so
hi everyone thanks for tuning in to another edition of cck live my name is michael estrido
um and today i am joined by nicholas briggs and alexandra gamache in this video we're going to
explain how to read your va award letter so alex uh starting with you can you tell us a little bit
about what exactly a va award letter is yeah so a va award letter is issued by the department
of veterans affairs when a decision has been issued regarding a veteran's claims for benefits
specifically the letter will indicate a veteran's disability rating or ratings along with the
corresponding amount of monthly compensation throughout this facebook live we'll talk about
different sections contained in the war in the award letter it's important to note that some
decisions may look different in the order in which these sections are listed may vary between the
decisions however what's explained below is the general content of what's contained in each award
letter yeah and that's really important to to note alex because i know in my experience i have seen
different versions of an award letter things organized differently updates to how things
are templated so nick turning to you can you tell us though generally what does an award
letter look like in your experience and you know what do those sections include sure so
first and foremost they're going to tell you that they made a decision um that'll be the first line
of the letter um typically the next section will be a what we decided and it will include a brief
summary of the claimed conditions as well as what va did with those conditions be it granting
a service connection and assigning an effective date granting an increased rating or denying the
issues altogether so for example if you were granted an increased rating for your ptsd
this section might read something along the lines of evaluation of post-traumatic stress disorder
currently evaluated at 30 disabling is increased to 50 effective from january 29 2012
and again the key pieces of information here are always going to be what the rating was what
the rating is now and then what the effective dates going to be moving on following from that
written description which again will be fairly brief they may also include a table showing you
your combined ratings and their corresponding effective dates but that doesn't always happen
realistically all you're going to see is a second table regarding your payment level
meaning how much you get paid per month and the effective dates of those effective pay increases
the important information to note here is largely going to be one year amount of monthly
compensation and that will generally speaking reflects what your combined ratings are from those
dates as well as the effective date that you were assigned that new monthly amount of compensation
and then there will also be some changes some occurring year by year those often are done to
reflect the cost of living adjustment that happens as well as any dependents or other people coming
on and off your award finally the award letter will talk about your dependents themselves
they'll let you know if your spouse is on your award as well as the number of children that
are currently active because that also affects the amount of money that you'll receive each month
thanks nick and really next then in the award letter what veterans will see is an
explanation of options to appeal so this is essentially what do you do if you disagree
with va's decision um and so if you're dissatisfied with the outcome
uh that's listed on your va award letter you have rights to file an appeal if veterans
receive the rating decision and va award letter after on or after i should say february 19th
2019 their appeals will be processed in the new appeals modernization act system which is the ama
so under the ama there are three appeal options to appeal an initial rating decision and those
will be outlined for you in your award letter the first option is to select the higher level review
lane the second option is to file a supplemental claim lane appeal and the third option is to
file a notice of disagreement which is an appeal filed directly at the board of veterans appeals
your award letter will list your appeal options and the corresponding forms that should be used
for each option and so one thing that's very different under ama is that there are different
forms that must be used to file an appeal for each one of those different review options those
appeal options that i just outlined so it's critical that if a veteran receives a decision
and they're looking to appeal they disagree with the outcome that they take a look and see what
specific form is listed on the reward letter to know how to properly file their appeal and
for help filing an appeal you may want to consider seeking an accredited attorney or representative
an accredited rep who understands the complex nature of va's appeal process can help secure
benefits and can navigate through particularly the complexities of the new ama system uh alex turning
back over to you is there anything else included in a veteran's letter that we should know about
yes so aside from what we've already mentioned you'll also find a section for additional
benefits that kind of outlines other benefits va offers some of these additional benefits include
education training student loans medical care and treatment home at home adaptation and
different loans for that automobile benefits life insurance payment for travel and state specific
benefits aside from all of the information listed on what we call the cover letter
you'll also get enclosed rating decision narrative which kind of details why va is granting denying
or deferring the different issues and it sort of gives an in-depth explanation as to va's decision
and you'll also get included a code sheet which is essentially
a sheet that displays the veterans conditions as well as their diagnostic
codes and their ratings plus any additional benefits such as tdiu or smc
and nick how would a veteran get their hands on a copy of the reward letter how typically would they
receive this so by and large veterans are going to receive their decisions via mail va is obligated
to provide you with a copy and they'll mail it out as soon as it's finalized however if for some
reason it doesn't come via mail for one reason or another there are still additional ways that
you can get a copy for one you can log into your ebenefits account and print and digitally save a
copy of the letter if you are represented by a national service organization or by an attorney
you can reach out to their office and ask for a copy and then finally if for some reason va's copy
didn't make it to you you can reach out to your local regional office either be a telephone or in
writing and request a copy that way as well so one way or another it's pretty easy to get a copy you
just need to take the initiative and request one if you didn't receive the one they mailed to you
great yeah thank you nick thank you alex i i think that about does it actually for this
edition of cck live thank you all for joining us more informat more information on va award letters
appeals accredited representation can all be found on our website cck-law.com we have a number of
videos blog posts um on all of this information and other information that can be very helpful
and useful in prosecuting your case um also be sure to check us out on social media and on our
youtube channel and until next time thank you for joining us and we look forward to seeing you
you