Military Counseling: VA Disability Claims

The first thing I want to tell you is that the sooner you file your claim the more money you will get when you win, no matter how long that it takes. This is because the VA will pay starting the first of the month following the month in which a claim is filed. The “claim” need only be a letter giving your name and address, listing the problems and saying that they are service connected or that they have made you totally disabled. You can submit the completed application within a month of that first “claim.”

If you are totally disabled, file for both Social Security and the VA non-service connected (NSC) Pension. NSC Pension is a financial need based program for “war time” vets who are totally and permanently disabled by medical or mental disorders that weren't caused by military service. Qualifying vets will get monthly checks from the VA to make up the difference between what you get from all other sources, a set “Maximum Annual Income limit,” which changes every year. If they discover that you hid income, the VA will withhold checks until they recoup the “overpayment.”

Service connected (SC) Compensation is paid based upon a “percentage” of disability caused by each service-connected problem and the amount is not reduced because of your other income. This “degree of disability” is determined by comparing the conditions and symptoms shown in your medical records against a “rating schedule.” The schedule gives separate ratings for nerve, muscle and bone damage and impairment. The percentages are then combined to get a total that determines how much you are then paid. The law grants service connection if medical evidence proves that the symptoms were present within a year of military discharge. Some conditions can be service connected if symptoms show up within a certain period of time after discharge. Other conditions can be service connected with enough individual-specific evidence.

Medical opinions are crucial to winning claims. In NSC claims, you can submit medical reports from doctors seen for your Social Security disability claim and vice versa. Congress has ruled that service connection must be granted for certain problems if there is proof that the symptoms showed up within a specified period of time (usually one year) after your discharge. It doesn't matter how long it takes for the doctors to confirm a diagnosis. When trying to prove service connection for other conditions, be sure to tell the doctor that they don't have to be 100% certain that the problem is service connected, only 51% sure. Veterans are given the “benefit of the doubt” if the doctor thinks that the condition “is as likely as not” to have been caused by or present during military service.

You should sign up with one of the Veterans Service Organizations to represent you in your VA claim. Some groups do better work than others, and performance varies from state to state, so ask other vets. “Shop around” and interview several service reps. before deciding. You don't have to join the vet group, and you can change your representation if you are dissatisfied with their work. Submit evidence or appeals through them and they'll make a copy for their file. Lawyers can't charge more than $10 to help with VA claims until you've exhausted VA appeals and can go the US Court of Appeals for Vet. Claims.

The VA handles most claims “routinely,” that is, slowly, no matter how anxious you may feel. The VA will “expedite” a claim only if you submit evidence of financial crisis, and a letter of support from Congress will help. Use me as a consultant, but I won't be your official representative for VA claims. Since many Veterans Service Organizations discourage their overloaded representatives from confrontation with the VA, you might need someone like me working with you and your VSO rep. If you do nothing else, file the claim, always reply to letters from the VA and don't miss any appeal deadlines.