I’ve heard from several veterans in the past few weeks about being called in for PTSD Comp Exams after they have been 100% unemployable for years. It’s usually those who are not P&T (Permanent & Total) who get called in, because the VA can call them in at any time just like they do for vets with physical wounds and certain cancers: just to see if you have improved enough to cut your percentage.
Each new administration in DC gives orders to cut veteran benefits. In public, they say how they are going to continue to help veterans, but it’s only because they have to help us. Behind our backs, they always try to screw us over. Most politicians aren’t veterans, and they don’t want to waste money on people they have used up.
But, I told the veterans not to worry for several reasons.
1. PTSD never goes away or gets better to the extent that it can change the way you function or the way you react in the workplace. If the VA agrees you are unemployable, and you are a Nam vet past prime working years, you will remain unemployable.
Voc Rehab isn’t likely to accept an unemployable Nam vet even if the VA says the vet is now employable. And if Voc Rehab turns you down, there is no other alternative except to make you unemployable again.
Even if Voc Rehab did say they would accept you for retraining, there is no guarantee you will employable after training. So you would stay unemployable while in training, and if you did make it through the training, you would be unemployable until you found a job, if ever.
Since the VA is trying to save money, Voc Rehab is not a very thrifty alternative for an unemployable Nam vet.
(I went through Voc Rehab years ago before I was even rated unemployable. I went to school full time and worked for the VA work study program after school hours for minimum wage. My goal was to work in publishing or become a publisher. I got my BA in English, but since the SBA considered publishing to be too risky, I couldn’t get a business loan and I couldn’t make enough freelance to support myself. After a stint as a DVOP for Ohio, I was rated unemployable when that job ended. Voc Rehab does not guarantee employment success.)
2. A sudden higher GAF rating does not mean a reduction is in order. The GAF (Global Activities Function is one way to say it) is often used to show how a veteran is feeling on a given day. Usually, 50 or above means pretty close to normal. Most vets with PTSD will be in the 30s and 40s. Below that is almost considered comatose in the ability to communicate or hold a job.
A GAF rating is an opinion of one health professional on one given day. Just because a PTSD veteran feels good one day, doesn’t mean he will feel good the next day.
The GAF cannot be used to take a percentage away from a PTSD rated veteran. And if they tried, you would win on appeal.
3. There is a ten year rule for PTSD and unemployability. If you have the same percentage for 20 years, it’s yours forever, so they say. Actually, after five years you are pretty secure with PTSD. After ten years at unemployable, the VA cannot lower your disability without reviewing the entire case history of the claim. And chances are, they would always lose in the appeal unless you have been working full time on a permanent basis.
So, if you have PTSD and have been rated unemployable, whether permanent or not, the chances of your percentage being cut is slim to none. They may call you in for a Comp exam if you are not permanent, but they are just going through the motions.
The PTSD percentage is based on your ability to support yourself in a manner equal to non-veterans in your age group. It is not based on how you feel on any given day. If you are unable to work long term and full time, your percentage cannot be cut without violating the CFR regulations.
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