HLR Raters and "Intermediate-Step" Claims

[harry59]

Greetings fellow vets,

I'm getting ready to submit my "intermediate-step" secondary claims, that the VA has denied, to a Higher Level Review (HLR). Does anyone know if the senior claims raters at a HLR will consider an "intermediate-step" link in their decision? Or will they just deny the claim when they can't directly link it to service, like the initial claims raters do? I know the BVA will, and does, recognize the "intermediate-step" in secondary claims, but I can't seem to find any answers on the internet whether or not the HLR raters do. I'm just wondering if I'm spinning my wheels, or not. Hopefully someone has first-hand knowledge of this.

 

Thank you for all replies.

[GBArmy]

Haven't had any personal experience for the intermediate step situation, like weight gain leading to high b/p etc. That said, I wouldn't go for the HLR myself as it is too "progressive" for the raters to go down that road. Unless you feel a need to re-emphasize some of your evidence, I'm not sure that just going to the HLR is worth the delay. Expect the rubber stamp to come out.

If you have the evidence already included, I'd just go to BVA. If you don't chose the personal presentation or the additional evidence lane, the direct lane for BVA would be the quickest decision possibly around a year or so. I got one in under 2 months last fall, but I had a hardship (over 75 years old.)