Jim,
Thanks in advance for your support of veterans. I am retired military with a 100% secondary coronary artery disease to hypertension. Can I ask the VA to reconsider me for IHD presumptive to agent orange for the purpose of getting CRSC (tax free retirement pay)?
Reply:
Great question.
You should be awarded the benefit that is the best for you. Combat Related Special Compensation allows retirees to receive VA disability compensation without the traditional offset to their retired pay. https://www.hrc.army.mil/site/crsc/index.html The VA disabling condition must be "combat related" to qualify.
In this case, if the hypertension didn't pass muster for "combat related" and you were denied CRSC, the Agent Orange condition of IHD would certainly be compensated and eligible. The law has recently changed in your favor. Ischemic Heart Disease is now presumptive to exposure to Agent Orange. Your exposure to herbicide came while you were serving with your boots on the ground in a combat zone.
I'd urge you to seek the benefit you are eligible for. Further, I'd say that you should be given retroactive CRSC. Were I you I'd work towards not just the benefit forward in time but also any retroactive benefit that was previously denied.