VA Disability Advocate - Denied VA Benefits
Just because your claim was denied does not mean you are not eligible for disability benefits. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) commonly makes errors in its determinations. The denial can be a combination of not analyzing the facts of your case correctly, and it can also stem from not having proper evidence available.
Denials Commonly Result From These Areas:
- Not enough medical evidence to support your disability;
- Agreeing that you have a disability, but not finding enough evidence to show that it is connected to your military service;
- They may agree that you have a disability that is service-connected, but they might assign a rating that is too low for your actual symptoms;
- They may agree you have a disability, but find that is was pre-existing to your military service and not aggravated by your service.
Veterans Appeals Backlog
While the “backlog” of claims waiting for an initial decision has decreased dramatically, the new wait is on the appeals side. Here’s an example: When a veteran files a claim for disability benefits, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) makes a decision, which in our Reno Nevada Regional Office is taking about four to six months on average. If the veteran does not like the VA’s decision, the veteran can appeal. After the veteran appeals, it is taking from three to four years for the VA to pick up that veteran’s claim again and review it. That is a tragedy.
Veterans Disability Advocate (VADA) recognizes the VA is moving more rapidly on the front end of these decisions, however, the decisions are often being made poorly, overlooking evidence in the record, and sometimes failing to schedule the veteran for a medical examination for the disability that a veteran is required to receive by law.
When the veteran ends up in the appellate backlog, the effects can be devastating waiting for a resolution. It can take years. One of our clients, an Iraq War veteran who has been homeless for several years while waiting for a decision since 2011, just received a hearing on his claims at the appellate level. Now it could take a year or more to receive a decision. That makes it six years or more that he has been waiting and wandering in and out of homelessness unable to work due to PTSD from combat. If this veteran is awarded his benefits, we anticipate he will receive approximately $75,000 he has been owed for the past six years just in back payments of his benefit alone. The Veterans Disability Advocate (VADA) is able to capture these denied claims, provide evidence to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that they require helping prove a veteran’s claim, and make certain that the hamster wheel ride ends for that veteran — we make sure the veteran receives the benefit he or she earned.
Appealing Your Claim
You may appeal any or all issues in a decision with The Veterans Disability Advocate (VADA) or through your local VA office; usually, locate at your local VA medical center.
- A VA appeal is separated into two main stages: (1) within the local VA office, and (2) continuing to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals in Washington, DC.
- The two most common reasons people appeal are: (1) VA denied you benefits for a disability you believe is related to service, or (2) you believe that your disability is more severe than VA rated it.
- Veterans disagreeing with a disability compensation decision must use VA Form 21-0958. The Notice of Disagreement form offers Veterans the choice between a "traditional" appeal to the BVA or a "de novo" review of their claim by a Decision Review Officer.
- Once you file a Notice of Disagreement, your local VA office will review your file again, prepare a written explanation of why your claim was denied, known as the Statement of the Case (SOC), and mail it to you.
- If you submit any evidence or request that VA obtains any evidence for you after receiving your Statement of the Case, you may receive a Supplemental Statement of the Case after your local VA office reviews that evidence.
- If you disagree with the Statement of the Case and would like to appeal to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, file a Substantive Appeal. At this time, you can also choose whether you want an optional hearing before a Veterans Law Judge.
Clipped from: https://www.vadisabilityadvocate.com/denied-va-benefits
Albert Thombs - Las Vegas VA Disability Claims Agent
athombs@VADisabilityAdvocate.com
athombs@VADisabilityAdvocate.com
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