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Currently TDIU & SMC (s)... If Increased to 100% Schedular, Do I Lose SMC (s)?
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acesup
I asked this on another vets forum, still haven't got it hashed out yet.
I just won my BVA appeal last week. VLJ granted TDIU back to 2009 for my back, and granted SMC(s) for other conditions (also retro to 2009, as with all of the granted issues). Here's where it gets sticky to me:
The SMC is based on having one disability that is rated 100%, in my case it is the TDIU for the back. I qualify for the SMC because in addition to the back, I have 50% depression + 10% +10% radiculopathies + 10% residuals of Hepatitis.
The other issues he granted, though, are going to have big percentages with them; DVT/PE with anticoagulant therapy should be 60%, OSA with Bi-PAP should be 50%, convulsive tic should be 30%, neck is probably 20%, and there will probably be a few more 10% nerve damage ratings. If everything is added together, I'm pretty sure it will be over 95%, therefore, rounded up to 100% Schedular disability.
My question, then, is this: Will they leave me on TDIU plus SMC (s) as the Judge ordered, or will they assign 100% Schedular and wipe out the SMC?
Something that may or may not come into play, I'll quote from the BVA Decision Letter:
"VA has a "well-established" duty to maximize a claimant's benefits. See Buie v.
Edited by acesupShinseki,24 Yet. App. 212,250 (201 1). This duty to maximize benefits requires
VA to assess all of a claimant's disabilities to determine whether any combination
of disabilities establishes entitlement to SMC under 38 U.S.C. $ 1114. See Bradley
v. Peake, 22 Vet. App. 280, 294 (2008). "
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FormerMember
Here's your error. Simply adding up a bunch of ratings for disparate illnesses which are unrelated does not a 100% schedular rating make. A 100% schedular rating is just that- the highest rating attai
acesup
P.S. Just got an answer on the other board from a retired rater who says the SMC will not be taken away. He quoted that "Bradley v. Peake" decision.That's awesome!
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