The Major was talking to his national service representative in Washington DC today. He received a letter form Board of Veteran affairs (BVA).
The BVA indicated his claim documentation was with his VA National Service Officer (NSO). The Major called his service organisation in Washington DC to inquire about the claim.
While chatting with his NSO , he discovered there is another program for veterans who are unable to work and who do not meet the 70 per cent threshold for Individual Employability (IU).
According the Veterans' Voice blog by Dr. Elaine Tripi:
“The policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs is that all veterans who are unable to secure and follow a substantially gainful occupation by reason of service connected disabilities shall be rated totally disabled.” 38 C.F.R.
If a veteran is rated at 60% or more for only one service-connected disability, or there are two or more service connected disabilities with one disability evaluated at 40% disabling with additional disability to bring the combined rating to 70% or more, then the VA evaluates whether the veteran’s disability prevents him/her from working.
The veteran must file for the IU benefit. It is not something the VA does automatically.
There is another regulation entitled Extra-Scheduler consideration. It is a VA policy that all veterans who are unemployable due to service-connected disabilities must be rated totally disabled.
If a veteran does not meet the percentages as outlined above, but yet cannot work because of service connected disabilities, then they should be considered under special provisions regarding IU known as extra-scheduler compensation.
You must ask for this as these cases require special handling.
The VA may not consider age as a factor, previous unemployability or non-service connected conditions.
If the veteran’s service connected disabilities preclude him/her from performing substantial gainful employment, then he/she should be entitled to this benefit.
It is suggested that the veteran obtain at least two medical opinions clearly stating that his/her service connected disabilities render him/her unemployable.
The concept of IU is similar to Social Security Disability with a few exceptions. Under Social Security Disability, an individual may receive benefits based on age, education, training and past employment.
The Social Security Law looks at all impairments that impact an individual’s ability to perform substantial gainful activity no matter what the cause.
Wherein under VA regulations, the cause of unemployability must be due to service-connected disabilities regardless of age.
The Major recommends you first apply for Social Security disability if you are unable to work. Once declared totally disabled by Social Security, you should be eligible for IU or extra-scheduler compensation.
Of course, the disability that prevents you form working must be service-connected.
source: http://www.theveteransvoice.com/Tripi-VAClaims.html
Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/UFPYA
Netcraft rank: 6772 http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com
Rightardia by Rightard Whitey of Rightardia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at rightardia@gmail.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment