Veteran Issues

[SStockDart]

A disability claim. The VFW filed it with the VA. I have not had an agent orange physical (or what ever it is called)....yet...Claim is for Ischemic Heart Disease, and others that the VFW recommended.

In Phoenix, the first Wednesday of each month, veterans get 10% off their grocery bill. Obviously, we usually do our "heavy" grocery shopping then. Also, using a 15% discount on our T-Mobile service.

[FED 387]

OK Gary--- just to give you a heads up on a time line and how this all works---first the VA will send you a form letter saying that they got your claim and they are working on it. about 6 months from then they will send you another form letter saying that due to the backlog they are still working on it. During this time they will have gotten your complete medical records and hopefully they will have been scouring over them(ya right). Anyway they will in time eventually send the records to their medical review board to look at and make some kind of a determination as to wether you qualify or not. If you do qualify they will give your case a rating as a percentage of disability from 10-100%. Ten is the lowest 100 being the highest. Not sure why you are disabled but if you are missing any limbs or eyes you will be at least 50% to totally disabled which is 100%.the average is about 20-30%
The reason there is such a tremendous backlog is that guys that were in the First Gulf War are now able to apply for benefits from things as PTS(post traumatic syndrome) and chemical warfare exposure and there are about 800,000 people that need to be dealt with. We also have all the people from Iraq/Afghanistan that are applying for benefits. Being optimistic it will probably take you at least 24 months to get your claim approved could be quicker maybe even longer. Do not worry if your claim is approved and you get benefits you will be paid a lump some from the date you applied not the date you are approved. You will get a lump sum payment for all those back benefits!!!! If you are married you get more money than being single, if you have children under I believe 19 or so you will get additional money---THIS MONEYI IS EXEMPT FROM ALL INCOME TAXES BOTH FEDERAL AND STATE!!! but you can claim it as income when applying for credit like car loans, mortgages and others---Just be patient this will take some time. You might want to have the VFW make inquiries every so often as to the status of your claim. Maybe every 4 months or so. THEY WORK REAL SLOOOOOOOOOOOW at the VA so don't expect this to be resolved quickly..Dick Ullrich FED 387

[1246gitgo]

Originally Posted by FED 387

OK Gary--- just to give you a heads up on a time line and how this all works---first the VA will send you a form letter saying that they got your claim and they are working on it. about 6 months from then they will send you another form letter saying that due to the backlog they are still working on it. During this time they will have gotten your complete medical records and hopefully they will have been scouring over them(ya right). Anyway they will in time eventually send the records to their medical review board to look at and make some kind of a determination as to wether you qualify or not. If you do qualify they will give your case a rating as a percentage of disability from 10-100%. Ten is the lowest 100 being the highest. Not sure why you are disabled but if you are missing any limbs or eyes you will be at least 50% to totally disabled which is 100%.the average is about 20-30%
The reason there is such a tremendous backlog is that guys that were in the First Gulf War are now able to apply for benefits from things as PTS(post traumatic syndrome) and chemical warfare exposure and there are about 800,000 people that need to be dealt with. We also have all the people from Iraq/Afghanistan that are applying for benefits. Being optimistic it will probably take you at least 24 months to get your claim approved could be quicker maybe even longer. Do not worry if your claim is approved and you get benefits you will be paid a lump some from the date you applied not the date you are approved. You will get a lump sum payment for all those back benefits!!!! If you are married you get more money than being single, if you have children under I believe 19 or so you will get additional money---THIS MONEYI IS EXEMPT FROM ALL INCOME TAXES BOTH FEDERAL AND STATE!!! but you can claim it as income when applying for credit like car loans, mortgages and others---Just be patient this will take some time. You might want to have the VFW make inquiries every so often as to the status of your claim. Maybe every 4 months or so. THEY WORK REAL SLOOOOOOOOOOOW at the VA so don't expect this to be resolved quickly..Dick Ullrich FED 387

You are exactly right on the time it takes to get a claim through. I believe mine took 2-1/2 years. You must have patience. I don't. My wife handled everything.

[SStockDart]

not important

[Eddies66]

Separating or retiring? Have you ever wonder what percentage of disability you might rate as a result of an injury? Here is a list to help you out!

Title 38: Pensions, Bonuses, and Veterans' Relief

http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx...1.1.5.2.110.54

[Eddies66]

Pays to have an advocate!

During fiscal 2014, the number of benefits claims decisions appealed by veterans increased by more than 21,000 – bringing the current total of appeals waiting for adjudication (as of Sept. 8) to 280,297.
The American Legion submitted testimony for the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation’s hearing, “Metrics, Measurements and Mismanagement at the Board of Veterans Appeals.” Zachary Hearn, the Legion’s deputy director for benefits, was among the panelists who testified.

Through Sept. 1 of fiscal 2014, American Legion employees working at BVA handled 8,366 claims appeals. Of those, 2,330 previous denials were overturned and benefits were awarded; another 3,904 appeals were sent back (remanded) to VA regional offices for further development.
Thus, the decisions made for 74.5 percent of appeals the Legion worked on were deemed to be incorrect by BVA. While many denials were overturned, more were remanded because they were inadequately developed and prematurely denied by VA claims adjudicators.

[Jim Wahl]

We should be ashamed of how the VA has been run! A clean house is needed. Jim

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