Here here Smokey! I totally agree with you and thanks Lefty for all your work. We were one of those people that have lost our house, our car and most of our furniture and appliances due to my hubby going 100% unemployable in 2007. We are still working with the VA and his work insurance and they still have not come through for us completely. At least we got smart and before our credit went crazy, we bought our RV and moved into it so at least have a good home for now. Social Security went through with no worries and we thought that would be the tough one. NOT. We were told in the beginning that once he goes 100%, VA would go through within 6 months and so would his work insurance. NOT. He's slowly making progress but it is keeping his health worse than it would be if it wasn't so stressful just as Smokey was saying above. I guess I'll have to try to file Social Security for me with my bad back just to make ends meet. Here we go again!
I initially filed with the Va in 2001...and was turned down in less than 90 days. Their response was that there was no record of my being in Vietnam. With a hearty, we got no record of you being in the US Army. The next 18 pages listed 0% disabilities that I had never filed for. Period.
I threw the paper in the trash.
When my problem started with my legs, I re-opened my claim. The first thing they asked for was MY copy of THEIR letter. They stated they had lost their copy and because I could not send them a copy of THEIR docs...my start date on my disability was in 2005. I have been in the appeal process for over 18 months. I provided them with a copy of my initial claim teim/date stamped in 2001. In their denial, they never mentioned nor did they list that document as part of the documents they used to make their decision.
My claim will now take between 2-3 years to reach the next level...and there is no guarantee that the results will not be the same. I have the right to a face to face meeting with the appeals board prior to the process proceding to the court of appeals. I'm hoping to provide their time/date stamped form as proof of the date of the initial filing. The law says that should the situation arise where it is a VA says...I say situation..that the decision MUST go to the veteran.
What should have been decided nearly 2 years ago or that could be settled with a 10 minute meeting or a fax'd copy of the original claim may take up to 10 years and may have to be decided by the highest court in the Va...and possibly the Supreme court. Don't count on your congressman or senator for any help. They may "look " in to it...but, they have no weight when it comes to the decision by the VA.
Some instances have gone nearly 20 years from initial claim to final disposition...often with the Veteran dying before the process is completed.
What lot of vets don't know is that the longer the VA takes to make a decision...that any decision resulting in back pay of $75K or $80K have to be approved by two high ranking VA officials...and that is not covered by law...it's in the VA directives...there is also a time limitation, if the process has taken more than X years and is finally approved, that forces the same review by the same two officials.
So, the VA process says "yes" and awards you X$, if the X$ is above a certain upper limit, or if the VA takes more than X number of years and finally approves the claim no matter the $$$ amount if either of these two clowns disapproves...the vet loses. I have not been able to find out the process should they say NO...only that this FINAL review process is in place and ****ed few Vets know about it.
Two Vets were awarded compensation that with back pay were in excess of $1.5 million dollars each. One lived long enough to claim his $$$. The other died before Bush signed the papers. The rumor is that the papers were on his desk...and just did not get signed before the Vet died. So, his family got NOTHING! For both of these guys, it did take Congressional Action to get their awards...two special bills had to be passed by Congress to allow them to get money the government admitted to oweing...but, because of the law the VA could not pay.
So the VA drags its feet for years, in the hopes that we will either get tired and give up...or die before final action is taken on the claim. Depending on the region of the VA, each Region decides the claims of the Veterans living within it's jurisdiction.
Often, during the appeals process...it will be determined that the VA or the VA Regional Office acted improperly processing the claim or that the claim was denied inappropriately...the claim will be REMANDED to the Regional office for redetermination of the claim. So, the guys that initially say NO...get a second shot to say NO X2. If they admit they did an incorrect determination, do you think they are honestly going to admit it? Not likely.
SO remand=denial of original claim again=screwed because the case has to be appealed again back up to the same people that sent it back down for reconsideration.
Finally, ain't ya glad, if you have multiple claims for multiple diseases pending, the denial of any part of that claim causes ALL the diseases on that claim to be denied. I don't care what the VA tells you...it's how it's done. So if you file for problem that is a 100%'er...and a frostbite claim that is normally paid at the 10% rate...if the frostbite claim is denied...the 100%'er will be too if it is part of a multiple claim.
I received compensation for 15 different problems. The problems if taken individually total over 350+%! When taken as a whole, as the VA decides them, were only 90%...it took nearly 2.5 years for them to settle the final claim for me to receive my 100% rating and my certificate of unemployability. The settlement of the final claim netted me $85,000 with the start date of June 2005. We are fighting over the start date. The say 2005...I have VA stamped proof that the start date should be 2001. You do the math...I should be able to get another $60-85,000...depending on when they say that each disease reached compensable levels.
Sorry, this is so long...but, there is no short way to try to explain some of this stuff, when the determining regulation is over 5 pages in the USA38 and the VA Handbook.
