Asked For Reconsideration (new Evidence), Now What?

[Nathan104]

I had made a new claim for depression back in November. I was getting my mental health records from the military myself to send in. I requested that the VA put a hold on the depression claim until I got the veidence. A month later I received a Denial letter based on no evidence.

I finally got the evidence in and sent in a letter with the new evidence and ROI forms for my current treatments. My exact wording was " request reconsideration in my denial for depression based on new evidence."

Got a letter in the mail today stating they received my Notice of Disagreement and they want me to choose Denovo review or no Denovo review so they can send statement of the case.

I guess I didnt understand what I was doing. I thought since I had the new evidence I just sent it in and ask that they reconsider and they would go back over the claim. I wasnt expecting this letter. So, what do I do now. The evidence is there, and have a current diagnosis and am under current treatment for depression.

So, is it not possible for them to just look it back over from the new evidence? If not, if I say no to the denovo, is that pretty much what happens anyways? Thanks for the help, I have such a hard time understanding this stuff.

Nathan

[carlie]

I would request a DRO review with a pre-decisional hearing.

jmho,

carlie

[Berta]

Nathan-did the VA send you a VCAA letter that had a highlighted underlined section telling you what evidence you needed to send them?

Did they also send an election form with that VCAA letter?

If you did not get one you should tell them ASAP- or have your rep do that-

the VA is not suypposed to deny claims without sending a proper VCAA notice first telling the vet what they need to send-

the VCAA letter must be specific to the claim- the generic stuff at the top of the notice isnt a legal VCAA letter-they have to be specific.

[john999]

Nathan

They are treating your request for reconsideration as an NOD. The RO probably is too dumb to understand what you were asking for in your request. This way they push you off to the DRO or the BVA. This is what I think is happening. When you get the decision you get a notice that you have 60 days to ask for reconsideration and the VA turns around and treats the request as an NOD and then sends you an SOC and appeal rights.

[john999]

Nathan

If you tell you do not want a DRO then all you will have left is a trip to the BVA. I think they did not understand what you were asking for.