Information on VA benefits, Social Security benefits, how to files claims, and how to appeal denials.
Is angina secondary to ischemic heart disease due to herbicide exposure?
No. Angina is not a rated disease or condition. Angina is an occasional symptom associated with ischemic heart disease, a rated condition.
More about ratings of heart disease is here https://www.benefits.va.gov/WARMS/docs/regs/38cfr/bookc/part4/s4_104.doc
My husband passef away in Oct. of 2021 snd i have applied for survivors pension. The VA replied that they denied my claim because my husband did not have wartime service. He served in Air Force from Jan. 20, 1960 through Jan.17,1964. Please give me info on this as i believe from all i have read, including statements from VA, that he was in the time frame and qualifications for me to receive benefits as a qualifying Vietnam Vets widow.
Eligibility for survivors pension is authorized for 02/28/1961 to 05/07/1975 for Veterans who served in the Republic of Vietnam during that period; otherwise 08/05/1964 to 05/07/1975.
If your husband served until 01/17/1964 and he didn't serve in the Republic of Vietnam during that time, you aren't eligible for survivors pension. You claim that you are a "Vietnam Vets widow" and for that to be true, he'd have had to have service in the country of Vietnam during the times noted. If he didn't serve in country, you may claim to be the widow of a Vietnam era veteran rather than a Vietnam vet.
If you're sure he served in country, you should formally appeal the denial. Good luck.
Hi Jim My Dad is a 100% disabled veteran that qualifies for the DEA chapter 35 program. He has 1 child(me) who is in college and 3 others that will go to college before his 20 year DEA applying window expires. So my question is will the 36 months of benefits be for each individual child or 36 months split between us?
Benefits are individualized so each beneficiary will qualify on their own. Click to learn more about DEA benefits.
Hi, I am service connected for tinnitus, I was diagnosed with meniers disease at the VA. I put in a claim for Meniere's secondary to tinnitus. They denied my claim but changed my tinnitus to service connected tinnitus with Meniere's disease. Is this even legal? If so, shouldn’t I get the higher of the two? Thank you!
I agree with you. Interestingly, so does The Schedule For Rating Disabilities
6205 Meniere’s syndrome (endolymphatic hydrops):
Hearing impairment with attacks of vertigo and cerebellar gait occurring more than once weekly, with or without tinnitus 100%
Hearing impairment with attacks of vertigo and cerebellar gait occurring from one to four times a month, with or without tinnitus 60%
Hearing impairment with vertigo less than once a month, with or without tinnitus 30%
Note: Evaluate Meniere’s syndrome either under these criteria or by separately evaluating vertigo (as a peripheral vestibular disorder), hearing impairment, and tinnitus, whichever method results in a higher overall evaluation. But do not combine an evaluation for hearing impairment, tinnitus, or vertigo with an evaluation under diagnostic code 6205.
Now you know VA made a mistake and you must appeal the decision you received. There is no other choice but to proceed as soon as you're able to and get your appeal going. Good luck.
Since the VA adopted the new mileage application via the internet, I haven't received any travel money. I checked with my travel clerk and he told me that there is a big back log here in Florida. Have others experienced this problem? Thank you Jim.
I'm in Florida so I feel your pain.
We're supposed to be reimbursed a per mile amount for certain travel to and from medical care. In my time with VHA I've seen long lines and over an hour wait to receive a few dollars gas money. Then we went to a fill-out-the-form system. The check-in kiosks were introduced a few years back and those worked well other than you had to remember to sign out and sign in again to submit the travel voucher.
Not all that long ago I checked in to my small clinic and the kiosks were unplugged and parked in a corner. I was told to check in the old school way and only when I asked, I was given and old form to complete for travel pay. I was told the kiosks were gone forever.
I returned to that clinic 2 weeks later and the check in kiosks were back, plugged in and ready to go. There was no option for travel reimbursement, I was told to go to the Internet and figure it out. I haven't seen any deposits either.
I don't have any answer for you other than...welcome to your VA. They care!
Is lymphedema a disability?
Lymphedema is more of a symptom of a disease process going on in your body than it is a disease or condition unto itself. In other words, lymphedema may be secondary to another rated condition like cancer. You can file for it as a rated condition but without knowing more about the cause of the lymphedema I can't advise you about how successful the claim may be. Good luck.
I'm 35 but I've got a 100% total and permanent disability rating. Can I get on Medicare?
Yes, Medicare is available to you once you are approved for the SSDI benefit. Please click https://www.vawatchdog.org/social-security-and-medicare-benefits.html
To be awarded the SSDI benefit isn't as simple as applying for it. The rules are different than those at your VA and even a veteran with a 100% VA rating may not qualify at the SSA. Good luck!
Jim, at 72 can I get my Social Security Retirement and TDIU P&T (over 20 years) at the same time?
Yes you may. While there are plenty of rumors that try to tell us that we won't be able to collect TDIU and SSA retirement, those rumors are false and have been for years.
No worries! Good luck sir.
I developed prostate cancer and had my prostate removed prior to the Blue Water Navy laws going into effect. Upon passage of the law, I immediately applied for compensation, and was awarded 100% as is standard, then dropped down to 50% (including my dependent's 10%). I recently applied for anxiety and depression benefits secondary to prostate cancer, and was boosted up to a total of 80%.
My question: Since I have suffered the loss of a productive organ, erectile dysfunction, deformity, incontinence, and have basically become unemployable (teaching was my career), should I apply for 100%? I would not have these psychiatric problems had it not been for the exposure to known carcinogens. As a man, the loss of a productive organ is about the most significant loss one can experience. The argument may be that I should have applied for these secondary disabilities when I applied initially, but I was not informed that was even a possibility. My argument is that I would not have developed depression and anxiety had I not had prostate cancer caused by my service, so, even if I wasn't informed about secondary disabilities, the cause was apparent. Anxiety and depression do not suddenly descend on a person. Any advice? Thanks for what you do!
It's entirely reasonable to file a claim for any secondary conditions that you believe were caused, contributed to or aggravated by the primary condition or the treatment of the primary condition. In the rating schedule VA ignores the mental health trauma of most cancer treatments and if you don't claim it, VA won't hand it to you.
Often enough you're going to need an Independent Medical Opinion (IMO) that agrees with you. Click https://www.vawatchdog.org/imo-ime-medical-opinions-exams.html
Were I you, I'd file the claims soon. Good luck sir.
I was, and am, under the care of the VA for service-connected injuries. In 2014 my primary care doctor finally decided to remove my tonsils to help with my obstructive sleep apnea. Before the procedure, the surgeon noticed after looking at my imaging that I had a deviation in my right sinus. The surgeon asked me a couple of days before my procedure if I would like him to correct it as well since it would take a short time and I would already be under general anesthetic. He said he would be working in that same location and that he could do it within 20 minutes or so. I agreed and the surgery on my tonsils and septum was done in 2014.
After surgery, I had problems breathing out of the right side of my nose. Of course, they said this was due to swelling after surgery and other issues post procedure. This went on for quite a while and after many visits to the VA hospital it was discovered that the procedure was not done correctly and my septum was actually worse than it was before the procedure. I was then prompted to have a corrective surgery for the surgery that was supposed to fix the problem in the first place.
Since the surgery couldn't be done within 30 days, I was able to go outside the VA. I went to a plastic surgeon at a non-VA facility who did a septoplasty on my nose to correct the previous surgery done by the VA surgeon. The septoplasty took around six hours and the post surgery pain and other issues were very bad. I now have a very crooked nose after the second procedure, my sinus (and the area of my nose closest to the sinus opening) constantly itches and feels as though there’s something in there, and I am constantly rubbing or scratching it. If I put my glasses on and you look at my face, my nose is completely bent and disfigured and it’s an issue for me every time I look in the mirror.
I am a service-connected veteran but the surgery was not done for anything service-connected so I’m wondering if I can claim this as some kind of disability rating under my current disability rating. Any answer you have or information you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Please forgive me for any mistakes in punctuation, grammar, and spelling as I am doing this on my smart phone.
No worries about typos, misspellings, punctuation or any of that here. Typing on my desktop is hard enough and I don't even try on my (not so smart) phone. We're just glad you took the time to message us so we can help.
You're describing what may well be medical malpractice. I'm not qualified to determine whether what you've experienced is malpractice or just the breaks of being operated on and I think you should speak to an expert.
VA health care is well insulated from medical malpractice claims. There are a few hoops to jump through when you set out to sue the federal government and a lot of experience counts. For those reasons I only refer to a single medical malpractice group https://verdictvictory.com/medical-malpractice/va-malpractice/
These folks are located in California but they can represent you anywhere. Medical malpractice lawyers will typically work with you on a contingency fee basis and they won't take any money from you unless and until they win the case.
Please get in touch with them sooner than later and let them know where you got the referral. Good luck sir.
