To "RAMP" or not to "RAMP"

[broncovet]

As many may know, Congress has passed new legislation which essentially requires VA to cut down on appeal backlog.  This plan is known as "RAMP".  

Currently, only Veterans who ARE INVITED by VA can elect to go with RAMP.  Im not sure it will do much good to write to VA and tell them you want RAMP, tho its POSSIBLE that VA may grant this request.  

A well known law firm has published some credible, and valuable information on RAMP.  If offered a chance to "RAMP" through a VA letter, its probably a good idea to:

1.  Just do it and go for RAMP.

2.  At least read the following before declining ramp, and discuss this with your representative.  

https://cck-law.com/news/news-cck-live-revisiting-ramp/

MY summary:

    UNLESS you have a compelling reason, opt "in" for RAMP.  

    CCK says you should not do RAMP if any of these would harm your claim:

However, veterans should fully consider that participating in RAMP means:

• not being able to appeal to the Board until at least February 2019.
• not being able to take their claim directly to the Board of Veterans Appeals.
• never going back to the legacy appeals process.

 

 

[bpweryz]

So today went back to pending dec approval with a completion date of 8/24 to 9/4. So hopefully after bouncing back and forth it just gets completed. I think when there is movement that is at least good.  

[Wayne TX]

Today Day 92 since I opted into RAMP.  eBenefits went from Claim Received silence straight to Pending Decision Approval.   These Appeals are all HLR with requested Informal TeleConference, which has still yet to take place.  Asking if anyone else here has got to this point and an Informal TeleConference either happened after this notice given or it never happened?   I am happy to see this kind of movement inside 100 days but this may still drag out to the full 125 or longer.   Status of Your Claim:  Estimated Completion: 08/27/2018 - 09/17/2018

 

Edited August 9, 2018 by Wayne TX
typo

[adkins7b]

Claim just moved to pending decision approval I thought at least another 30 days now i'm thinking 1 or 2 weeks tops. Its for smc L a and A.  25 august to 10 sept now as estimate.. was 28 sep to dec something. 

[Wayne TX]

I agree 2 weeks tops.....best of luck.   Estimated Completion: 08/27/2018 - 09/17/2018........yesterday it was showing  8-27 to 11-11.

 

 

 

[HorizontalMike]

Well, I just found out that my "lucky"(Bronco will recognize the name) attorney had already opted me into RAMP back on May 23, 2018 AND NEVER EVEN BOTHERED TO NOTIFY ME!  The only way I found out was logging into eBenefits two days ago, 8/8/2018.  According to my "lucky" attorney:

September marks 6-years on my claim(s).  We have been at the BVA level for over 2-years, Form-9 date May 2016.  Currently BVA cases are being distributed to the Judges up through March 2016 appeals dates. 

So what does this actually mean for me?  IMO, it looks like my current legacy appeals are probably going to be heard/decided BEFORE any RAMP decision.  I'm still trying to wrap my head around this, however...

Estimated RAMP Decision date, 9/3/2018---11/20/2018.

 

 

Quote

Hi Michael,

I checked on your case and everything is fine. You technically have 4 pending appeals (earlier effective date for IU, earlier effective date for TBI residuals, service connection for depression, and service connection for sleep apnea). Since your appeal for the effective date of your IU is a newer appeal (Form 9 filed in Oct 2017 vs. May 2016 like the other 3 appeals), we opted that issue into the RAMP program (the other 3 appeals don’t qualify since they are already activated at the Board). Since RAMP is a pilot program there is a disconnect between what is done on paper and how the information shows up in eBenefits because eBenefits does not have the capability to account for RAMP items. Therefore, when you see “appeal complete” it actually means “the appeal has been moved into the RAMP program”. Simply put, the VA never took the time to update eBenefits when it rolled out RAMP. Hence the confusion.

When we argue the effective date for TBI residuals at the Board it will actually include an argument for IU as well so the RAMP process on that claim is purely an effort to get your claim granted faster. If it is granted under RAMP, great, we saved some time and got you a faster decision. If it is denied under RAMP, no big deal because it is still part of the other appeal items that are already at the Board, so we didn’t lose any time.

I hope this makes sense. Please let me know if you have any questions. Have a great day.

[unquote]

 

Edited August 10, 2018 by HorizontalMike

[pwrslm]

My NOD--> RAMP took about 65 days +/- from 15 May 2018.  It was originally 6 Sep 2018-15 Dec 2018 but closed 19 Jul 2018.

Dont go by the EBenefits estimation, its never right.

It sounds like the RAMP your Atty put part of you claim for the earlier effective date in should be done pretty fast.