Veterans' Advocate Jim Strickland answers questions from VA Watchdog dot Org readers.

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Veterans' Advocate Jim Strickland provides regular columns for VA Watchdog dot Org.  If you would like to contact Jim about his columns, you can email him here...  The archive of Jim's articles is here...  To find an answer to a specific VA benefits question, use the VA Watchdog search engine... click here... 

Be sure to use Jim's:  "A to Z GUIDE OF VETERANS DISABILITY COMPENSATION BENEFITS" click here...  

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by Jim Strickland

NOTE:  Letters in my Q&A columns 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.

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Are you or do you know a visually impaired veteran? Do you have problems reading any of the materials that VA sends to you? If so, I need to hear about that from you, please. Email me directly at ...  jim912@gmail.com

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Jim;

I researched what you said about prostate cancer and read your detailed article about it on your site. I thus changed my mind and filed a claim for prostate cancer with no other request than that it be handled quickly.

So, that puts me back on track to continue contesting the 70% rating I originally got. My need is 100% as I am basically out of work and unable to get a job.

As a result of my last filing (which was to forward a copy of two VA MD reports saying I was 100% incapactitated) I received a letter from the VA yesterday asking if I wanted to be certified as unemployable.

I may be dreaming, maybe living in yesterday, but I would like 100% without the issue of unemployablility for two reasons. First, I may get better and be able to work and, second, a favorable decision will date back to 2006 which I first started trying to become eligible.

Jim, is there a spot on your site that might discuss unemployability – its good and bad point?

Reply;

Yes, my A to Z site at http://jimstrickland912.com covers the topic. Head over and I'll advise that you start at the beginning and read the whole thing. You're already making some errors.

If you weren't eligible for IU when you first applied for it, the decision won't be retroactive...you're correct. However, you're being sent a strong message that 100% schedular isn't going to happen. The reach from 70% to 100% schedular is measured in light years because of the Combined Ratings Table. You could be awarded 5 more 20% ratings and still be at 80%.

Then, I advise that you never tell anyone you "need" the benefit. I know this is nit-picking but VA does not award based on need. They award based on eligibility...it's a different but important mindset.

For example, I get a lot of email from guys who "need" the 100% so their kids get college money or the spouse gets CHAMPVA. As soon as they tell VA that, they're sunk. VA doesn't award because you're behind on bills, etc., it's strictly eligibility by the book.

Then...by trying to score a schedular rather than an IU 100% rating so that you can work and earn money, you are guilty of gaming the system. I don't support such efforts as they are based on fraud. If you are too disabled to work and you are eligible for IU, great. If you are awarded IU and you become able to work, you no longer deserve the IU benefit. That's the law, it's how the system works.

Trying to make a plan so that you can have your cake and eat it too hurts all veterans. Many of us believe that this is exactly why the VA system is as hard on us as it is...guys who game it for illegitimate gain.

So...read through my Guide and rethink your approach. If you deserve the award, you'll get there. If you are able to work, go for it.

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Jim;

I am a Vietnam vet with my DD 214 in order and have had chronic Ischemic Heart Desease since July of 1998. In Sept. 2010 I had angioplasty again to remove more blockage. I have Complete records since 07/98 to current date. Those records are now in the hands of the DVA and I have copies. I submitted a disability claim on 01/11/2010, through a VSO. On 01/23/2010 I recieved a response to that claim from the DVA stating:

Quote...
" We are working on your claim for :
- ischemic heart disease

We have recieved your compensation claim for ischemic heart desease based on herbicide exposure. However, this desease has not been added to the Dept. of Vet. Affairs regulations governing presumptively associated herbicide exposure. In order to add desease, we must follow a series of legal requirements, including publishing a notice in the Federal Register. we have begun this process, but are holding claim until these legal requirements have been met. When the process is complete, we will make a determination on your claim and provide you with a notice of our decision." End of Quote.

My VSO is now looking up the law governing IHD, as it is presumptive to Agent Orange exposure. Any help would be appreciated.

Reply;

What part of the letter from VA did you not understand?

That's pretty clear isn't it? The order was given to make the IHD presumption a law. That is in progress now. They have your claim and as soon as it becomes law, they will process your claim.

A federal law doesn't just happen overnight...it takes months. There is a LOT of material about the new law and what's happening that is published on VA Watchdog dot Org. Larry has been on top of this since day one and he has made it simple to find.

On my web sites, The A to Z Guide of Veterans Disability Benefits at http://jimstrickland912.com and also at my Forum, STRAIGHT TALK for Military Veterans at http://groups.google.com/group/straight-talk-for-military-veterans?pli=1 there is also a lot of talk and information about where the process is at.

If your VSO isn't aware of this by now, you need a new VSO. If I were applying for this benefit and my VSO was just getting around to sorting all this out, I'd be out of that office like it was on fire. You deserve better.

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Jim;

I submitted form 10-5345a after reading about my healthvet. The only reason I did this was to keep from going to ROI everytime I want some copies of my medical records. ROI told me all I could get is prescriptions but that is not what is stated in 10-5345a. This is just my opinion but if all I can get is prescriptions then I have wasted my time doing this.

Reply;

I've taken this comment from my STRAIGHT TALK forum. This is just one of the many interesting topics that came up yesterday. Stop by and say hello at http://groups.google.com/group/straight-talk-for-military-veterans

The author was replying to another veteran about the HealtheVet web site that VA maintains for health care information. You may access it by going to the VA site at http://www.myhealth.va.gov/

I've been a supporter of the Heathevet site since 2005. However, the promises made were not kept and today the site is mediocre at best. My reply is below. Other comments may be read at my STRAIGHT TALK forum.

In 2005 I was invited by VA to travel to D.C. to work with the E-Vet
site development team. I worked with them as a VA Volunteer until
about 2007 when my interest dropped off the chart.

Wendi is correct that it can be a very helpful tool for tracking
medications, particularly for the veteran who takes a lot of VA
medicine. Reorder is simple and immediate.

Unfortunately, SteveD is also correct. The promises that were made in
2005 - 2006 were exciting. We would be able to pull our medical
records, see our appointments, communicate with our care team and even
schedule or reschedule appointments.

None of that ever happened.

You've heard it all before. The budget cuts always start at the newest
projects. The E-Vet project was slashed and burned like rain forest
and today, other than the prescription refill function, it's a
mediocre web site of health data.

(Those were the same years it was reported that VA managers received
HUGE bonuses that were budgeted but that's another story.)

I believe that it's a reflection on the overall value that the DVA
places on computers and computerized systems. That is to say, not
much. While the VHA has set the health care world on fire with the
Electronic Medical Record known as VistA, the rest of the VA depends
on paper.

As you all know, your VBA operates almost strictly off of paper
records. The few computerized functions available are antiquated
tracking systems meant to keep up with the paper folders your case is
in.

That doesn't work well at all and most days nobody could pinpoint the
location of your file if their life depended on it.

We are in an age where your grocer knows the location of every lime
and lemon and what day it came in and what the profit is on each. UPS,
Amazon dot Com, FedEx and even the USPS can locate a small envelope
out of millions per hour and show that to you on your computer screen
in an instant. The FAA can pinpoint the location of every airplane in
the sky with astounding accuracy and show it to you on a real time
map.

While the rest of the world is flying along high speed lines and
sucking up terabytes of bandwidth every second in information
exchanges, the DVA continues to manufacture silly excuses of why they
can't get the job done.

We're left to believe that DVA and particularly VBA leaders must be of
that generation who are hoping that soon enough the world will come to
its senses and this nonsense toy...the computer...will be relegated
back to a dust bin where it should stay. Then they can find their
comfort zone again...pushing a pencil on paper.

Those Interwebby things are just a fad, right? Like Hula-Hoops, they
won't last forever. And when they're gone, the DVA will be ready.

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TOPICS: veterans, veterans' benefits, VA, Department of Veterans' Affairs, Jim Strickland, Veterans' Advocate,