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VA CLAIMS FOR THE DO-IT-YOURSELFER -- Veterans'

Advocate Jim Strickland with advice

for those who want to DIY.

 

 

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...

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Many readers have let me know that they are handling or want to handle their own disability claims. I hear various reasons that they've decided to go this route. Most often it's that they didn't feel like the Veterans Service Officer (VSO) they started the process with has done anything to help them or their claim was denied and the VSO doesn't seem interested. That's my story too and it's why I taught myself how to navigate the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) system.

I'll begin today with a do-it-yourself series of the very basic steps you must take to have a successful outcome. Applying for benefits at VBA couldn't be easier. Getting a swift, favorable adjudication requires plenty of attention from you, the claimant. I've covered most of this in previous columns but it's always worth revisiting for newer readers. If you have a condition caused by or aggravated by your military service and if you're willing to put in the time and effort to read the regulations and follow guidelines, it's likely you will see good results. I'll caution you that if you take shortcuts, if you don't follow instructions provided by VBA, if you don't respond precisely to their requests in a timely fashion, you lose. VBA doesn't game you but they do play hardball.

I've learned that the single most important piece of the disability claims puzzle is that first application. If you get that right, the rest of the process should fall neatly into place. If you're haphazard and sloppy from the beginning, you've set the scene for the future.

Begin by giving serious thought to your claimed condition. What is the condition? Define it once and don't vary with other terminology. If you had a "fractured femur", don't write that on one page and then use "broken bone" on another. Consistency is important. There may be a lot of very busy people who must read your application and then make decisions. Don't add to their confusion by being vague. Are you sure you can verify your condition and how it occurred? Do you recall when and where it happened? Where were you treated? Do you think that records were made of treatments? Even better, do you have copies of records that support your alleged condition? Did you do as you were told that many years ago and safeguard your DD214?

If you feel good about all that, you should download and print VA Form 21-526 by clicking here...
 http://www.vba.va.gov/pubs/forms/21-526.pdf . You'll want to read the Important Information form here
 http://www.vba.va.gov/pubs/forms/21-8764.pdf . I recommend that you use a paper copy (as above) if you're new to all this unless you're confident of your computer skills and have a good connection to the Internet. Then you can use the on-line system provided by VBA here
 http://vabenefits.vba.va.gov/vonapp/main.asp . Most other VA Forms you'll need may be found here
http://www.va.gov/vaforms/ . You'll be able to ask for copies of these forms at your local VA facility or you may call 1-800-827-1000 from anywhere in America and VA will mail the forms to you.

You can begin your claim without the forms. You may write a letter to your Veterans Affairs Regional Office (VARO) and tell them you are filing a claim for disability benefits. You can find the mailing address of your VARO or other facility by clicking here
 http://www1.va.gov/directory/guide/home.asp?isFlash=1 . If you take this route you must be sure to include a statement that says, "By this document I am filing a claim for disability benefits due to (your reasons). I anticipate that the VBA will adjudicate my claim in my favor and assign to me an appropriate rating of disability for my condition of (state your condition). I request that you assist me in developing my claim." You may request that VBA retrieve any and all service records that may apply to your case and then copy and mail them to you. After your application is received and begins to process, you will receive form letters and statements from VBA that will instruct you how to proceed and exactly what else is needed from you.

It's been my experience that it is extremely rare that VBA fails in its duty to notify you of the rules. In fact, they go way overboard to ensure they are in compliance with regulations. If your condition originated 35 years ago, you may get a request from VBA to provide them with names, dates, unit designations, locations and other details you've long since forgotten. Don't let that frustrate you. Simply respond with a true statement that the passage of time has made it impossible for you to fulfill that particular request. Never ignore the impossible requests; just reply that you can't do that and move on. In the logic of the VBA, they make those requests to fulfill their obligation to assist you to develop your claim. The more evidence you supply, the more likely you will win.

You should include a Statement In Support of Claim. Find it by clicking here
 http://www.vba.va.gov/pubs/forms/vba-21-4138.pdf . VA Form 21-4138 may be used by you to tell your story in your own words or it may be used by another person to support your allegation of a disability. If written by another individual who has knowledge of the circumstances of your condition, it is often called a "Buddy Letter". A Buddy Letter will be considered as evidence to support your claim and may be useful where records are scant or missing. You may make a Statement In Support Of Claim without the form. If you choose to submit a narrative either handwritten or printed off a computer, be sure that it ends with the statement, "I certify that the statements on this document are true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief." There isn't any requirement to have this notarized but I recommend that you do...it can't hurt.

If you're accomplishing all this so far, you're getting off on the right foot. We'll take a moment now to review a few important points.

Nomenclature is important. Be consistent in identifying and naming conditions, dates, places and events. Try to learn how the VBA phrases things and then use their language. Study the layout of the documents and letters you receive from VBA and use that when you write back to them. Be brief. Put yourself in the chair of the individual who will read your documents and see it from that perspective. Is what you say easy to understand and to the point? Have you provided accurate, true statements to support your claim? If you are unable to account for certain information or documents, have you explained that?

Do you understand your condition? For example; If you are claiming that you injured your back while jumping from a perfectly good airplane, did you tell the VBA you have "a painful back problem"? Or did you look through your medical record to determine that you have "spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis of the 5th lumbar vertebra on the sacrum"? Have you told VBA "it hurts" or did you say, "My back pain is chronic and I suffer every day. It becomes worse if I attempt to lift more than 5 pounds. I have difficulty with activities of everyday living and need assistance in dressing and grooming."

Get organized. You should prepare yourself by getting your records in order. Use a spiral notebook to record any facts from telephone conversations; Who did you speak with? At what number and extension? What date and time? Were any commitments by this contact person made to follow through on actions for you? You won't remember these details when you need to, write them down. That also applies to mailing and receiving letters or documents from VA.

Learn to love your local Post office. You'll be using Registered Mail, Return Receipt Requested for everything.

When you write a letter of any sort to VA, don't rant. There is nothing you can say that they haven't heard hundreds of times and although they are required to read it, it won't have any impact on what you want done. Any emotion, any anger, any frustration you vent to them just uses up your paper and ink. If you must, write them a really abusive letter 4 or 5 pages long, revel in the glory of it all for a day or two and then throw it away. Then write something similar to this below.

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Date


Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office
4567 Old Boy Highway
In The Big City, State 11111-0987

REFERENCE: DOE JOHN M
C 123 456 789

Dear Sir/Madame:

Please accept this document and enclosures as my application for benefits. (Or as a supplement to an already filed claim) I was injured while on active duty, here are some details.

Here are dates/Occurrences;
11/11/1956 / What happened where
12/12/1957/ Again and again
1/1/1964/ This got worse than ever. Here are the addresses of my doctors.

This is information that you need to know but there was no appropriate space on the form 21-526.

Details, more details, strictly facts.

More details with dates and so on.

Thank you for your kind attention to my claim.

Respectfully Submitted,


John Doe
Home Address
Email Address
Telephone Number

(Enclosures)

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When you write, only state facts. Don't repeat hearsay evidence like, "My Doctor in Germany told me I was lucky to be alive. He said one more inch to the left and that broken beer bottle may have pierced my gizzard." If you don't have that statement in writing from that doctor, you're wasting time telling the story.

Seek out your own evidence. VBA has a duty to help you retrieve medical records, lab reports, x-ray reports etc. It's a cumbersome process if you wait on them. It's much more effective if you go ahead and provide VBA all needed documentation to retrieve your records but then do it yourself. Almost 20 years after the fact I recalled a doctor who had treated my injury within a month of my discharge. VA wrote that doctor and got the request returned telling them the doctor had moved away a decade before. VBA doesn't usually call and work hard to get your record, their duty is complete if they mail a request. I called the office where the doctor had treated me and asked some very nice people for their help. They dug through a storage room and found my chart within a few days. Another doctor in that office reviewed the records and wrote a letter confirming that these were the real deal and they mailed it all on to me. That was a turning point for one of my claims. If I had left that to VA, it wouldn't have happened.

Provide VBA with scientific evidence that supports your claim of disability. One of my claims was based on the cause and effect relationship of my primary service connected condition to a secondary disability. Although my rationale was a bit obscure, my allegation of cause and effect was supported in medical literature I found on the Internet. I printed 3 articles and highlighted the parts that supported my claim and referenced those in a letter to my VARO. In my award letter the literature that I provided was quoted and was at least partly responsible for the favorable decision.

Finally, read all you can on the VA sites. Start at the main page at http://www.va.gov/ . Look around, explore and learn the language. Head over to the GPO site here http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/
text-idx?c=ecfr&tpl=%2Findex.tpl  and then using the site or this link go here http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/
text-idx?sid=78d9ba8a7d4f6a84d882e2ad25f86cbd&
c=ecfr&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title38/38tab_02.tpl  to search around in Title 38. Take a quick trip to Thomas Search Engine here
 http://thomas.loc.gov/  and use it to find out about bills that affect Veterans right here http://thomas.loc.gov/
beta/topicresults2.jsp?congress=110&subject=
Root%2FMilitary+and+Defense%2F%40Veterans
&swr=true&searchCurrent=true .

Most of this applies to those who are the true do-it-yourselfers among us but the information also applies if you're using a Service Officer. Your service officer is busy helping a lot of Vets besides you and the more you pitch in, the better your outcome will be. Keep it in mind that nobody cares as much about your claim as you do.

I hear from Veterans who say they shouldn't have to all this complex stuff. VBA should just take their word for it and give them compensation. That's not realistic and it won't happen anytime soon. I agree that the system today is a mess. The application of rules has gone far beyond the original intent. Rather than a Veteran friendly organization as it was intended to be, it's adversarial with no trust on either side of the fence. Having said all that, I'm confident that when a Veteran is willing to spend the time and labor investing in his own future, that Veteran will find the VBA not so difficult after all.

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Larry Scott  --