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File for a service related disability, even if it isn't bad. A 0% rating is still a rating. Two 0% ratings can equal a 10% compensation, and you get your foot in the VA door. When it gets worse, you can file for an increase. Read more...
"VA Math" is the way the VA computes combined impairment ratings for multiple conditions in a Veteran’s compensation claim – and it requires that you unlearn real math. The VA does not add multiple ratings to get a total rating; instead, they use a formula to get a combined rating. The VA computes the combined rating by considering each disability in order of severity, beginning with the highest evaluation. Read more...
The Keeping Our Promises Act, introduced in April 2019, adds prostate cancer, bladder cancer, hypothyroidism, hypertension, stroke, early-onset peripheral neuropathy, AL amyoloidosis, ischemic heart disease and Parkinson-like syndromes to a list of diseases presumed to be caused by Agent Orange exposure during the Vietnam War. This Act should be completed by the end of this calendar year, allowing vets to file claims. This will be another win for our Vietnam veterans. Read more...
VA Must Pay Retroactive Benefits to Blue Water Vietnam Vets. The U.S. Veterans Administration must honor the terms of a 1991 settlement and pay retroactive benefits to thousands of Navy veterans who served on ships off Vietnam’s coast for Agent Orange-related health problems, a federal judge ruled Thursday (Oct 29, 2020). Read more...
Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie acknowledged publicly that service members who deployed to a Uzbekistan base used after the 9/11 attacks may have been exposed to toxic substances, asking for them to come forward to get help. “Several years ago our soldiers, sailors, airmen in particular started seeing ‘black goo’ come up from the ground. We are working with the Department of Defense to get to the bottom of that,” said Wilkie, who was speaking at the National Press Club and took questions from reporters.
If you were deployed to Uzbekistan from October 2001 to 2005, you have probably been exposed to many toxins, including radioactive processed uranium, chemical weapons remnants and underground pools of fuel and solvents that broke through the soil in a "black goo." Read more...
The VA "presumes" that any condition on the VA Presumptive List was caused by military service even though there may be no medical reasoning that definitively proves this connection. The VA Presumptive List basically states that if veterans who served in X location/circumstances during certain years developed Y or Z conditions, then those conditions will be automatically considered service-connected. No proof is needed beyond documents showing that the vet was indeed in that location/circumstance at that time. All veterans are required to have served at least 90 days of active, continuous service for their conditions to qualify unless it is specifically noted otherwise below. Read more...
Here is a great short video if you have a Compensation & Pension (C&P) Exam coming up: Common Mistakes Attending the C&P Exam
Veterans who apply for disability benefits currently receive a response in an average of 107 days. This includes first-time claims from recently-discharged Veterans and older Veterans who file claims for additional benefits. Some claims take longer due to complex evidence requirements and medical examination scheduling necessary to decide the claim. Read more...
The VA is bringing virtual hearings to Veterans who have disagreed with the decision VA made on a compensation claim and who have appealed the decision to the Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA, “the Board”). If you have a cell phone, computer or tablet with Wi-Fi, you can have a virtual BVA hearing anywhere with a Veterans Law Judge (VLJ)! Read more...