Blue Water Navy vets from NVLSP!!! Yippee!

[Berta]

https://www.nvlsp.org/news-and-events/news-articles/nvlsps-faqs-for-blue-water-vietnam-veterans

In part:

"9) If my claim is granted, how much will I be entitled to in retroactive benefits?

The effective date assigned by the VA to awards of disability and DIC benefits is usually the date the claim was received by the VA.  For example, if VA grants benefits based on the veteran’s first claim for an Agent Orange-related disease and that claim was filed in January 2019, the veteran will be assigned an effective date in (and will be paid retroactive compensation to) January 2019.

However, if the VA grants benefits based on a veteran’s second or third claim for the same Agent Orange-related disease, the effective date of the award should be retroactive to the date the VA received the veteran’s first claim for that disease -- as long that claim was received by VA after September 24, 1985. 

This means, for example, that if a veteran filed a disability claim for type 2 diabetes that VA received in 2003 and the VA denied it, and the veteran now files a second disability claim for type 2 diabetes, the veterans should receive disability compensation retroactive to 2003 -- as long as the veteran served within the 12 nautical mile limit and has suffered from diabetes since at least 2003."

I have been waiting for that statement for a long time- this is how Nehmer Footnote One will kick in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PLEASE READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE- I ASKED MANY bLUE wATERS TO JOIN HERE WEEKS AGO- AND HOPEFULLY THEY WILL OR DID BUT HAVE NOT BECOME MEMBERS YET.

WOW, wOW WOW and Thank you GOD!!!!!!! 

 

 

[broncovet]

Thanks for posting this, Berta.  It is a "whoopie" for those affected!  

On the other hand, turning to effective dates, this seems to be "pretty much" the same as before.  That is, if a Veteran applies for benefits, gets denied, applies again, denied again, applies a 3rd time and gets awarded, the effective date "should" go back to the date the Veteran first applied, but only if he "continiously prosecuted his claim".    

However, the burden is on the Veteran to show that he had the disorder back when he first applied.  

In other words, the general effective date rule is the later of the "facts found" or date of claim.  

USC 5110 explains it thusly:

Quote

38 U.S. Code § 5110.Effective dates of awards

• U.S. Code
• Notes
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(a)

(1)

Unless specifically provided otherwise in this chapter, the effective date of an award based on an initial claim, or a supplemental claim, of compensation,dependency and indemnity compensation, or pension, shall be fixed in accordance with the facts found, but shall not be earlier than the date of receipt of application therefor.

(2)For purposes of determining the effective date of an award under this section, the date of application shall be considered the date of the filing of the initial application for a benefit if the claim is continuously pursued by filing any of the following, either alone or in succession:

(A)

A request for higher-level review under section 5104B of this title on or before the date that is one year after the date on which the agency of original jurisdiction issues a decision.

(B)

A supplemental claim under section 5108 of this title on or before the date that is one year after the date on which the agency of original jurisdiction issues a decision.

(C)

A notice of disagreement on or before the date that is one year after the date on which the agency of original jurisdiction issues a decision.

(D)

A supplemental claim under section 5108 of this title on or before the date that is one year after the date on which the Board of Veterans’ Appeals issues a decision.

(E)

A supplemental claim under section 5108 of this title on or before the date that is one year after the date on which the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims issues a decision.

(3)

Except as otherwise provided in this section, for supplemental claims received more than one year after the date on which the agency of original jurisdiction issued a decision or the Board of Veterans’ Appeals issued a decision, the effective date shall be fixed in accordance with the facts found, but shall not be earlier than the date of receipt of the supplemental claim.

As you have pointed out, Berta, IMHO this is an example of CUE.  

You apply...denied.  

You apply and are eventually awarded benefits for the same disability that you were denied FOR.  

Now...ASSUMING you did "not" submit new relevant evidence under 38 CFR 3.156 b or C, this means that the VA decisions conflicted with each other.  One said denied, the other says awarded.  That means both can not be correct.  

This sounds like a perfect example of CUE.  

[Buck52]

This all will be interesting as to how they rate the late coming B.W. Navy Veterans for EED.?

because  some never filed a claim until now but the ones that did file a claim and was denied I hope they get a decent EED and some large retro  heaven knows they deserve to be compensated like all Veterans that has a A.O. Claim. 

Unfortuanately the EED will more than likely be the date they filed   depending on how the Law is enforced  or laid out?    so I am wishing  it goes back  even if it was years ago.

[Berta]

To any Blue Waters -Please see my latest info from NVLSP:

https://community.hadit.com/topic/75433-blue-water-navy-vets-from-nvlsp-yippee/#comment-470692

 

[Berta]

NVLSP has confirned to me the retroactive benefits the Blue Water Veterans can expect if they fall into the HR 299 criteria OR if they are on the July 2019 VA AO ships list....which they should check first.

Also NVLSP has confirmed that, unlike the 2010 Nehmer decision) the VA will NOT go through past BWN vet claims and contact them, if they appear to fall into the pending new regulations.

The VA expects an onslaught of these AO claims.

Maybe that is why this is not National News yet but will be, hopefully by January.

Also by then we should know ( maybe in October, )if there will be any additions to the AO presumptive disability list.

If you know a Blue Water Navy veteran who served in the Vietnam War, and has any of the AO presumptives, but never claimed them, try to encourage them to file a claim, if they fit into the HR 299 criteria.

They will need to get their deck logs.

And these claims should be filed ASAP. I have been helping some Blue Waters at a different site- it is not a claims forum---and I asked them to come here....

I have a new NVLSP AO contact person, as my NVLSP friend Rick Spataro is working instead on the VBM, or other issues-and they have a email addy for Blue Waters that I posted here already, as NVLSP will probably want to double check the EEDs they get from the ROs, like they did for many of us AO IHD claimants.