3/3 RVN Ass’n  Vol  1  Issue 4    09/01/2005                                                                                                Page 6

Da' Doc's Corner

(Offhand opinions/info re: the VA)

Question:  ... I am rated 60% with 10% for wounds and scarring, and 50% for PTSD.  I am working full time.  Is my rep doing me justice, and how can I get my rating higher so I can apply for SS disability too ...

Answer: It goes something like this... You are rated 10% for wounds and scarring.  That leaves you 90% "healthy". 

You are rated 50% for PTSD of that 90% of you that is healthy, or 45%.  The 45 is added to the 10 for a total of 55%, which gets rounded up to your 60%.  An allowance for a spouse or dependent children or parents may be added to this.

If you are 60% service connected disabled, and are unemployable due to your service connected disabilities

(unable to maintain meaningful  read as sustaining employment), you can apply for unemployability, and they may compensate you the 100% rate.  Once you are rated unemployable, you cannot have employment.  If you are employed, how can you expect to be rated unemployable?  However, this does not get you would receive the same benefits as being 100% service connected, permanent and total, unemployable, however, one does draw the same monthly compensation dollar wise.

As long as you are employed, it is doubtful these days that you will be awarded more than 50% for PTSD, since your disability is not severe enough to preclude you from maintaining meaningful employment (i.e. a substantial job… not merely a minimum wage situation.  Not dyed in the wool here, but this is the best I have been able to garner). 

However, if you have other disabilities that are rated, and thru the magic of VA mathematics gets you to the 100% total, then yes, you can still be employed and drawing 100%... but this is the rare exception, not the rule.

Social Security Disability is separate and distinct from the VA, and it's like apples and oranges. What the VA considers a compensable disability may be deemed differently by the SSA. 

If your Rep is doing a good job, I see no need to change.  He cannot force the VA to rate you higher, only be a liaison to insure that they have the facts and info and that they act upon them. 

Your Doctors cannot show deference to you as far as getting you 100%.  They must report facts as they interpret them... remember they are Doctors.  They give their report as honestly and fully as they can, re: the facts of your case, and the C & P examiner and VA board take it from there.  There are professional ethics they are guided by.

You can request a re-evaluation, but again, as long as you are working, 50% is probably the highest the VA will rate you for PTSD.  Interference with social and industrial skills must be severe for a higher percentage, and if you are able to function in a workplace, then you are moderate to moderate-severe at best. 

There is nothing that I know of in the works to automatically upgrade percentages, at least not for non-career personnel.  These are myths, and your rep can clarify that for you.  The VA is not being pushed to give away money, nor do they have it to do so.

Again, if your rep is doing a good job for you, no need to change.  Their organizational origin has nothing to do with their effectiveness.  There are good reps, and some not so good reps, in all the organizations...  Sounds to me like yours pretty much has a handle on things since you have 60% and you are working.   Remember, Disability Compensation is just that... it is not a guaranteed retirement just for going to Nam.  It must be judged according to service-connected disabilities and there are strict guidelines the boards must follow in assigning or not assigning ratings.

You can file for Tinitus (ringing in the ears), but whether they will find it compensable or not depends on hearing loss, etc.  Diabetes Type II, Prostate cancer, and many others are under the Agent Orange banner.

Hope this answers some of your questions, and doesn't muddy the waters. 

Doc