TDIU question

[capitan]

I have a TDIU claim active. 11 months ago I received a VA letter saying part of the claim is deferred. Then another letter saying they are working on my claim. I don't think they got the memo Leave No Man Behind. Does anybody know how long I will have to wait? Or if there is anyway to check and see what gives?  I am 77 with some medical issues. USMC combat Vietnam vet.

Edited July 1, 2022 by capitan

[capitan]

I replied...I don't know if that's good news or bad. I thought my TDIU claim was separate from the hypothyroidism claim. Or are they looking at everything together? In filling out the TDIU claim, I purposely answered their question and listed only the SC disabilities I believe cause me to be unemployable. The two main ones I thought would get me there are SC PTSD and SC cancer residuals, totaling 70%. Those are what they sent me out for C&P exams for. I am SC for hypothyroidism but at 0%. Did we submit a hypothyroidism claim for increased rating? Maybe that's what's causing the delay. I have symptoms which I believe should make it higher than 0% and I think I disclosed those. But I was hoping I wouldn't even need that if I can get to 100% for TDIU. Some time back, around the time the Nehmer law added hypothyroidism, I think before I knew you, I received a message from the Valor Law Firm which said "About the Nehmer question and effective date, I believe the VA may have underrated you for hypothyroidism." I didn't call him back because I thought I could get 100% without it. Did she give you a time frame?

[pacmanx1]

4 minutes ago, capitan said:

Just received this from my VSO...I heard back from the Congressional Liaison. She looked into your claim and found out that your claim is being handled under the National Defense Authorization Act (Nehmer law that added hypothyroidism to the list of Agent Orange conditions). Based on the law and how these claims have to be processed, these claims are taking a much longer time to be completed.

Not sure what he/she means by this because these AO claims were supposed to be completed before the VA decided to complete all the legacy claims. More dancing and prancing on the VSO part. 

[capitan]

He answered...

No, she was unable to give me a projection for the completion.

 

Yes, we filed the increase in hopes of getting someone’s eyes on the claim. However, the increase claim we submitted did not matter as there is an appeal for a higher rating for hypothyroidism that was submitted May 2021.

 

Since the hypothyroidism can effect your employability, the package is all combined together.

[capitan]

I am posting the correspondence I have with my VSO in hopes someone can chime in with some insight..

[capitan]

I said,  "Do you think her involvement will affect the speed? Shouldn't that help get someone's eyes on the claim? Along with the White House contact?  If she sent you an email, can you forward that to me? "much longer time" doesn't sound good. It's already a long time."

VSO said, "

I can't say for sure if her looking into it will help speed it up or not.

 

As for the "much longer time" that is based on the averages of Nehmer claims vs. normal claims. The average processing time is from the initial submission, not from todays date. 

 

I will be out tomorrow and I will work on downloading her email from the encrypted email in order to send it to you.

[capitan]

I said, "What are "the averages of Nehmer claims vs. normal claims"? Is it still at the Columbia RO?  It's been longer than I thought, 14 months since May 2021. I think the Nehmer decision can only help my claim, which should need no help.

VSO said, "

Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2022 21:49:34 +0000
 

I do not have the most recent averages. I'll try to track them down for you. I now there was a big difference between Nehmer and non-Nehmer claims (non-nehmers can get done in 5-6 months or less. Nehmer claims were averaging 1-2 years).

For comparison only: I had a vet recently get his Nehmer-related decision and it took 572 days. I had a non-Nehmer get a decision in 2.5 months.  Again, we are talking averages. So, if you are trying to figure out when your claim will get done, I'm not sure having the averages will help because it comes down to the number of claims waiting a decision, the complexity of the claims (some are more complicated that others), the number of people working on the claims, how fast the people working the claims can get them done,  etc.

 

I am not sure if your claim is being worked out of Columbia or not, as the VA uses a National Work Queue (so it can be worked at any Regional Office). I know the Blue Water Navy claims are all filtered to one location, but I'm not sure that is true for the Nehmer claims.