Evidence gathering stage of TDIU claim

[Rivet62]

I want to be very sure that I understand the span of employment history that VA is seeking for my TDIU claim.

Some say, just provide the last 5 years from the date of the TDIU request/claim and backward from that date. Others say that VA wants the last 5 years of working history, the history of work prior to the recent 3 years of unemployment (3 years of unemployment, and the 5 years of working history prior to the 3 years of unemployment.

What's right? The date that VA acknowledged receipt of my TDIU form is January 26, 2022.

I went on eBenefits and it shows this:

 

 

Edited February 7, 2022 by Rivet62

[Rivet62]

12 hours ago, john999 said:

Have you applied for SSDI?  If you get SSDI then TDIU is not that hard and you can prove that you are disabled and unemployed and unemployable.  I got SSDI a year before I got TDIU.  I think getting TDIU is getting harder than it was for me back in the day.  Too many vets are getting it and the VA DON'T' LIKE THAT.

I got my 80% service connect before I got my SSDI.  My effective date for SSDI was June 2018. My ex-attorney messed up my TDIU, but recently I was able to detach myself from him and whatever he hopes to make off of me (long story). So basically, I'm at square one having filed for TDIU just a couple weeks ago.  So far the TDIU seems to be processing pretty quickly.  We'll see what trouble I run into getting granted TDIU.  

My experience is that SSDI is a lot harder to get.  It took longer to get SSDI than it did for me to get my 80% service connect.  My case for SSDI was a challenge but I did win it.

Edited February 8, 2022 by Rivet62
brain not working

[john999]

If you have SSDI already you might try to use the date you got SSDI as your date for TDIU.  I think your TDIU should be pretty easy since you got SSDI.  Was SSDI for your service connected disability?  If so TDIU should be a slam/dunk. 

[Rivet62]

3 hours ago, john999 said:

Was SSDI for your service connected disability?  If so TDIU should be a slam/dunk. 

Yes the SSDI was for service-connected issues and nothing more, but the SSA's ALJ used age to factor in an effective date and also to avoid a denial that would occur if he moved the date earlier because I was working prior to. The SSDI effective date is literally days after my last date of employment (medical resignation).  The SSDI decision also says I have no transferable skills, according to SSA's vocational expert who was present at the hearing.

[john999]

SSDI law is a scam.  Everyone gets paid including lawyers, judges and even the guy who does the transcript.  The disabled person is the only one who gets screwed.  They make disabled people wait years to get a small amount of money.  Then you wait another two years to get medicare.  What is person with no income supposed to do for a couple of years while these assholes decide to be decent people.

[Rivet62]

9 hours ago, john999 said:

Then you wait another two years to get medicare. 

I cannot understand why they make the most vulnerable wait two years for care.

In many ways, I found the SSDI application process gruesome. Reading through the legal thought processes of my claim decision it's a wonder I was granted SSDI on the last page. In the decision package (I'll call it that because it rambled for nearly twenty pages front and back) the ALJ gave little weight to any of my VA doctors, but the greatest weight to the opinion of an SSA doctor(?), whom I've never met.  I believe that doctor formed an opinion in favor of my claim after looking through the entire record.

In the end they have to adhere to the rules and for me it was the SSA's Grid Rules together with the underlying records supported by the SSA vocational expert and the SSA doctor's opinion that won my SSDI appeal.

For everyone out there, it's not a fun process so get an attorney. Then you won't have to feel the anguish of your disabilities so much, as you scrap it out with SSA.

[Buck52]

 NOTE***This is a long read...sorry.

If veterans do not meet the disability qualifications, extra-schedular TDIU benefits might be available. Veterans must show that their condition is unusual or exceptional.

What is the TDIU Effective Date?

Since the claims process could take months or more, the VA almost always awards retroactive benefits. In most cases, the effective date for benefits is the date the veteran originally claimed them.

TDIU cases are different. The VA awards retro-dated benefits to the time the disabled veteran became unemployable as long as the underlying issue causing the unemployability remains open or on appeal. That date could be many years or decades before the filing date. Most veterans try to “tough it out” before they apply for benefits.

Many Claims Examiners ignore this process and use the date the TDIU application ( Form 21-8940) is filed. This often leads to the retroactive date being wrong.

I used the extra scheduler  (b)  so read about the IU EXTRA SCHEDULER.

my service connected disabilitys started out in 1998  denied first go around I appealed and got another shot at my benefits  I was denied a rating but they service connected me, as time went on  before a year was up  I appeal again and I mention beings my service connection is service connected  I went to the VA For an exam  , ok I submitted that exam  and during this Appeal, they came back gave me 50%, My disability kept getting worse and by 1999  could no longerfind employment especially what I was train to do, I Appeal again  within the years limitation.

I went to a private DR (specialist ) let him know what I needed to get my benefits from the VA  and he would need to go by the VA guidlines and use the VA Maryland word test (loss of hearing) as what I was claiming, due to combat in Vietnam , this Dr helped me out he read my medical records and employment history after my military service, and exmined me and wrote out his medical report in my favor, the VA sent me to another VA EXAM and this Dr was a complete ass hole   he said in his report my loss of hearing was not as bad as what I claimed  and he said on the report this exam can NOT be used for rating purposes,

my R.O.  got word of this and sent me a letter to reduce my beneifits back to 0%  altho you can keep the service connection   we made this decison due to a VA Dr mention your 50% hearing loss was not as bad as I claimed, if you disagree with our decison  you can request a D.R.O. hearing at your R.O. (Reginiol Office) within 60 days of this letter and you can submit any new evidence you may have  and the D.R.O. (Decision Review Officer) can make the decison at this time...

you bet your boots I requested this DRO Hearing,   at the hearing it was me and my wife (late wife now) I used that private exam from the specialist and he had put the testing scores in his report and said in his medical opinion this Veteran hearing loss  likely as not been cause from his military service  due to loud sudden noise , this can damage the eardrum/hairs and may take years before the loss of hearning occurs, or may be within a year   after leaving the military  or perhaps his hearing loss was caused by  an Imume disorder,

However this veteran passed the phyicical requirments at the time he was inducted into the service   this is why my medical opinion this Veterans hearing loss started while he was in the military and Noise Induced Hearing loss gets worse over time HE can become totally deaf within a 1 to 5 years or maybe more  depending on the pregression of the injury.   and its my opinion likely as not this veterans hearing loss started from his military days he spent in Vietnam due to loud sudden noise he was exposed to.

Now I had went to voc-rehab before all this  and The VA Rehab counslor wrote me a letter stating  he can't find me any kind of work due to his service connected didability  it is not expected to improve in his life time , so at my hearing some  5 years later is when I had my DRO Hearing, I had a DAV Officer go in the hearing with me , he was working out of my R.O. SO I GOT WITH HIM A FEW HOURS BEFORE MY HEARING AND FILLED HIM IN ON WHAT ALL HAS HAPPEN, 

WE HAD THE HEARING  IT WAS ABOUT 90 MIN LONG.

THE DRO APPROVED ME ON THE SOPT FOR TDIU P&T   OK I NEVR FILED OUT THE TDIU APPLICATION I just had appeals going on the last 5 years   & being the DRO had a rating specilaist fill out the TDIU application at this time that would be my effective date but the DRO went back to the date of my examnation from this hearing Dr SPECIALIST  ALMOST A YEAR  LATER, HE PUT IN his report that although a VA phisican mention your hearing loss was not as bad you  claimed it was,

  However with this veteran present at his hearing (date /time) with a DRO 20 YEARS EXPERINCED AND A RATING SPEAILIST AT HIS HEARING ,IT IS  POSTIVE THIS VETERAN HEARING LOSS IS SERVERE AND REAL AND IS BAD AS HE CLAIM AS MATTER FACT THE MEDICAL TEST SHOWS ANOTHER 30% AND ALSO THIS VETERAN HAS BEEN DENIED FOR TINITUS  & A 10% RATING FOR BOTH EARS IS ALSO APPROVED 

A REDUCTION OF BENEFITS WILL NOT TAKE PLACE  INSTEAD TDIU P&T IS GRANTED.

 ...SO I WAS THERE TRYING TO Save my 50%  this DRO approved me for another 30% plus 10% for the tinitus  making me 90% over haul  however this veteran can not find employment due to his service connected hearing loss  and TDIU P& T IS GRANTED/sought UPON APEAL .

THE DRO COULD NOT USE MY EFFECTIVE DATE ANY EARLIER BUT HE DID USE THE PRIVATE Dr medical report dated a year from  back from the DRO hearing.

because I had not filed the TDIU Application  that was filed at my hearing.

This helped me more than anyone will ever know. 

THIS TOOK ME 5 YEARS FROM START TO FINISH.  MY 20 YEAR PROTECTION IS THIS YEAR.

Now I kept on filing my claims and was approved for PTSD (CHRONIC) 70%  WITH MY TDIU P&T AND THE 70% PTSD.... I WAS GRANTED THE SMC S HOMEBOUND

TDIU VETERANS ARE CONSIDER TO BE 100% ALTHOUGH HIS RAING % MAYBE UNDER THE 100%  BUT BEING PAID AT THE 1OO% RATE.

Unfortuately they have stopped the DRO HEARING IN PERSON  and use the new AMA system  for suplmental claims and Higher Level Reviews..>  which a DRO is the decison maker. 

IF YOU YOUR DENIED AT THIS LEVEL  THEN ITS ON TO THE BVA AND THE COURTS.

I would tell a veteran to get IMO/IME's AND KEEP EVERYTHING YOU GET FROM THE VA  IN THE ENVOLOPE IT COMES IN  MAKE SURE YOU DATE EVERYTHING WITH YOUR SS # CLAIM# AND SIGN IT,

ALL THIS WILL COME IN HANDY SOMEDAY

MY C-FILE HAS ABOUT 10.000 PAGES IN IT.  NOW ITS ON CD FORMAT MAKES IT A LOT EAISER TO READ AND GO THROUGH   vs 8 BOXES OF VA RECORDS

Now what I mention about  I have left out a ton of crap I HAD TO GO THROUGH but I kept on fighting  and luckly for me I found Hadit in 1999  a year after I FIRST FILED MY CLAIM and some members  that are not with us now helped me  and  Ms Berta helped me back then with Flip Heligic ...aka Phillip Rogers unfortuantely  he has left hadit to enjoy his last few years as his age had caught up with him  he is touring the world.

I also would recommend you tune into the hadit Exposed Vet Radio /Podcast show  and call in to ask any realted VA Question,  especially a claims question  , they have some wonderful highly intelligent people on there that can answer your question  , they have retired claims senior claim raters on and have Alex Graham on (aks Asknod)at different times,  these guys can help you with your claim or any problems you need help with. 

John Basser and GERALD Cook are the host and moderators of the show  and you can't find any better men than these guys.

John usually annouses the show time and dates they have a radio/podcast show. I learn a lot from these shows and some times they have Ms Berta and T bird on.

all of their information is priceless and its FREE.

Their easy to talk with and understand  or let you understand what they tell you and the app#'s ect,,,ect,,

The point I want to make is medical evidence is what it takes to win TDIU,   dates are also important it takes persistance to keep going ,  never quit, but letters from past employers stateing  why they let you go,  Voc-Rehab Letters stateing your Unemployable due to your service connected disability's keep all your medical papers from the past  even before you filed your claim. in your statment in support of claim  let them know why you can't work and show them the evidence why, medical evidence and Dr opinions is good alao voc-rehab letter is good and your statment in support of your claim is good.

and remember filing TDIU 21-8940 Is actually filing for increase  its also the IU Application ., always check this application to see if its been filed in the past  because some Dr's and counslors will file it for you and you may not know, looking into your C-FILE will help. that maybe letters in there you might not knew about that will help with your claim.

make copies send to va and keep copies for yourself.

Edited February 9, 2022 by Buck52