My Take On Claims

My Take On Claims

(This is what the VA calls a fully developed claim.)

  The Fully Developed Claims (FDC) program is an optional new initiative that offers Service members, Veterans, and survivors faster decisions from VA on compensation, pension, and survivor benefit claims.

  Veterans, Service members, and survivors simply submit all relevant records in their possession, and those records which are easily obtainable, such as private medical records, at the time they make their claim and certify that they have no further evidence to submit. VA can then review and process the claim more quickly.

(This is what I think about the Fully Developed Claim Process.)

  Over the years I’ve helped many veterans with claim advice, and not one has been turned down following my advice. This comes from working experience at the VA Veterans Outreach Program and from my own research and extreme sense of obtaining justice and benefits or disabled veterans. I’ve never helped people who I believe have phony claims, and there have been a few I’ve encountered.

  The Fully Developed Claims program sounds good, but in my experience, probably 90% of claims are turned down the first time through. This is an automatic process. The VA says it isn’t, but I believe it is. I doubt if they even read half of the first time claims and send them back for more evidence without seeing what has been submitted. No claim is ever fully developed the first time through, and if it is, the VA will tell you it isn’t, and you will need more evidence.

  That’s why I always say to never submit all your evidence upfront.
  No matter what you submit, the VA will always ask for more evidence. If you don't have any additional evidence to submit, this stalls your claim until you have more evidence, or until you give up and go away.

  (I always suggest holding back stressor letters and buddy statements until the VA requests them.)

  With the new wars, buddy and family statements will carry more weight because the PTSD criteria have been softened. This is good for Nam vets because buddy and family statements never meant much for Vietnam PTSD veterans. They were passed off as non-medical opinion unless they favored the VA.

  If you file for PTSD, and have a report from a civilian doctor saying you have PTSD, hold on to that report. File the claim, see the VA shrink, and then if they say they need additional evidence, or if they turn you down, then submit the civilian doctor report.

  Never give them everything upfront. It is hard to do at times because you want the claim resolved quickly, but it will help you if you keep some additional evidence back.

  If you submit paper evidence versus online, make copies and send it certified mail so somewhere there has to sign for it. If you don’t, chances are they will say they didn’t get it and you will have to submit it again.

  Also, don’t listen to any service officer who says you must have a fully developed claim to file. That’s a lie. You can file at any time, if you feel the disability was caused by the military.

  If you are already service-connected and you are told the VA will cut your current disability if you apply for another one and you should be happy with what you have...report that service officer to the National Office and demand another service officer. If they don’t want to do their job, someone can replace them.

  Always use a national service officer, once you find one you think you can trust. Never go it alone or through a VA Hospital Rep. The Rep is a VA employee and can only do so much for you because it would be like they are suing their own boss.

  They announced this morning that the backlog has stalled at 400,000 claims. I would take that figure as something that may look good on the news but is hardly realistic. A lot of those other claims have moved to an appeals board or have been denied in the fist step and will be back. If a claim is out of the system, it doesn’t mean it’s been settled, but could be pushed somewhere else. So backlog figures cannot be trusted.

  In summary, the fully developed claim is somewhat of a myth. The VA is adversarial, meaning, they will turn you down if they can. It’s not something they do on purpose. It’s just the nature of the claim process. You will still have to do everything right to make it through the system with the least hassle.