foreign
[Music] my name is Elise Phillips and I'm joined today with my colleague Nick Briggs today we're
going to discuss what to do if your Pac deck claim was denied let's just do a very quick
recap of what the pact Act is we do have videos and other materials on our website
that go into more detail about The Pact act but just as a quick overview The Pact Act is
um an act that was signed into law on August 10 2022 it stands for the honoring our promise
to address comprehensive toxics act it expands VA disability benefits and Health
Care coverage for toxic exposed veterans including those who have been exposed to
herbicides burn pets and more and be a plan to begin processing those claims on January 1st 2023.
now Nick could you just tell us what to do or how to actually file a packed act claim
sure Elise thanks so veterans who qualify for benefits under the packed act can file a claim in
the same way in the same way that they would for basically any other claim so to initially apply
for disability benefits veterans typically file either a 526 EZ or a 526 full version
however if this is a condition for which a veterans previously filed for and been denied
their best bet is to file a supplemental claim using the supplemental claim form that VA provides
but once the veteran determines which form is the correct form to submit they can submit it
either via mail to the evidence intake Center or electronically through their VA eBenefits account
and when they're submitting that claim they shouldn't just submit the form they should
also submit any evidence they have that support the three elements of service connection so in
general terms this is going to be evidence of an in-service injury or illness a current diagnosis
by a medical professional and then a medical Nexus between the in-service event the injury or the
illness itself but for veterans who are applying under the packed act several of these elements are
going to be satisfied for them so in reality when they're filing their claims under the packed acts
they should know that their exposure might be presumed based off of their location of service
such as if they were in Thailand they would be exposed to herbicide herbicides and Agent Orange
um and then once that exposure concession is made they were also are entitled to presumptive
service connection for certain disabilities associated with that particular exposure such
as coronary artery disease associated with agent orange exposure so for those veterans
filing Pac deck claims they really only might need to provide evidence of a current diagnosis
but even in those circumstances va's duty to assist should trigger them to schedule the
veteran for a VA exam if nothing else and because of the Simplicity of filing these
new pack tax claims at least according to VA more than 213 000 claims have already been filed since
the law was signed into effect back in August and they expect those claims to continue to be
filed as they work their way through this year thanks Nick so let's talk about what happens if
your claim is actually denied what will happen is you're going to actually file an appeal the same
way that you would any other claim that was denied so that means a veteran is going to file an appeal
um if they're not satisfied of a rating or an effective date that they have been assigned
the effective date issue is something that we are seeing um with the pact act in particular
so importantly a veteran May appeal a decision so long as it's timely and what that means is
it has to be within a year of your initial claim when you file an appeal within a one-year window
it's important because that's going to be what really preserves your claim stream
um and that is going to be what basically keeps your original effective date in place
if you don't go outside of that window you're going to lose that initial effective date
and under the AMA veterans will have three options for appealing a decision from the ba the first is
going to be the higher level review Lane the second the supplemental claim Lane the third
the notice of disagreement or Board hearing and so basically all of these lanes are going to be
discussed in much further detail in some of our other videos as well and other uh we have a lot
of actually information about the AMA on our website that I encourage you to check out when
I could get into those into too much detail today because they can get very complicated
but I think we can kind of stay on this pack deck discussion and maybe Nick you could tell us what
happens if when you are appealing if you're already in the appeal stage what would you do
yeah so this is a pretty simple rule so keep it in mind repeat it to yourself over
and over if you already have a claim pending leave it pending do not withdraw that claim
and this is critically important because it's the only way that you can preserve your effective date
is by keeping that appeal running as it stands this is a new law that creates new presumptions
and when VA passes new laws and creates these new presumptions they're only going to go back
as far as the data of the underlying law itself in this case the effective date under a packed act
claim is only going to be August 10 2022 unless it involves special circumstances such as a DIC claim
in that case there might be some reconsideration of a previously denied claim but for purposes of
new and pending service connection claims August 10 2022 is going to be the date they Grant
however that doesn't necessarily mean that you're not entitled to an earlier effective date it just
means that you're going to need to still be able to prove direct service connection under the older
rules that existed prior to the pack that so typically what we see is the board of veterans
appeals reviewing a case that's on appeal granting service connection from the date of The Pact act
and then either granting remanding or denying the direct service connection appeal depending on what
evidence might be in a particular veterans case and it's that direct appeal that's going to get
you the earliest possible effective date which is why it's critical for you to continue your appeal
as opposed to withdrawing and review filing which is unfortunately sometimes something that veterans
are advised to do but in this case don't do that leave your claim pending thanks so much Nick
and it does get pretty complicated so I think that's what leads us to our final point which
is that seeking assistance of an accredited representative or attorney can be extremely
beneficial to your appeal Representatives can ensure you meet deadlines that can help
you gather evidence including medical records service records life statements Financial records
um and more and further Representatives can follow up with the ba to abstain to obtain status updates
um so that your K of your case so that you can ensure that you're being um really that your
claim is going to be processed in a timely manner specific specifically what can cck do to help at
cck we can assist individual veterans with their VA disability claims and appeals taking pride in
serving those who have served our country we have experienced arguing cases before the VA
Regional Offices the board of veterans appeals the court of appeals for veterans claims and the
court of appeals for the federal circuit check out our website read more testimonials from our
clients that we've helped and the summaries of the cases for which we've successfully advocated
uh and I think that will really give you some good information on how we can help you and
your claims especially those pact act claims for more information please head to our website and
check out more of our videos also be sure to like And subscribe thanks for joining us today [Music]