Benefits

Question:

Can I work as a policeman while P & T disabled?

Jim's Reply:

If you are a 100% schedular rated disabled veteran and not a 100% TDIU rated disabled veteran, you can work at any job you can manage.
 

I can tell you up front though that jobs like law enforcement and other emergency services are physically demanding and mentally taxing and those employers will question whether you'll be able to deal with all that. If your ratings have any mental health percentages there'll be questions about your ability to handle firearms and so on.
 

If you feel up to it, go for it. Be prepared for an uphill climb. Good luck.

Question:

I was incarcerated in Kentucky for 90 days on a governor's warrant so that Ohio could come get me. But Ohio neglected to come get me, so Kentucky released me. Even when given the opportunity to come get me, Ohio neglected to do so in a proper amount of time. Still, I'm considered a fugitive felon. How does this affect my VA benefits?

Jim's Reply:

The VA enforcement of fugitive felon regs is off the chart absurd. I've been working with vets in your situation for years and complaining about the outdated enforcement and here we are.
 

I'd like for you to have a look at Fugitive Felon Status and its Impact on VA Benefits and learn the steps you must take to help yourself.
 

The pandemic has many VA services running shorthanded and you may need some professional help. Were I you I'd look for a veterans law attorney nearby and seek some help there.
 

The National Organization of Veterans’ Advocates, Inc. (NOVA) is the place to begin. Good luck.

Question:

Having served active duty in the Marine Corps from March 5, 1975 until my honorable discharge in 1979, do I qualify as a Vietnam era vet and what benefits are available to me. I am NOT disabled nor have any service related issues.

Jim's Reply:

In accordance with the Code of Federal Regulations Chapter 38 Paragraph 3.2 (f), the Vietnam Era is "The period beginning on February 28, 1961, and ending on May 7, 1975, inclusive, in the case of a veteran who served in the Republic of Vietnam during that period. The period beginning on August 5, 1964, and ending on May 7, 1975, inclusive, in all other cases."

Your benefits are here.

Question:

The VA lost my medical records. Is there any chance I will get my VA disability?

Jim's Reply:

Missing records aren't at all unusual. This happens every day at VA. The NPRC has had quite a history of storing and sometimes losing our records so there are protocols in place.
 

The best thing to do is to file the claim and wait it out. When you get the decision, if there's any part of it denied because of missing records you are then eligible to talk with a veterans law attorney at no cost to you.
 

The veterans lawyer will know exactly what to do and will guide you during an appeal.
 

Click https://www.vawatchdog.org/how-to-hire-a-veterans-law-attorney.html  Good luck sir.

Question:

I am a Vietnam Vet '69 & '70 and recently developed aggressive prostrate cancer. My Gleason score was 27 and will be undergoing 9 weeks of radiation and then surgery. I have a high deductible medical plan with a $10,000 deductible, and am wondering if I'm eligible for VA health care and when would I be eligible for disability compensation.

Jim's Reply:

Your disability compensation benefits will begin the moment that your claim lands at the claims intake center, assuming your claim is awarded. That moment is called the 'effective date' and as your claim goes through the adjudication process all benefits will date back to that date.
 

You are likely eligible for VA health care right now. Unfortunately the pandemic has every health care (and other) facility in the country running around like their hair was on fire so getting into VA health care could be a challenge. Were I you I'd start right now to open the doors. 
 

As a service connected disabled veteran all your prostate cancer care at the VA will be at no cost out of your pocket. It won't matter what sort of civilian insurance you have as the cancer will be presumptive to agent orange.
 

You can easily file this claim yourself from your home. Click https://www.vawatchdog.org/how-to-file-a-claim.html  Remember, the sooner your claim is officially received, the better for the effective date.
 

Prostate cancer is a common claim at VA and there are some things you may want to know. Click https://www.vawatchdog.org/prostate-cancer.html.
 

The date you'll begin to receive a 100% temporary disability rating will depend on how soon you get in the very long line of claims being processed and how backed up VA is today. Unfortunately it's taking much longer than usual to process benefits claims as VA has some 10,000 employees out because of the pandemic as I write this. Many claims are being managed across the country by raters working from home so the process is slow but it's getting done.
 

Be patient, be sure your claim is filed accurately and as soon as you can get it done and VA will do the rest. Good luck sir.

Question:

Can I receive PUA if I receive VA benefits compensation and pension?

Jim's Reply:

I don't know. It'll depend on a lot of factors including where you are. Some Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) programs have ended although appeals options are open.

I don't know where you are and to complicate things even further, you ask about VA compensation and pension and those are mutually exclusive benefits. While we often enough refer to VA Comp & Pen Benefits, 'comp' is different than 'pen'.
 

VA compensation is a rated monetary award for a disabling condition and VA pension is a means tested benefit for low income, totally disabled veterans. As a rule if you collect a VA disability payment you won't be eligible for the pension benefit.
 

If you are on a VA pension and you were to collect PUA, you may exceed the income limits of your VA pension and see it reduced. Collecting PUA wouldn't affect your VA compensation benefit.
 

The best I can tell you is that the PUA has been through a lot of debate and change over the last many months and to determine availability and eligibility, your best bet is to apply through local channels and see what happens. Good luck sir.

Question:

Hi Jim, my son is a 100% service connected disabled veteran. When the disability benefits were approved by VA , the word "permanent " also appears after the rating. What is the significance of the disability being stated as permanent? I was told he would not be subject to any other examinations by VA in the future for an adjustment in his rating ? Is this true?

Jim's Reply:

The 100% rating is generally classed as either permanent or temporary. A permanent rating is viewed as static and unlikely to improve in the future. A temporary rating is seen as a condition with significant opportunity for improvement over time and with treatment.
 

A temporary rating is entered into the veterans record with a 'future exam' date. The future (Compensation & Pension) exam is loosely scheduled for (x) months down the road to check and see how the vet is progressing. At that point the rating may remain temporary for another period of time or it may be awarded a permanent status.
 

The veteran who is awarded a 100% permanent and total rating has no future exam scheduled. VA sees this as a condition that's unlikely to improve in the future. 
 

The word 'permanent' at VA doesn't guarantee that the rating is lasting and forever. If sometime in the future VA determined that fraud may have been involved or a myriad of other things may have happened, they are able to open the file and review their decision. This is unusual but it happens.
 

What 'permanent' does mean is that a couple of doors open to the vet...education benefits and health care for the family. Chapter 35 DEA and CHAMPVA come with a permanent 100% rating and each of those is invaluable.
 

Thank you for being the caregiver and looking out for your service connected disabled son. Don't hesitate to ask anything else as it comes up in the future. Good luck.

Question:

Thank you for this opportunity to ask important questions to an authority without the fear of the question jeopardizing my benefits. I have an 80% scheduler rating and am receiving 100% TDIU. I also have been doing volunteer work during this time and it has been rewarding in so many ways. Now that my children are grown I have been contemplating returning to the workforce. My disabilities are orthopedic for the most part and I have worked diligently to over come most of the limitations they have caused me. I believe that I could maintain gainful employment at a significant rate of pay. My questions are:
 

1. Does the VA have a transition program to assist veterans attempting this?
    
2. I understand my benefit amount will be dropped to the 80% rate but is there a period where it would continue to pay at the higher rate?

My concern is that if I accept an offer of employment and actually work, I would have to start at square one to re-establish TDIU if I was unable to perform my duties as required. My goal is to secure employment with a federal agency. During these difficult times recently, my compensation is barely covering my living expenses. Working is more of a necessity than it’s is choice at this time. Thank you in advance for you time and attention.

Jim's Reply:

The TDIU rated veteran is allowed to work at marginal employment that earns less than the federal poverty wage. That's often enough to allow the vet to make ends meet since the TDIU payment is generous and tax free.
 

However, a lot of veterans feel that they can earn more and I happen to agree that work is good for us. Like you, I did a lot of volunteer work to keep busy...I was even a 'volunteer of the year' at my VA facility once. I'd guess most of the volunteers you see at your VA are rated veterans. Productive work is built into our genetics and it's good for us to participate even if it doesn't bring income.
 

Unfortunately VA doesn't have a return to work program like the SSA does. https://www.ssa.gov/redbook/eng/returning-to-work.htm  However, you can accomplish your goals by simply plowing ahead and getting to work. You won't have to notify anyone and this may work best.
 

VA tracks your earned taxable income by following your accounts at SSA and IRS. If you are a TDIU vet and you suddenly start paying taxes on earned income above the federal poverty wage, you'll get a letter from VA wanting you to complete a VA Form 21-4140 to explain why you should be TDIU if you're working? This will be the time that you'll have to consider that your rating will fall back to the base 80% level.
 

This is VA we're dealing with so there's a lag built into all this. It may take VA 2 or 3 years before your extraordinary income is noticed so you have some time to try all this out.
 

While this isn't as formal as the SSA way of doing things, this gives you plenty of time to try and fail. If you return to work and learn that you can't do it for the long run, you may not have earned enough to attract the attention of the VA. Yes, if you are successful and your working requires that you lose the TDIU rating and you needed it in the future, you'd have to reapply and qualify all over.
 

I see a real glitch in the matrix of your plan however. Your goal is to secure a federal job. Every federal application will ask about your disability ratings whether those are from a civilian source or VA. You can't ignore these questions and an incorrect answer could disqualify you from all federal jobs.
 

I think you can anticipate more questions about why you hold a TDIU rating as you're applying for work? Federal agencies will be a lot more concerned about that than many civilian employers would be. While many 100% schedular disabled veterans work in federal agencies, they aren't TDIU as TDIU implies that you aren't allowed employment.
 

If I were to advise you I'd tell you to locate some work that you can handle and that is local to you. That probably will exclude most federal jobs and that's OK. Set a goal for yourself that you will earn (x) dollars in the next 6 months and see how you do. Once you've done that you'll know a little more about your capacity for a full time effort to return to the mainstream work force.
 

Good luck sir.

Question:

Hi Jim, thank you for the VA proposed rule on Disability Ratings for the Digestive System. Some ratings have changed, others stay the same. What stands out to me is that a Rater can no longer combine conditions to rate. but rate on only one DC, i.e. DC 7323 severe ulcerative colitis is rated at 60 %, while DC 7332 complete loss of sphincter control is rated at 100%. I think this ruling opens the door for a rater to rate 7323 60% and ignore 7333 100%. Both conditions almost always are there. Digestive disorders are some of the most debilitating and disabling conditions in the body. It really interferes with quality of life. As to so called modern medicine, it hasn't really helped the digestive system that much. For Crohn's and UC the new meds can cause serious side effects, even death. This proposed rule is just to lowball disability ratings. If approved, would this new rule be effective for "Grandfathering" ratings or apply to new applications for disability? What are your thoughts about this whole array of changes?

Jim's Reply:

You're way ahead of me. That massive document was just released and you're this far into it? I've known for a long time you're pretty intense but wow, I'm impressed! Now I have to take a moment and catch up.
 

I hadn't yet begun to consider all the implications of the proposed rule changes but I suspect that you're correct. However, here we are and we can talk about how severe ulcerative colitis is rated at 60% and complete loss of sphincter control is rated at 100%. 
 

I mostly disagree with the UC classifications. I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2002 and at the time I was very ill. When I read, "VA therefore proposes to assign a 10-percent evaluation for minimal or mild symptomatic disease that is managed with oral or topical agents (other than immunosuppressants or other biologic agents) and is characterized by recurrent abdominal pain with 3 or less daily episodes of diarrhea and no signs of systemic toxicity", I understand that nobody associated with this proposal has ever had rapid onset explosive, bloody and uncontrollable bowel movements 3 times a day.
 

A 10% evaluation for that sort of debilitating effect is beyond absurd as is most of the rest of it.
 

The 100% rating for loss of sphincter control is a bit more accurate in the description of the cause and effects of the condition. Sphincter control and retention or expulsion of contents is a different beast than the explosive and sudden diarrhea caused by UC...the etiology of each is based on different criteria. When we consider the practical effect of each condition on our activities of daily living, it's much the same for those conditions.
 

Each condition will have an end effect of greatly altering the lifestyle of the veteran patient. The 'mild' disease that indicates that 3 bouts of bloody diarrhea each day really isn't too bad is way off course. 
 

I'll plow through the rest of this publication soon and I'm sure I'll find a lot more to disagree with as we go along. 
 

For what it's worth, I'm still upset that VA renamed Coronary Artery Disease as Ischemic Heart Disease a few years back. As a former health care professional who practiced in the cardiovascular arena, I assure you that not once was the condition ever called ischemic heart disease. VA has the propensity to abuse the language to make it their own and they set silly standards to go along with that.
 

Keep an eye on this one for us, won't you? Be sure to comment to VA!