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.

 

 

[AprilNC]

On ‎5‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 12:18 PM, AprilNC said:

 I called the ebenefits lines Thursday according to them John's opt in letter was received on may 10 but has not been scanned in and processed yet. The rep said it takes 30 days for them to get the info put in the system. Plus side of phone call she did state the VA has everything they were looking for for John's remand and his file is in the ready to work stage according to her that means it needs a someone to sign off on it ...lol on Vets.gov they have that little timeline thing at the bottom showing how many appeals are in front of yours 17,101  to be processed before John's and if that thing is just an estimate they are only processing about 250 a week or 1000 a month..so it would take another 17+ months for his appeal to reach the front of the line. I plan to check back on June 12 to see if it has indeed been moved to ramp. I'll up as I get info..lets see if 125 days is accurate.

 

 So I called back after being told it takes 30 days to get it into RAMP after they receive the paperwork...this time around on June 13, 2018 I'm told they received it back can't find where it is at so they have to send an inquiry to the regional office. Basically through IRIS and I should receive a response in 10-14 days.....I plan to call back today and see what the next rep says....

 

[tk3000]

 

In terms of RAMP, the so called "De Novo Review" route seems like a review done by the same irk of crone, ignorant and illiterate adjudicators working at the Regional Office whom made the same wrongful deliberate decisions that created the need of an appeal to begin with. These cronies may have been given an extra incentive to have a different approach and outlook of the cases to provide more assurance of proper adjudication. But overall, If that is what the new appeal process is offering, you are better off not veering off from the traditional appeal process whereby real judges do the adjudication, deliberations and decisions; unless of course you have a good tradeoff: administratively having your RAMP denied appeal being put ahead in line of the legacy appeal lineup;  or conceptually having a simple enough case that would likely be approved

 

I, for one, believe that it all depends on your case: the complexities , the conjectures, the conundrums, etc. If you expect the adjudicator to have grasps on the concept of jurisprudence or that of legal precedent, you better off stick with the traditional appeal process.

[Holllie Greene]

The RAMP situation is very interesting.  I was told to expect the "invitation" letter.  I have researched the pros and the cons and I remain without a decision for this.  My case is not very complex (the examiner checked the wrong box on my last C & P); and to have my appeal settled in "125 days or less..." is tempting for sure BUT (there is always a but) it sounds too good to be true.  I am undecided at this point.

Well, have a nice weekend.

[Unique11128]

Tk3000

 

I agree 100 % the same thing happened to the so called higher level DRO denied me for exact same reason the last denial was made. They did not follow the law....SAD!

[tk3000]

2 hours ago, Unique11128 said:

Tk3000

 

I agree 100 % the same thing happened to the so called higher level DRO denied me for exact same reason the last denial was made. They did not follow the law....SAD!

Unique11128, yeah I totally agree. The possibility of the DRO making a proper decision is a fluke (almost never happens)

Edited July 10, 2018 by tk3000

[WomanMarine]

On 3/20/2018 at 9:32 AM, broncovet said:

 

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.

 

 

So now that I have a RAMP decision, that gave me one of the two requested appeals. How do I appeal the second issue - early effective date that was not granted with my RAMP appeal?