C & P exam.  Keep in mind that all C & P examiners are not veteran friendly. Also remember to warrant service connection a veteran must have 1. An in-service injury or disease or incident. 2. A current diagnosis and 3. A medical nexus/statement/letter or note that links 1 and 2 together with a good medical rationale.

 

Side Bar, now being really sneaky and I can't prove this but I have noticed that when claiming an increase in disabilities there have been questions left off of C & P exams.  I can't say that it is due to the inexperience of the C & P examiner or that the VARO did not request a full C & P exam but it seems that veterans are either getting the same rating or a decrease in their rating and then told to file an appeal when the C & P exam was inadequate for rating purposes. 

Edited May 24, 2016 by pete992

[rootbeer22]

Folks:

I watched all of the Senate VA Committee testimony today on the new Proposed VA Legislation and read Sec McDonald's Testimony on the CP Claims (Increased  Standards) subject and don't think that it's going to even make it outside the committee --due to the lack of support? However, they also discussed  the new Proposed Appeal Processes Revisions and that's pretty exciting. The only problem that I see is that although it streamlines things a lot which should speed up the Appeals Processes a great deal, it puts more of the overall Appeals process into the hands of lawyers on both sides --which I'm not fond of? Also, a retired marine testified and stated that he applauds the introduction of appeals reforms for new appeals, but he wants the committee  to ensure that getting the older appeals done first is the priority of the new appeals. One statistic, I heard today, was that if they don't fix this the appeals process now that it's going to take up to 10 years to settle an appeal in the future and within that time frame there will be about  2 million claims more backlog?

 

Rootbeer22

 

[broncovet]

Well, this is great.  We went from a horrific million man backog of claims, to a 2 million man backlog of appeals.  

[Guest]

We all know that there is no accountability with VA. I personally had a claim denied several times by VA then when I filed an appeal BVA remanded it several times (twice) trying to get the local VA to grant my claim since the record proved that my claim warranted service connection. Then when the local VARO continued to deny my claim the BVA ALJ decided to deny my claim also. Of course all this did was add years to my waiting. Since the BVA ALJ denied my claim I had to get a lawyer and file a claim to the CAVC. The CAVC remanded my claim and then the BVA ALJ granted my claim. I am talking about a decade of playing VA game of you should be, you should not be service connected. This is with all the evidence in  my records. I admit that someone messed up but no one wanted to correct the mistake so they (VA) wanted to screw me (the veteran) over.  I wonder how many veterans they have screwed over.

Edited May 25, 2016 by pete992