VA Claims: Time is Money (6-12mos Out)

12+ Months Out

Welcome back! The rest of our discussion regarding VA claims is going to be done chronologically. I’ve touched on timelines a few times now, and so I’ll do a quick recap. At least 12 months out, if not sooner, you need to make a list of all ailments that are still ongoing, and begin getting your PCM to assess, reassess, document, update your records. If you’re like me, this may result in considerable referrals to specialists, lots of scanning, physical therapy, or even surgery; so, starting well in advance can help ensure you have plenty of time to get everything addressed and recorded.

9 Months Out

At about 9 months out, find and contact your VSO. They may tell you to call back closer to your 6-month mark to get on their calendar. But if they’re good at what they do, they’re probably booked up months out, and calling that far ahead may be required to get on their calendar prior that 6-month mark. If at all possible, you don’t want to wait until the 6-month mark to be sitting down with your VSO for the very first time.

6-9 Months Out

Educate

Once you’ve gotten onto your VSO’s calendar, there’s nothing wrong with educating yourself prior to meeting with them. Educating yourself on what can be claimed, and if so, how the VA classifies it and what they look for. Again, your VSO should know this themselves, but there’s nothing wrong with educating yourself. You may be surprised on what you find. Case in point, dental and vision claims are scrutinized much more because they only accept very specific claims, and thus much less often awarded. More so, you might find that your ailment is assessed by the VA in a much different way than you would expect. I’ll cover this a little more in-depth again later. Lastly, at the date that this article was written, the VA had begun recognizing ailments that can result from exposure to burn pits. While I haven’t researched what ailments those are, it may be worth your time and effort to educate yourself on that.

Educate yourself on what can be claimed, and if so, how the VA classifies it and what they look for. 

First VSO Meeting

During this 6–9-month window will also very likely be when you meet your VSO for the first time. While they cannot file your claims until you within the 6-month window, they often like to meet to go over the process, manage expectations, answer questions, and most of all, ensure you know what documents you’re going to need. I briefly mentioned this last week, and your VSO should explain all of this ahead of time, but there are quite a few documents that you may have to include with your claims. 

These documents could include, but are not limited to: Medical records (to include behavioral health, which as I mentioned before, must be requested separately), dental records if you’re making a dental claim, marriage license, divorce decrees (to include that of your spouse if they’re also previously divorced), birth certificates for any birth children or stepchildren, social security cards for all dependents (including stepchildren), you bank information (where you want the money to go should be awarded enough disability that it involves monetary compensation), and your DD 2807-1 and DD 2808. These last two forms are the forms that are filled out at the time of your separation/retirement physical with your PCM.

Separation/Retirement Physical

That leads me to your separation/retirement physicals. When this occurs for you depends on how much terminal leave you’ll be taking, and if there’s any PTDY involved with that. At the time I wrote this article, and at the time of my retirement, the policy was that you could not complete your physical any sooner than 4 months prior to your PTDY/Leave. To schedule your physical, you’ll likely have to show an approved leave form that reflects all of your terminal leave and PTDY, so make sure that getting your terminal leave/PTDY is on your to-do list! So, if you were like me, and tried to max out your terminal leave in conjunction with PTDY, you can get your physical completed well before your 6-month mark. I retired on August 31st, and having almost maxed out my leave, began terminal leave May. 4 months prior to that put my eligibility window for my physical in January. This was 1 month prior to my 3–6-month window for filing, so getting those documents in time was not an issue.

To schedule your separation physical, you’ll likely have to show an approved leave form that reflects all of your terminal leave and PTDY, so make sure that getting your terminal leave/PTDY is on your to-do list!

Now, maybe you don’t have the leave saved up, and will be working right up until the bitter end. Hopefully, you’ve still applied and been approved for PTDY. If you haven’t, you need to, and hopefully you’re not in a toxic environment that’s making it impossible to get approval. All that to say, if you aren’t taking any leave or PTDY, then this significantly decreased your window to apply under the Benefits Delivery at Discharge (BDD) program. I’ll go more in-depth into BDD next week, but it’s important to note that the BDD window is 3-6 months (more specifically 90-180 days) before separation. However, you can still do it; you just need to make sure that you’ve got all your ducks in a row to ensure you’re able to get your physical scheduled and claims filed within about a 30-day window. 

So this step may not fall in your 6–9-month window. It will vary based on the amount of your terminal leave. However, I wanted to talk about it now rather than the 3–6-month timeline, so that it’s on the forefront of your mind for planning purposes. Again, if you have a good VSO, they will be able to assist you with planning all of this out!

Now, about the physical itself. First off, if you’ve been following my advisements thus far, your physical should be a breeze, because your PCM is already well aware of all your ailments from the past several months of visits to update your records. However, the DD 2807-1 and DD 2808 are two forms that need to be completed during the physical, as they’re required for your VA claim submissions. Here’s what I’ll say about the paperwork aspect: Do not neglect these forms! As I’ll reiterate when it comes to filling out the VA related forms, you want to make this as easy as possible for the physician. 

How do you accomplish this? By filling out as much as you can as descriptively as you can. While your PCM is not the “enemy” by any stretch, hopefully they’ve done a decent job in ensuring that your ailments have been assessed and documented properly, and so you owe them this much. Granted, you can’t fill out everything on the form, as there are parts for the physician only, but these forms are quite comprehensive, and there is plenty you can fill out ahead of time so that the physician doesn’t have to. Do your PCM a favor and fill out as much as you possibly can; and oh yeah, if you’re like me, and your handwriting is horrendous: Type it onto the form. You don’t need to have Adobe Pro to do this; you can type onto a PDF using the “Comment” tool.

Do not neglect the 2807-1 and DD 2808! Make this as easy as possible for the physician by filling out as much as you can as descriptively as you can.

For the actual aspects of the physical, it’s pretty standard. Your PCM will assess you from head to toe, much like the VA physician is going to do later in the process, and they’re going to document their findings. Again, if you’ve been doing your due diligence to ensure everything’s recorded/updated in your records, this should be relatively quick and easy. Oh, and if you’re a male close to or over 40, be prepared for a fun new adventure that you may have never experienced before…

That's it for this week! Hopefully you found some useful information, and if you enjoyed it, please like, share, and comment. Be well until next week, and just remember, you're not in this alone!