Planning on filing for compensation from the Veterans Administration (VA) for disabilities? Not sure what you need or how to proceed to succeed? Heard horror stories about denial after denial? Veterans who need to file for compensation for disabilities with the VA are faced with a daunting task. The tangle of bureaucracy, forms, and legal jargon makes the process difficult, confusing, convoluted and stressful. The complexity of the process can result in Veterans being denied due to technicalities for claims for which they should otherwise be approved. Perhaps the biggest obstacle to a successful claim application is a lack of understanding of the process that the VA uses to evaluate and decide such claims. Disabled Veterans have already given enough of themselves, they shouldn’t have to suffer through the claim process as well.
This well researched and up to date book can prevent or solve many of these problems. This book provides a straight forward and to the point guide on: how the claim process works, how to file your claim the correct way, how to decide the best way for you to file, which forms you need to use for which type of application, what information to provide to the VA to avoid pitfalls, why the VA needs certain information, common misconceptions about the claim process, and tips to maximize your chances of a positive rating. This book also provides an explanation of how “VA math” calculations work for compensation, which is one of the more widely misunderstood aspects of the claim process. This book simplifies many confusing topics, explains much of the cryptic legal jargon often found in incomprehensible letters from the VA, provides instructions for things like troubleshooting when things go wrong, or filing appeals if your claim is denied, and suggests how you can most effectively file your claim to potentially speed up the process.
This updated and expanded revision of The Concise Guide To VA Compensation (revised in August/September of 2019) now contains information about the new Appeals Modernization Act, which just went into effect in February of 2019 and seems to have everyone scratching their heads. A glossary of VA terms and acronyms is included for convenience, as well as an appendix with many valuable references for disabled Veterans. No lawyer speak here, this book is intended to be easy to read and understand to help any Veteran, and those who seek to assist Veterans, navigate the claim process successfully. This is an invaluable resource for any Veteran or military service member who needs to file a claim, or for anyone who is assisting a Veteran or service member do so.
The purpose of this book is to provide you with a simple explanation of, and a “how to” guide for, the Veteran’s Benefit Administration (VBA) process for handling disability claims, so that you can file your claim (or a family member’s) armed with the knowledge you need for a successful process. This book is not about giving you a long history of VBA benefits, its laws and regulations, or other important but irrelevant to you factoids.
This book combines firsthand knowledge and experience of those actually processing claims, along with the wide variety of information available to the public directly from VBA, and my personal experience of assisting Veterans with their claims. I have compiled this book based on what I determined to be information that no Veteran should be without. This information is not speculative in nature. It is largely based on facts, real world experience, and information directly from people at the VBA (sometimes information that they might not otherwise publicize). See about the author for more details, or buy now on Amazon.
Table Of Contents
Chapter 1. What Is Service Connection And How To Become Service Connected – In A Perfect World
Chapter 2. We Don’t Live In A Perfect World – Helping Yourself Through The Claim Process
Chapter 3. VBA Math And Effective Dates; Why 1 + 1 Does Not Equal 2
Chapter 4. Other Than Honorable Discharge – You Can Still File A Claim
Chapter 5. Denied? The New Form To File
Chapter 6. Helping VBA Speed Up The Claim Process
Chapter 7. Service Connected, Now What?
Chapter 8. Incompetency – What Everyone Needs To Know
Chapter 9. Individual Unemployability
Chapter 10. VSOs: The Pros And Cons Of Getting Help With Your Claim
Chapter 11. A Final Word About VBA Compensation And The New VBA Website
Glossary And Important Forms
Appendix: Additional Resources