Does my combined rating evaluation 80% or 90% after VA grant for my insomnia?

[Mituna 2483]

Hi, I have a question about my combined rating evaluation. I filed disabilities compensation for my insomnia secondary to my tinnitus and my OSA/Obstructive Sleep Apnea secondary to my insomnia on July 31, 2020. VA approved my insomnia 50% assigned from July 31, 2020 but denied my OSA, so my rating disabilities is up from 70% to 80%, and the rating decision indicated: 

            20%  from  Jan 22, 1975                  30%  from   Apr 23, 1979                  60%   from   May 31, 2007                  70%   from   Sep 21, 2019                  80%   from   Jul 31, 2020

(got my left knee disability 20% in 1975, got my in tinnitus 10% in 1979, got my diabetes mellitus 20% in 2007, got my cataracts 30% as diabetic complication from 2007, got my voiding dysfunction 20% as related to my diabetes mellitus in 2019 and got insomnia 50% as secondary to my tinnitus in 2020)

The way I understand, VA should grant me the rating percentage from 70% to 90% instead of 80% because my insomnia was granted 50% on July 31, 2020. In the box of 70% on the Combined Rating Table, if I was granted 50% more; my combined rating would be 85%, therefore it must convert to be 90% as VA website for combing example: 

Examples of Combining Two Disabilities

If a Veteran has a 50 percent disability and a 30 percent disability, the combined value will be found to be 65 percent, but the 65 percent must be converted to 70 percent to represent the final degree of disability.

My question is I should receive the combined rating evaluation of 90% not 80%, correct?

Thank you.

Edited December 26, 2020 by Mituna 2483

[pacmanx1]

3 hours ago, Mituna 2483 said:

(got my left knee disability 20% in 1975, got my in tinnitus 10% in 1979, got my diabetes mellitus 20% in 2007, got my cataracts 30% as diabetic complication from 2007, got my voiding dysfunction 20% as related to my diabetes mellitus in 2019 and got insomnia 50% as secondary to my tinnitus in 2020)

My apologies if I misunderstood your post but you wrote it kind of confusing. If I did understand it correctly you have a total of six(6) disabilities rated as 50%, 30%, 20%, 20%, 20% and 10%. If this is correct then your combed rating would look like:  50% + 30% = 65%, 65% + 20% = 72%, 72% +20% = 78%, 78% + 20% = 82% and 82% + 10% = 84% and then VA math would round down to a combined rating of 80% total.

Keep in mind that to get the total number of combined rating you start from the highest to the lowest and the closer you get to the 95% rounded up to the 100% schedular combined total it gets even harder to reach. Not sure how VA rated your insomnia, because insomnia normally falls under the mental health category.

To round up or down always comes at the end of adding all rating percentages. 

Edited December 26, 2020 by pacmanx1

[pacmanx1]

7 hours ago, Mituna 2483 said:

Thank you for your reply pacmanx1. You are correct; I have 6 disabilities and sorry about the confusing.  I just really, really understand how VA's combined rating works, and I appreciate that you spend your time to answer because it's a knowledge for me.

Food for thought.

Now with knowing all this have you considered filing a claim for depression a (Mental Health disorder)? I suffer from fibromyalgia (CHRONIC PAIN SYNDROME). It seems that I hurt most if not all the time. It was explained to me and I like to share with others that if a person suffers from chronic pain, they most likely have some form of depression. You may want to file a claim for depression. I know that a veteran cannot be compensated for a condition/disability twice being that you are service connected for insomnia and depression, but VA could combine the two and give you the higher rating if the symptoms warrants them and you get a mental health opinion and medical rationale that you have depression due to your service-connected disabilities. Anytime the body does things that you do not want it to do and will not allow you to do things you want to do; you should consider filing a claim for depression secondary to your already service-connected disabilities.

 

Edited December 27, 2020 by pacmanx1

[pacmanx1]

38 CFR 4.25 is the most accurate and the one that VA uses.

4.25 Combined ratings table.

38 CFR § 4.25 Combined ratings table - Code of Federal Regulations (ecfr.io)

[Mituna 2483]

13 hours ago, pacmanx1 said:

My apologies if I misunderstood your post but you wrote it kind of confusing. If I did understand it correctly you have a total of six(6) disabilities rated as 50%, 30%, 20%, 20%, 20% and 10%. If this is correct then your combed rating would look like:  50% + 30% = 65%, 65% + 20% = 72%, 72% +20% = 78%, 78% + 20% = 82% and 82% + 10% = 84% and then VA math would round down to a combined rating of 80% total.

Keep in mind that to get the total number of combined rating you start from the highest to the lowest and the closer you get to the 95% rounded up to the 100% schedular combined total it gets even harder to reach. Not sure how VA rated your insomnia, because insomnia normally falls under the mental health category.

To round up or down always comes at the end of adding all rating percentages. 

Thank you for your reply pacmanx1. You are correct; I have 6 disabilities and sorry about the confusing.  I just really, really understand how VA's combined rating works, and I appreciate that you spend your time to answer because it's a knowledge for me.

Edited December 27, 2020 by Mituna 2483

[El Train]

I use this rating calculator.  You might find it helpful.

https://www.hillandponton.com/va-disability-calculator/

[Mituna 2483]

20 hours ago, El Train said:

I use this rating calculator.  You might find it helpful.

https://www.hillandponton.com/va-disability-calculator/

Thank you  El Train