When my husband was going through the med board he claimed TBI and the c&p examiner didn’t seem to understand what he was saying about how/why he is claiming this (partial language barrier I think). So the c&p examiner said nope you don’t have one and it was listed in his ratings as ‘not propsed service connected’ because she said no. He just medically retired and had his first VA appointment with his Dr there. They reviewed all sorts of stuff with him and are sending him to actually be evaluated for TBI because they feel apparently it is a definite possibility due to his deployments and how he answered their questions I guess.
My question is if this TBI clinic does testing and decides yes he has one (is this even how it works??) does he have to do a VARR to have it reconsidered or too bad because they didn’t find it service connected in the first place? We’re already learning that CRSC was never explained to him (us) during this process and now going back through that as well to gather everything and write everything up to submit. I thought the hard part was all over now that he is retired and we were done doing more more more paperwork.
Any thoughts, advice, suggestions...much appreciated.
Since your husband is now in receipt of his DoVA official ratings as a military disabled veteran due to his completion of the DoD IDES process (I assumed IDES not LDES), he has up to
one year from the date on the VA decision letter by the DoVA D-RAS to submit a DoVA Notice of Disagreement (NOD) to appeal any VA rating decision. Indeed, initially by requesting a VARR
with supporting medical evidence and/or medical documentation would seem to receive a faster decision by the DoVA Rating Agency.
At this point in time, if there
now exist supporting medical evidence and/or medical documentation for the TBI contention then requesting a VARR should probably be your first option. As such, you will need to
closely monitor the progress of the VARR until its completion hopefully within one year after the date on the DoVA official ratings decision letter in order to not
miss the opportunity to submit a DoVA NOD appeal there afterwards.
Otherwise, in my experienced opinion, it may be best to wait (up to the one year limitation) before submitting the DoVA NOD appeal
until there exist medical evidence and/or medical documentation to support the previously claimed TBI contention. It seems that your husband's VAMC Primary Care Provider (PCP) is recommending a TBI referral for a further
detailed TBI evaluation; no worries and good deal. Either upon the receipt of an official TBI diagnosis and/or the accumulation of medical documentation in support of a TBI medical condition, then submit the DoVA NOD appeal immediately
within one year of the date on the DoVA decision letter from the DoVA D-RAS.
Moreover, it's important to note that if there were any
additional medical conditions not claimed during the IDES process or upon becoming a military disabled veteran then your husband should submit a
new DoVA disability claim via eBenefits for faster processing. As such, your husband needs to submit the new DoVA disability claim
within one year after his departure from the military so that the additional medical conditions are automatically assumed to be military service connected by the DoVA Rating agency. After one year of being separated from the military, there needs to be medical evidence and/or medical documentation to prove military service connection of any claimed medical condition.
Nonetheless it may seem burdensome at this point albeit it's in your husband & your
best interest to ensure the receipt of any federal disability compensation benefits (i.e., SSA SSDI) and/or military disability compensation benefits (i.e., DoVA, DFAS CRSC) as a military disabled veteran upon meeting the qualification criteria. Also, please don't forget about any State/County/local government programs for military disabled veterans (i.e., no cost vehicle registration for disabled plates/placards, free or discounted fishing/hunting license, property tax exemption or reduction, etc.) and civilian organizations which offer military discounts (i.e., Lowe's and Home Depot at 10%, Burger King at 10%, Military Star Card purchases at 10%, etc.). Take care!
Thus, I quite often comment that "possessing well-informed knowledge is truly a powerful equalizer!"
Best Wishes!
