So today I went to the VA for my 6 month check up. While going through the sign in process and talking to the nurse I mentioned I had gotten a pacemaker since the last visit. Also mentioned I got another stent. All this has been done with private doctors on private insurance I pay for dearly every month. She made some comment about why I never filed a claim for my problems. I said I didn't know it was elligable. She says, hold on and calls a VA Service officer. She told him to come to her office right away and bring some paper work.. He comes in, look at all my stuff and says.... so you're 40% on your ears and 10% disabled on your legs. How would you like to be 100%. I said, I just came in to see the doctor. He says, so you don't want the money? I said, I didn't say that. He said, "You're a slam dunk. Someone also put in your file you have PTSD symptons. Come in tomorrow, I'll give you forms for you Cardio guys and we'll get it going. You're automatic with your agent orange exposure, combat related injuries etc." So, out of no where it's Christmas. I'll be picking up a couple grand a month more....tax free. Life is not good... but it pays it seems. My eternal thanks to a dedicated VA nurse.
That's good to here, I here so many horror stories from the VA about deserving veterans having to fight for years and years to get some kind of compensation.
I've heard the same stories and some of my folks have had to fight hard for some help. Mine is easier because I have been wounded 3 times, had varifiable service connect issues and still carry some of Ho's metal. Service connected and purple hearts grease the wheels.
[h=1]TRICARE Rates May Increase Again[/h]Week of October 15, 2012 This October retirees saw TRICARE Prime enrollment fees increased to $269.28 per year for individuals and $538.56 per year for retirees with families. However, retirees should be aware that TRICARE is warning that these enrollment fees may increase again when Congress passes the final FY 2013 budget. For this reason TRICARE is recommending that retirees pay either monthly (through automatic deduction/charge) or quarterly due to the chance that the non-refundable enrollment fees may increase again before the end of the fiscal year.
Hell, I'm on Medicare and my private insurance cost me $522 dollars a month. That's down from the 600 Plus I paid before medicare became my primary.
Good for you. It sounds like you are very deserving. I hope the extra money allows you to spoil yourself a little.
Wow! I bet it does feel like Christmas morning. Didn't know what Agent Orange was until I googled it. There's so much about Vietnam that I don't know but would like to learn.
My dad still has some to. Every once in awhile a piece works it's way loose. The last one he found on his pillow one morning. Like there was some sort of evil tooth fairy. Glad you got the 100!
Haven't got it yet...but the guy said it's a done deal. It may take up to 6 months to complete the process and be awarded the claim. It'll be retroactive to the day I filed. I found out it will be $2767 a month/tax free, plus free dental..which I now pay for and an ID card allowing me PX and all base priviledges.
Well here's the deal today. Yes it will get done...BUT.... it's going to take 8months to a year. The clock started today when the packet was sent to VA. It's retroactive to the day you file. My first check will be for however many months that is. I probably wouldn't have been approved before ..even though I had heart trouble as early as2001. In 2010 they changed the criteria and admitted to the fact that agent orange, combat and the hell of Tet 68 did a number on us. All these skin cancers they've cut or froze off me over the years, and all the heart, liver and diabetes my boys have with the law changing in 2010 were declared "No Contest". They finally admitted it was a result of South East Asia. Same with the growths I had removed off my eyeball. When they took those off they said it was from extreme exposure in a tropical environment. LOL That's not upstate NY. So the VA with the law changing in 2010 was told to go back and look at all the cases they had denied prior to 2010. Many people who filed and were turned down now found themselves getting a back check in some cases upwards of $100,000. So that's the back log. They just got buried in paperwork so now everyone waits and hope they live to see it. LOL Oh well, yesterday they said 6 months... today they say 8-12. Whatever. My first check should be a nice one. If I had filed before and been denied and then after 2010 approved... well yes, I'd have a heck of a check going back to whenever. Should have investigated this stuff in 2001 when I started having the first signs. The guy said with your Combat Infantry badge, all your medals and purple hearts and the fact I was verifyable boots on the ground in some bad stuff... it's a done deal. They'll look at my records and compare it with the units I was assigned to and can see where I was and what happened. They'll see we were in Tet 68 and real heavy in the Second Tet 68.
That's one reason when I start prepping to retire from the Army that I will be getting all my ducks in a row with VA, glad things worked out well for you on that and about time VA takes care of vets the way they should!
Do that. I was very lucky I stood up for myself when I was going off active duty. Of course you had to take a physical. They rubber stamped you through that if you let them. The guy says, and there's nothing bothering you. I said ...well yaaaaa... I got some teeth that need work and my hearing sucks from getting blown up 3 times. He said, well you can hear me... I said mostly but I miss a lot and my favorite words in the English language are "What did you say"? Reluctanly they set up a big hearing test. When I finished theys said, man, you can't hear worth crap. So it went in my records. Had it not and had I not insisted they couldn't rubber stamp me... I never would have gotten the VA help I do now. My ears and my legs(which I also said was the Armys fault) and a couple purple hearts are the only reason I'm in their system today getting any benefits. If I had just got out and then tried to get help later on, like getting hearing aids, it would have been impossible. At the time I went to them..30 years after Vietnam, there was a year or more waiting list to get into the system. My "Service Connected" hearing and legs and then because I had purple hearts moved me to the head of the line. If VA sees "Service Connected" they take care of you. So yes, when you go to get out...note every little ache, pain, health concern and problems you're having or have had. If you were in high stress, high anxiety situations... like bullets in the air.... you can never be sure what will pop up down the road. I had years of nightmares and wars in my dreams. I never told a soul except my wife who lived through 10 years or more of it with me. I never told her what exactly was going on.... just said nightmare. I don't have them that much anymore... but when I do it's pretty terrifying at times. Right now I'm nursing a sore hand that I thought I broke as I lashed out in my sleep and caught a night stand. What brought it on...watching a couple episodes of Band of Brothers from a DVD. You also might want to find a local Veterans Service Officer and pick his brain. These guys do this everyday. They're all American Legion guys. As the guy told me yesterday, "I don't care if you belong to the American Legion, are gay, black, white or green or belong to the KKK. It's my job to know the rules and to get you every benefit and money that's coming to you? I'm good at my job". I believed him. One real big mistake I made was from malaria. I came down with falcifurum malaia on R and R in Hong Kong. I spent 21 days in the British Military Hospital there. They didn't want to release me but finally agreed if I agreed to check myself into the Chu Lai Hospital upon return from Hong Kong. They gave me all my hospital records to hand carry. I was worried about loosing my job at Division HQ. It was kind of a prize for my field work for 8 months. I didn't check into the hospital. I was weak and tired for the rest of my time in Vietnam. There is no record in my records of me having had malaria. I carried the British records for years. They got lost somewhere in my many moves.
