Okay, I retired at the end of 2012 and was smart enough to have my disability paperwork submitted with my clearing. October of 2013 I received my first determination letter stating I qualified for 60%. Nice, but they completely 0'd me on three issues so I immediately filed an appeal with the findings at the end of November 2013. The VA claimed they received my appeal in March of 2014, according to the website. It took until Jul/Sept 2015 for my first appointments to occur to justify or dispute the findings.
I received an extra bump in my account this month (ending June 2016) which caused me to log in to eBenefits and see what it might have been. Good news is, I received my upgrade in disability from 60% to 80%. So, based on the 2016 VA Compensation tables with a spouse and two kids, I will increase to $1839.48 from $1275.09. (http://militarybenefits.info/va-disability-rates/), which is a difference of $564.39. Now I received a lump sum of $3477.92 which is approximately 6.16 months of the difference I should have recovered. By MY calculations, my backdated pay should be from my initial request. I say this because initially they rated my three issues as "Service Connected" but at 0%. Now that my appeal was accepted and those three items were given appropriate ratings, the backdate for my pay should be the initial date of submission. That initial date was 1 January 2013.
So January 2013 to July 2016 should be 41 months of backpay, am I right? With the 6 months I received at the end of June, I SHOULD still receive 35 months of backpay at $564.39 a month, yes? If I am missing something or not understanding something, please drop me a response. Also, how would I go about energizing the VA to make this backpay occur?
These decisions have made a big impact on how VA disability claims are handled, giving veterans more chances to get benefits and clearing up important issues.
Service Connection
Frost v. Shulkin (2017)
This case established that for secondary service connection claims, the primary service-connected disability does not need to be service-connected or diagnosed at the time the secondary condition is incurred 1. This allows veterans to potentially receive secondary service connection for conditions that developed before their primary condition was officially service-connected.
Saunders v. Wilkie (2018)
The Federal Circuit ruled that pain alone, without an accompanying diagnosed condition, can constitute a disability for VA compensation purposes if it results in functional impairment 1. This overturned previous precedent that required an underlying pathology for pain to be considered a disability.
Effective Dates
Martinez v. McDonough (2023)
This case dealt with the denial of an earlier effective date for a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) 2. It addressed issues around the validity of appeal withdrawals and the consideration of cognitive impairment in such decisions.
I met with a VSO today at my VA Hospital who was very knowledgeable and very helpful. We decided I should submit a few new claims which we did. He told me that he didn't need copies of my military records that showed my sick call notations related to any of the claims. He said that the VA now has entire military medical record on file and would find the record(s) in their own file. It seemed odd to me as my service dates back to 1981 and spans 34 years through my retirement in 2015. It sure seemed to make more sense for me to give him copies of my military medical record pages that document the injuries as I'd already had them with me. He didn't want my copies. Anyone have any information on this. Much thanks in advance.
Caluza Triangle – Caluza vs Brown defined what is necessary for service connection. See COVA– CALUZA V. BROWN–TOTAL RECALL
This has to be MEDICALLY Documented in your records:
Current Diagnosis. (No diagnosis, no Service Connection.)
In-Service Event or Aggravation.
Nexus (link- cause and effect- connection) or Doctor’s Statement close to: “The Veteran’s (current diagnosis) is at least as likely due to x Event in military service”
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Papa Weave
Okay, I retired at the end of 2012 and was smart enough to have my disability paperwork submitted with my clearing. October of 2013 I received my first determination letter stating I qualified for 60%. Nice, but they completely 0'd me on three issues so I immediately filed an appeal with the findings at the end of November 2013. The VA claimed they received my appeal in March of 2014, according to the website. It took until Jul/Sept 2015 for my first appointments to occur to justify or dispute the findings.
I received an extra bump in my account this month (ending June 2016) which caused me to log in to eBenefits and see what it might have been. Good news is, I received my upgrade in disability from 60% to 80%. So, based on the 2016 VA Compensation tables with a spouse and two kids, I will increase to $1839.48 from $1275.09. (http://militarybenefits.info/va-disability-rates/), which is a difference of $564.39. Now I received a lump sum of $3477.92 which is approximately 6.16 months of the difference I should have recovered. By MY calculations, my backdated pay should be from my initial request. I say this because initially they rated my three issues as "Service Connected" but at 0%. Now that my appeal was accepted and those three items were given appropriate ratings, the backdate for my pay should be the initial date of submission. That initial date was 1 January 2013.
So January 2013 to July 2016 should be 41 months of backpay, am I right? With the 6 months I received at the end of June, I SHOULD still receive 35 months of backpay at $564.39 a month, yes? If I am missing something or not understanding something, please drop me a response. Also, how would I go about energizing the VA to make this backpay occur?
Thanks.
Papa Weave
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