Continuing to Fight for Benefits After Being Awarded 100% Disability

I was recently told by a client that they wanted to drop their pursuit of claims that were on appeal at the VA because they were recently granted 100% disability status: I advised that the Veteran should not do that.  Veteran’s benefits, those earned through service to our country, should never be given up, nor should you give up on those claims.  The VA is a very large machine, which takes time to get benefits from, and the process can be very frustrating.  However, you should not give up on the benefits that you have earned until they are awarded.

When the VA grants some benefits based upon disability, they can be re-evaluated later in time and your “disability picture” can change.  One of those disabilities are PTSD.  If you are receiving treatment, medication, and you are “improving,” the VA can re-evaluate you and change your disability rating percentage to something lower.  If you were 70% disabled for PTSD and you get re-evaluated after treatment, you “disability picture” may more accurately reflect the 50% rating, decreasing your overall disability rating percentage.

In this scenario, if you were 100% disabled before re-evaluation, you would most likely be reduced based upon the combined rating table to something lower than 100%.  If you had other disabilities that were also rated, they could keep you at that 100% disability rating.  Knowing that this situation may exist can better help prepare you for the possibility that your disability rating percentage may change in the future.  It is always better to have this “insurance” instead of having to fight later for those benefits.  After all, if you lose your benefit, or just part of it, you will not get that back pay: it is best to keep your claims prepared for the possibility of having another disability rating percentage reduced, if that ever happens in the future.

If you have any questions or concerns about this, please do not hesitate to call us and talk to one of our knowledgeable staff members that can assist you with understanding what your rights are.

Veterans Serving Veterans

If you do not choose Berry Law in your fight for your earned benefits, chose someone if you need assistance.  Don’t let your benefits go to waste: you earned those benefits.  If you do choose Berry Law, you can rest assured that you need to fight no longer: we’ll do all the heavy lifting and fight for you.

Choosing to hire a law firm is not a choice that you should take lightly: legal matters can be complicated, and you should never decide to hire a law firm based solely on an advertisement.  Give us a call and speak to one of our Intake Specialists and see if there is something that we can do to help you.  If you’re tired of fighting the VA, give Berry Law a phone call and let us fight for you!