Jim Strickland's Mailbag: Volume #72 for 2008
NOTE: Letters in my mailbag are reprinted just as they come to me. Spelling and grammar are left as is and only small corrections are made to improve readability, ensure anonymity or delete expletives that may offend some readers. This is not legal advice. You should always seek the advice of an attorney who is qualified in Veterans' law before you make any decisions about your own benefits.
11.21.08
A Timely, Special Instruction:
A VBA employee writes to offer practical instructions on how to capitalize on the recent VA offers to review, reconsider and correct any allegation of missing documents.
"It's important as you tell Vets to write to the VA to inform them of the original date they filed documents that they include in that letter the date they believe they filed it. The VA will accept the date given without documentary proof. If they don't know the exact date, just give the month. In those cases they will use the first day of the month the Vet asserts. Without that information, the date originally filed, the VA will only process it by sending one of their letters and it will drag on. However, if they include the date in that initial correspondence, that concludes that issue.
I believe that the above is as close to the appropriate way of doing things at this point in time as we can get.
Articles explaining VA's rules for re-opening claims are here:
I'll add that there is no mystery to this. I've been flooded with questions asking about what form to use, do you have to work through a VSO, can you just call the toll free number to report your grievance of a lost or missing record and so on?
This is truly a KISS moment. The VA has publicly fallen on its sword. To take advantage of this, if you believe that you are one who has had a compensation or pension decision that was affected in any way by a missing piece of evidence, write VA a letter, keep it brief, tell your story and mail it to them. Today it is more apparent than ever before that you must use certified mail, return receipt requested.
That's it, there is nothing more to it.
The down side here is that we don't have a clue whether or not they will follow through on the promise. Reality forces us to admit that we wouldn't purchase a used car off the VA lot. In recent days it's been pointed out that VA has made dozens of promises over decades and few, if any, have been kept. We (and the VA OIG) know that they blatantly cook the books to make their production and quality numbers appear light years ahead of where they are. The VBA claims an 80% accuracy rate while the BVA only agrees with VBA in 20% of the appeals.
Promises and feelgood statements are nothing new, they're experts at telling us one thing and doing quite the opposite. To do business with VBA enters one into a surreal world where you must leave behind any notions of equality, fairness, justice or caring. They make up rules as they go along with disdain for any of our society's norms or expectations of how they should behave.
File your paperwork now. Do it correctly, by the book. Wait.
Do all this anticipating that in 12 to 18 months you'll receive a letter that says, "We have made a decision on your claim. We find no evidence to support your allegation that your effective date, percentage of compensation, rating, denial etc. should be modified as you request. Your allegation that you submitted medical records, marriage certificates, 'Buddy Letters', Independent Medical Examinations, nexus letters, etc. can not be substantiated. If you do not agree with our decision, you may.... etc."
No, you got it right. I don't trust them. To my knowledge the VBA has never given us any reason whatever to trust them. At one point I had a small measure of respect for an agency struggling to perform a Herculean task under the guidance of the most disliked Congress in any living American's memory. But, no more. This is not an agency where trust matters, it simply isn't a part of the equation now.
Write your letters, it's the only practical thing you can do now. We'll be here as the letters come back and pick it up from there.
Question:
Jim,
i owe you a brand spankin new harley davidson motorcycle. At this mornings hearing FILNER READ MY LETTER INTO THE RECORD. I wrote it based upon your advice. (the crazed Namvet)
Answer:
You're referring to the webcast of 11/19/2008 that you can see here: http://veterans.house.gov/hearings/
I can't accept the attitude of so many veterans that comes with a shrug of their shoulders and a braying, "Ain't nothing ever goin' to change. Why should I waste my time getting involved?" You know who you are and I'm here to tell you that you aren't only a part of the problem, you're the biggest part of the problem.
Politics, the governance of our country and particularly influencing the VA is a full contact sport. This is meant to be played like a pick-up rugby game in a Florida lightning storm. You're either a part of the action or not.
Lead, follow or get out of our way.
My man here sat down and wrote a simple letter to one of the most powerful members of Congress and that letter is now a part of the Congressional record of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. He isn't a learned member of the Congress himself, he's proud to be a 'crazed Namvet'. He is now an influential part of the process at it's highest level.
What's your excuse?
(BTW, I'm really fond of the 2009 H D Road Glide, the CVO model with the 110 CI Screamin' Eagle engine and other SE bells and whistles. If we could have that served up hot and toasted with the chopped Tour Pak, factory painted to match the scoot, I'd be forever grateful. Hey. It was your idea!)
Question:
Jim,
After 44 months with a lot of fighting, bankruptcy and most of all research, I received the 100%. Total back pay over 85 thousand. I think the most important thing is my wife is a believer now. For a long time she scorned my medical problems and thought I was just "lolly gagging". She works full time and didn't see my normal day in I was in pain despite surgery in 2005 that fused my spine. Now she understands my dilemma, trying bring in income and work despite complete agony with pain. Explaining to her the difficulty when dealing with the VA and the time table they go by, not you, bankruptcy and just barely hanging onto the house I built with my own two hands while working full time. My poor children who did not understand why dad didn't feel like playing catch and always seemed angry. It's over now (but not standing down) and I need to sincerely thank you and the people like you that comment to being there for others. I will continue to monitor your site and others like it and hopefully contribute credible input. Together, we all stand as one huge force with knowledge as our weapon of choice. We must remain vigilante and steadfast.
Answer:
Your letter brings great joy and tremendous sorrow. This represents the ultimate travesty of the way our VBA is working against us today. For far too many of us it's as if the VA had openly declared war. I know the history of your entire struggle, beginning to end. There is no question that you were deserving of your benefits. There weren't any missing service records, no doubt of the quality of your service, all medical records supported your claim and left nothing to doubt. Any reasonable person with a minimal understanding of what the basic rules of the VA compensation awards process is could have assessed your file in an hour or less. This reasonable person would have concluded you deserved the benefits it took 44 months for VBA to adjudicate. That is what the VBA is supposed to do.
Rather, they set about, seemingly with a plan, to ruin your life. They humiliated you in front of your family. Your financial empire, such as it was for a working man, was devastated.
All too often it seems that the more in need the veteran is, the harder our VA works to delay and deny. My email archives are full of similar missives from countless veterans who are losing their homes, falling behind on paying bills, watching vehicles be towed away as they're repossessed or the utilities are being turned off.
I don't advertise this but I've had veterans who have won large retroactive awards who are so grateful they've offered to assist other vets who are in a bind. I've made the contacts for them and watched as money has been Fed Exed or wired to help another vet put food on the table while the VA lumbers along in perpetual slow motion.
The worst of it all though is the loss of respect. I know the feeling all too well. I'm one of those that waited 3 years without work while the bills were accumulating andfamily and former friends didn't understand why I didn't just go get a job. When we took out the second mortgage on the house I remember the look of the loan officer and I knew he was thinking I was much less a man than I should have been. To this day I'm sure he knew I wouldn't be able to repay that loan.
When the award does come in, it's elating, no doubt. You can pay some bills, maybe even go out to eat or buy the kids some of the gadgets they've been wanting. But the shame and humiliation are always there, that will haunt you forever.
You, the veteran, are the only customer the Department of Veterans Affairs serves. The entity we know as the VA has no other reason to exist. That they can't even manage to perform a relatively simple task for a single subset of customers and quickly get it right the majority of the time is telling.
This badly broken government department deserves nothing more than our scorn and our continuing, focused efforts to reform it.
Now you know why I do what I do. Every letter I receive from a veteran who has been awarded his earned and deserved benefits is payback for how they treated me...and you.
Victory! I searched for a definition as that seems the word I was needing. I found, "Putting the beat-down on an opponent. Some people are driven to compete and gain pleasure from winning."
That about sums it up. I hope you'll join me in putting the beat-down on our opponent. It's every bit as as sweet as they say it is.
Question:
Jim,
I have a question that has many concerned Veterans in my area and I hope you can answer these:
1- When you are 70% and 100% unemployable, is there a time limit that a Veteran has to live so that the spouse can continue to receive the benefits? Will this rating ever turn to 100% in the future. Some say 10 years after your service connection of 70% and unemployable date.
2- When you are 100% disabled, is the also a time limit to live so that your spouse can receive the health benefits.
The reason I ask is I attend a group therapy for PTSD every week. There are two groups and they total about 150 Vets. No one is sure how the system works and the shedding of light on this subject would be greatly appreciated.
Answer:
Good questions.
I'll do the best I can and hope you'll spread the word. Feel free to copy or forward this as you wish. Most of the answer below is copied directly from the VA web site at http://www.va.gov/ While the VA site is large and can be intimidating, it's a great resource for many benefit questions.
I'll tackle the whole concept rather than as 2 questions. Your concern is when can a spouse receive benefits if the veteran precedes the spouse in death?
The benefit in question is called Dependency and Indemnity Compensation or DIC. DIC is a monthly benefit paid to eligible survivors of a;
*military service member who died while on active duty,
OR
*veteran whose death resulted from a service-related injury or disease,
OR
*veteran whose death resulted from a non service-related injury or disease, and who was receiving, or was entitled to receive, VA Compensation for service-connected disability that was rated as totally disabling
*for at least 10 years immediately before death,
OR
since the veteran's release from active duty and for at least five years immediately preceding death,
OR
for at least one year before death if the veteran was a former prisoner of war who died after September 30, 1999.
So...if the veteran dies of a service connected disability...any rating...the spouse is entitled to apply for the DIC benefit. For example, a Vietnam veteran who has diabetes rated at 60% dies of the complications of the disease leaves an eligible spouse.
If the veteran is rated at 100% for at least 10 years and dies of any cause after the 10 year mark, the dependent spouse is eligible. So if our Vietnam veteran has diabetes, residuals of prostate cancer and a 40% rating from a gunshot wound and his total rating is 100% and he holds that rating for 12 years...he can be run over by a bus and the dependent spouse is eligible. If that same veteran is run over by the same bus at 8 years of 100%, the dependent spouse is not eligible.
There is no difference in the 100% IU rating or the schedular 100% rating as long as it listed as Permanent and Total. The P & T is determined by wording on the award letter. If the letter says, "no future exams are scheduled" that indicates that the veteran is considered P & T. If the letter says, "future exams are scheduled" that indicates that VA believes there will be improvement in the condition and a lower rating may be appropriate in the future.
The basic monthly rate of DIC is $1,091 for an eligible surviving spouse. The rate is increased for each dependent child, and also if the surviving spouse is housebound or in need of aid and attendance. VA also adds a transitional benefit of $250 to the surviving spouse's monthly DIC if there are children under age 18. The amount is based on a family unit, not individual children. Benefit rate tables, including those for children alone and parents, can be found on the Internet at: http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/Rates
Questions:
Jim,
The VA lost my letter asking for consideration of fast letter 08-41. (Just a joke, but I'll bet it will happen to some vets. Keep up the good work.)
Jim,
I lost my letter saying the VA lost my letter asking for reconsideration of claim stipulated in Fast Letter 08-41. What should I do?
Answer:
This didn't take you very long, did it? You guys crack me up. Keep 'em coming.
