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What Veterans Should Know
By David Lord - December, 2004
When I develop claims for Veterans, where do I find the Law?
Title 38, United States Code, Title 38, Code of Federal Regulations.
Where do I get the facts?
From evidence I develop for the Claims Process, and questions I use for every case:
1. What is the issue?
2. Under which laws/regulations can I establish entitlement?
3. What do the facts have to demonstrate to establish entitlement?
4. What evidence do I need to establish the facts?
Reminder!
NO Specific Issue = No Claim = No End Product
Incomplete Claim = Informal Claim
Your records are important and I need a copy of your dd214. If you do not have your discharge, I can help you with the request to obtain records on form sf180.
Millions of Records Lost
Fire - On July 12, 1973, a fire at the NPRC in St. Louis destroyed 85 percent of the stored records for Army veterans serving between 1941 and 1960, and 85 percent of Air Force personnel with surnames beginning with the letters I through Z who were discharged prior to 1964 and had no retired or Reserve Status.
If your dates and branch of service are listed above, it will take time to reconstruct your service record from other locations and/or medical facilities.
I will donate many hours toward your claimed benefit and process, so I expect you will complete the required forms I provide you with, with the required information, so that I may serve other veterans in a timely manner .
Net Worth Development for Pension
To be eligible for a pension, you must pay part B social security, so keep paying, the cost is deducted as medical expense for pension purposes. You must have income under $13,000 Dollars per year if married, or under $10,000 per year if single. All Veterans age sixty-five and older, having 90 days or more of service, one day of which was during a period of war, are entitled to minimum annual income plus medical treatment, up to an equal amount of the pension. If married, your spouse's medical expense is included.
The basic issue in evaluating net worth is whether or not the claimant's financial resources are sufficient to meet the claimant's basic needs without assistance from VA. No specific dollar amount can be designated as excessive net worth. What constitutes excessive net worth is a question of fact for resolution after consideration of the facts, and circumstances in each case.
Net worth includes the value of real estate (except the claimant's single family dwelling), value of personal property, cash, stocks, bonds, bank accounts, CD's, IRA's, Mutual funds, Keoghs, business assets and any other property.
Compensation for Service Connected Disability
A decision to establish service connection is in order if the facts, shown by the evidence, establish that a particular injury or disease resulting in disability was incurred coincident with service in the Armed Forces, or, if preexisting such service, was aggravated while in service.
The development of evidence to support a determination of service connection may include four elements:
1. Service Medical Records
2. Continuity - evidence of ongoing treatment from military service to present.
3. First treatment - evidence to show the first treatment for the claimed disability following service.
4. Recent treatment - evidence to show recent treatment and current severity for the claimed condition. In many cases this will be a VA examination.
Note: I have established a Medical Program in Mexico for U.S. Veterans to use in Puerto Vallarta that is supported by U.S. Consul General for this Region
5. In the case of preexisting conditions, request treatment prior to service.
Service Medical Records (SMR)
You will need SMRs in all cases. The V.A. will assist in gathering SMR's. (However, they have refused "to assist" in the past, and denied many thousands of claims, so, if the veterans were unable to find military records of their condition during military service, the claim was denied)
Breaking News: Concurrent Receipt, a.k.a. Veterans Disability Tax
From Congress Daily ( http://www.nationaljournal.com/congressdaily ): House announced a $22 billion plan Thursday to partially overturn a 19th-century policy depriving disabled veterans of their Retirement pay if they were paid compensation for a service connected disability. (Veterans in fact were paying for their own disability by having their retirement check reduced dollar for dollar up to the amount of disability compensation. ONLY Veterans were made to fund their disabilities, no other government employee, from any other federal job (if disabled) was made to pay their own disability from their retirement checks.
For veterans' groups that have spent years pushing for the change, it was a long anticipated, if not fully satisfying, victory on the issue of "concurrent receipt."
"We've worked hard to begin this process of fulfilling our obligations to our veterans," said House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., a participant in weeks of negotiations for a compromise acceptable to the White House and GOP congressional leaders.
The plan, to be phased in over 10 years, would give greater benefits to about 245,000 disabled veterans, less than half of those whose retirement benefits are reduced or eliminated under current law because they also receive disability benefits.
The measure is now part of the fiscal 2004 defense authorization bill, although it could shift to different legislation if the defense measure is stalled by other disputes, Blunt said
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