Posts Tagged ‘ VA Claims ’

Is This What Our Vets Fought For? We’ve gone AWOL on them…

November 11th, 2010. By Hunter West

It’s Veteran’s Day today. A day when the country stops (hopefully), to give pause to those brave men and women who fought the great fight, so that we may be free. 

But there’s more to it than that. Our veterans served with honor, on behalf of their countrymen. Their country. 

What would they think of how [much of] America conducts itself today? 

Greedy banks granted mortgages, and loaned money to people who could ill afford to support the payments, all in the name of getting more business on the books than the next guy. That’s the simple answer for the sub-prime mortgage mess that resulted in the burst of the housing bubble and driving the US economy into a deep recession. 

Thousands have lost their homes, their jobs, and their livelihoods due to greed on the part of others. 

Is this what our veteran’s fought for? 

Some drug manufacturers sell pharmaceuticals while knowing they could be harmful—even Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: VA Benefits, VA Claims, Veterans, Veterans Day, Vets
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Do you have a Veteran PTSD Claim? You may now…

October 27th, 2010. By Kristine B

On July 13, 2010, Veterans Affairs put in a new rule regarding Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This change to the rule could mean that you are now eligible to file a VA PTSD claim where before your claim was denied. Ben Stewart, attorney at Stewart Law P.L.L.C. explains the changes in this week’s Pleading Ignorance. 

“The new rule is a relaxation of the evidentiary standard for establishing in-service stressors for claims involving PTSD,” Stewart says. 

Basically, the new rules make it easier for veterans to prove they have a disability (specifically, PTSD) that was caused by stressors related to their service. So, veterans who were previously denied PTSD claims may now be eligible to file claims. 

How does the new rule make the claim easier for veterans? Prior to the rule change, veterans had to prove that they experienced a stressor that was related to hostile military activity. Now, they only have to show that their PTSD is linked to a “fear of hostile military or terrorist activity and is consistent with the places, types and circumstances of the veteran’s service,” (from a VA news release; 07/12/10). 

According to the American Forces Press Service, approximately 400,000 veterans currently receive compensation benefits linked to PTSD. Of those, approximately 70,000 were veterans of operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. 

For right now, however, the claims are not being applied retroactively. This means that you won’t receive benefits from the time your first claim was filed and denied. Rather, you have to file a second claim and the benefits will be applied from the date of the second application. That said, Stewart says he anticipates an appeal will be filed to determine whether the VA should be responsible for retroactive benefits in the case of PTSD. 

Stewart also alleges that the VA has used personality disorders to attempt to avoid paying claims of PTSD. They can do so because personality disorder isn’t considered service-related. 

“Personality disorders have been used by the VA to show that service people were not injured Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Ben Stewart, VA Claims, Veterans, Veterans PTSD
Posted in Pleading Ignorance, Veterans | 10 Comments »