foreign
hi and welcome to another edition of cck live my name is Matthew Fusco and I'm an accredited
claims agent here at Chisholm Chisholm and Kilpatrick I'm joined today by my colleagues
Bethany cook also an accredited claims agent and Kevin Medeiros who is an attorney here at cck
in this video we are going to be discussing when VA can reduce 100 ratings for veterans to provide
a bit of background first we're going to talk about what 100 ratings are so with some exceptions
such as special monthly compensation and Aid in attendance a 100 rating or total disability rating
is highest rating available to Veterans it is reserved for veterans with extremely debilitating
service-connected conditions that prevent them from working or completing their daily tasks
some types of 100 ratings include things like 100 scheduler ratings total disability based on
individual unemployability or tdiu permanent and total ratings and temporary total ratings which
would apply to illnesses such as active cancer so how can you tell if your rating is permanent
um when VA deems a disability permanent it is reasonably certain based on medical evidence
that the level of impairment will continue for the rest of the veterans life to determine if
your rating is permanent you can look at the decision letter VA sent you in granting benefits
and on some reading decisions there is actually a permanent and total box that will be checked off
and on others you can keep an eye out for language like eligibility
to dependents chapter 35 DEA slash champ VA benefits are established or something like
no future examinations are scheduled both of which can indicate permanence the exact
language of those things may vary depending on which VA Regional Office you are closest to
um but that's some things to look for in your actual VA notification letter
um tell if your rating has been deemed permanent or not so Bethany could you maybe
give us a little bit of information about when VA might be able to reduce disability ratings
sure so essentially if VA decides that there has been significant Improvement in the veterans
100 disabling condition whether that's a single disability rated at 100 or one of
the disabilities that is bringing the veterans combined rating to 100 it can propose a rating
reduction for the disability uh VA determines has improved so a proposed reading reduction has to
be based on a review of the Veteran's entire medical history and in order to propose the
reduction VA has to have material evidence showing substantial Improvement in the veterans daily life
so the reading reduction uh is uh regulated by 38 CFR 3.105 e and that regulation states that
a reading reduction might only take place in cases where AV has reviewed the veterans
entire medical history be the veteran has undergone a thorough examination that is
adequate for reading for person purposes and finally VA has found sustained Improvement
in the veterans ability to function under the ordinary conditions of life including employment
um so that sustained Improvement language is in the regulation
um so in order to propose a reduction VA has to find that sustained Improvement has taken place
um so VA defines sustained Improvement as having been demonstrated when a preponderance of evidence
portrays a lessening of service-connected symptoms and that that sustained Improvement has to have
persisted consistently over time across situations and under the ordinary conditions of life
so in other words Improvement has to it can't be circumstantial in nature or
trivial attributable uh to mitigating factors um for example a disability is predisposition
to Temporary or episodic Improvement uh temporary alleviation by prolonged rest or less thorough or
complete modes of examination so VA can't get a single examination that indicates temporary
Improvement the VA has to be able to show that the Improvement is sustained and is going to persist
and has persisted sorry over time great thanks Bethany um so I mentioned this very briefly at
the beginning of the video um but Kevin could you maybe give us a little bit of information about
whether or not total disability ratings based on individual unemployability can be reduced
absolutely so once a veteran is granted what we call tdiu for shorthand
um it's difficult for the VA to reduce that that rating so the VA will have to show clear and
convincing evidence of actual um employability and as part of that you know the veteran needs to have
been employed for at least 12 consecutive months earning over the federal poverty line so just
by virtue of the veteran having been granted tdiu it's unlikely that they would be able to you know
and work full-time for 12 consecutive months so it is tough for VA to reduce it but it's
not it's not impossible and then going off of that as you mentioned earlier Matt
um VA might sometimes write a veteran permanent in total to recognize that their service-connected
disabilities you know permanently and totally disable them and in order to reduce
that or take away that descriptor
veterans are you are usually not required to undergo any further medical examinations one
once VA puts that that that you know characterization on their condition
so it's very unusual for VA to reduce that rating but you know it's not impossible VA
might be become aware of some you know substantial improvements and
in the condition or conditions and and seek to reduce it but like I said it is unlikely
great thanks Kevin so we've talked a lot about kind of whether or not um disability ratings
can be reduced but you might be wondering what actually happens when VA proposes to reduce your
rating so when reducing ratings VA is required to issue notice of the proposed reduction and give
the veterans 60 days to submit evidence for 30 days to request a hearing however it is important
to note that if the reduction would not change the actual amount of compensation that the veteran is
receiving VA does not have to issue notice of their reduction if a veteran chooses to request
a hearing VA cannot issue a new rating decision until the hearing has been held this allows the
veteran additional time to submit new evidence however requesting a hearing is not necessary to
challenge a VA proposed rating reduction veterans can also simply submit new evidence within 60 days
if after that process VA still sends a final decision that reduces the veterans disability
rating the veteran does still have some options you can appeal va's rating reduction by requesting
a higher level review by submitting a supplemental claim or by filing a notice of disagreement
so we've touched on a lot of really important information in this segment so I would just
like to thank everyone for tuning in and just note that more information on this topic and others can
be found on our website or through other videos on our Channel um but as always be sure to like
And subscribe to our Channel and follow us on social media as well and thanks for tuning in