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I'm joined today by Alex Gamache and Brandon paiva today we're going to be reviewing eight
tips for winning your ba claims the VA claims process can be complicated and there are a lot
of requirements that VA requires veterans to meet throughout the process from providing evidence and
submitting the correct forms to attending CMP exams and securing medical and service records
there are a variety of things that veterans have to pay attention to in order to be successful in
winning a granted benefits for their case to make the process easier we have compiled a list of our
top tips to hopefully help you win your VA claim so our first tip that we're going to talk about is
understanding the VA process which is really kind of step one when you start your process so Alex
can you talk about how the process works why it's important and maybe some terms for veterans to
familiarize themselves with throughout the process yes so it's important that veterans understand how
the VA claims process works as a whole they need to familiarize with themselves on how to submit
claims for benefits what types of decisions they can expect and what their options are if they need
to appeal some key terms topics and rules that we think are important are kind of the top ones to
pay attention to would be effective dates Legacy versus AMA appeal options and deadlines va's duty
to assist but there's a bunch more that VA that veteran should understand when going through the
claims process veterans who understand how the claims process works are more likely to submit
all the necessary documentation and supplemental evidence to win the benefits the first time around
yeah that's a really important starting point there's a lot of things that VA requires at
different points through the process they look at different things they're trying to find different
evidence so I'm just kind of understanding where you are in the process will just help you through
the process a little bit more smoothly our next tip that we're going to talk about is making sure
you're keeping VA updated with things that are changing in your life so Brandon can you talk
about some of the different things that are important to keep VA updated on and why those
things are important absolutely so it's important to keep VA up to date about things that might be
changing in your life you know such as even moving your address VA will send you correspondence
related to your VA claim to the address that they have on file so if the address is incorrect or it
is an updated due to a recent move did you run the risk of your claim being delayed or even
potentially closed due to missed deadlines also mail from VA contains your personal information
so an example this is your social security number or your C file number if applicable as well it
would obviously be problematic if this information was sent to the wrong person or kind of fell into
the wrong hands you should always update VA with any change in dependency as well such as even a
recent marriage a divorce or the birth of a baby failure to update VA about a divorce for example
could result in an overpayment of dependency benefits which you will likely have to pay back
if you have recently gotten married updating this information with VA can result in more
monthly compensation for you as well and keeping your information up to date with
VA can help prevent unnecessary delays denials and compensation troubles as well
great thanks Brandon our next tip is making sure that you're using the correct forms VA has a lot
of different forms that they're going to require at different parts of the process to have them
take specific action on your claims so using the correct form can help to avoid confusion
on va's part and potentially minimize delays in your case there are a few different examples of
forms that I'll go over I think one of the most common confusion points for forms is when you're
filing your VA claims to begin with there are two different forms that VA requires depending
on what you're filing and when you're filing it the first one is the VA form 21-526ez you
use this form if you are filing your initial first service connection claim for an issue or if you're
seeking an increased rating for a condition that's already service connected and you're not within a
year of a decision that's already addressed that issue however if you're filing a claim for service
connection and you have already filed a claim for service connection for that issue and it's been
denied in the past you'll need to file what's called a supplemental claim form instead which
is VA form 20-0995 and submit new and relevant evidence and we have more blog posts and videos
that talk more about the different forms and what evidence goes into those but it's just a common
point of confusion that we do see and VA will kick it back if it's not the correct form the first
time so just to avoid some delays and potential wrong effective dates that could be granted
another important form to keep in mind is the VA form 21-8940 this is a form that VA will typically
require if you're seeking tdiu benefits in general they won't adjudicate tdiu unless this form is
submitted so just make sure that you're aware of that form and that you do submit it if it's needed
and another form is the VA form 21-4138 which is the statement in support of claim this is
essentially a form that you or a family member or a fellow service member can provide lay testimony
to help with your case it's not a required form for VA you can just type up or write out
a statement and submit that to VA but submitting it on the form can sometimes help VA organize it
and label it appropriately in their system to make sure that it's reviewed in the way that it
should be our next tip is going to be attending all of your CMP exams this is something that we
talk about in the majority of our videos it's a really important thing that veterans need to know
um so Alex can you talk a little bit about first what a CNP exam is and then why it's important
to attend them so a CMP exam is a medical exam ordered by VA to assess the etiology
and or severity of the veterans disabilities when they're pursuing a disability compensation claim
VA weighs the results of CMP exams quite heavily so that's why we always reinforce that clients
go to them and why we talk about them so much um some consequences of not going to exams are for
both service connection and increase ratings if you don't attend your initial exam for service
connection there's a good chance that your claim will be denied and same thing if you fail to
attend your CMP exam for an increase rating there's a good chance it might be denied and
VA may also have to rely on outdated medical evidence of record which may not adequately
show the progression of that condition or the current symptoms that the veteran is experiencing
veterans who are unable to attend their upcoming VA exams should reach out to VA
as soon as possible to reschedule importantly if you also disagree with your CMP exam results you
may submit private treatment notes and medical records to prove a more favorable evidence and
attempt to challenge the exam and I think this topic transitions really nicely into
our next tip which is making sure that you're being honest with your healthcare provider and
this will go for CMT examiners as well so Brandon can you talk about why that's such an important
thing that veterans need to know yes so this is really important especially when attending any
visits with your treating physician whether it's a private doctor or your VA Medical Center doctor
it's essential that you're honest and that you're actually reporting your symptoms and
limitations to your health care provider we would always advise to not exaggerate or downplay your
symptoms if something is bothering you we would always Advocate to make sure that your health care
provider is aware and that you're reporting those symptoms to your provider providing an accurate
picture of your symptoms can help to ensure that your condition or your conditions are accurately
documented in your medical records which almost always VA will likely consider when deciding your
claim medical evidence is usually the Crux of most of the claims when it comes to disability
compensation when having these discussions with your healthcare provider it is really important
to tell them about the symptoms you're currently experiencing and provide them with details about
those various symptoms even if your health care providers don't ask directly about those symptoms
it's still helpful to offer that information and discuss whether the condition or the conditions
that you're suffering from are worsening improving or if they're remaining the same
we would always advise that veterans indicate how the condition impacts their functioning on
a daily basis you know whether that's mental or physical limitations whether it's impacting your
ability to move around or ambulate in your home or even if it's a psychiatric condition
and it's impacting your ability to you know get motivated to do anything we would always
advise to you know be as open and as honest as possible with your health care providers
great thanks Brandon that's a really important point you really want to make sure that VA has
the most accurate representation of your symptoms as you could possibly provide them
our next tip is making sure that you obtain a copy of your VA claims file so your VA cleans file
which is often called the C file is a collection of your records that are kept by VA in connection
with your disability claims when a veteran first files a claim for benefits VA will request the
veteran service records and any other medical records that they think are relevant to their
claim they'll usually ask for this information when you sort of start the claims process
this is the beginning of the claims file and as your clean progresses if you file
more claims if you file appeals as you submit additional evidence your claims
file is going to continue to grow to contain everything that VA has on record for your case
it's recommended that veterans seeking disability benefits obtain their C file
to ensure that it contains all the necessary information to prove their claim VA does have
a duty to assist veterans in gathering evidence for their claim when they're making a decision
if they notice that something is missing but it's ultimately still the responsibility of the veteran
to make sure that that evidence is actually received by VA and uploaded into the file
so it's really important that veterans have an understanding of what's already there and what
could potentially be missing that VA is going to use as a reason to deny their claim and I
think that again transitions really nicely into our next tip which is making sure that
you're submitting relevant evidence so Alex can you talk about why that's important and then
maybe give some examples of relevant evidence for different sorts of claims yes so like you talked
about earlier there are specific claim forms that you need for specific type of claims but there's
also specific types of evidence that you need for certain claim types so all of VA disability
claims require some sort of medical evidence service records VA exams so on and so on however
we're going to talk about a couple of different types that require more specific documentation
um so one of the first ones that we see a lot are PTSD claims veterans seeking disability for
PTSD are required to indicate their stressor in service these can be corroborated by lay
statements from fellow service members who also witnessed the same event um or any other evidence
that corroborates that event happening in service both of those can be particularly
effective in establishing service connection and indicating that that stressor had occurred
the next one which Kayla did talk about a little bit earlier is tdiu in the 8940 form tdiu is a VA
benefit reserve for veterans who disabilities do not combine to a scheduler 100 percent but their
conditions impact their ability to work um VA requires that veterans submit a VA form 21-8940
which asks for information regarding employment history and educational background this form of
evidence is specific only for tdiu claims and one of the last ones that we see often are DIC claims
so these are these are for survivors applying for DIC benefits they have to submit specific evidence
such as their marriage certificate to prove they were married to the veteran and the veterans death
certificate to prove that a service-connected disability contributed to the veterans death
um it's important to note that submitting too much evidence that is not relevant to your claim
um kind of means that VA is spending more time shifting through that evidence rather
than focusing on what's the most important evidence in the file so it's always good to
make sure that you're only submitting what's important to your actual claim
thanks Alex it is really important it can definitely cause delays that VA has to spend a
lot of time sorting through all of that additional paperwork and they're going to require different
things depending on if you're seeking service connection and increased rating tdiu depends
what the issue is so they're always looking for different things at different times so having the
relevant evidence is really important and our last tip for today is to not give up on your claims and
don't be afraid to ask for help so Brandon can you talk a little bit more about this and maybe
give some options that veterans might have if they're feeling a little bit lost in the process
certainly last but definitely not least don't give up and ask for help if you feel as though
you need assistance at any point in the process whether it's with initially filing the claim or
filing an appeal do not hesitate to reach out for help there are vsos credited representatives and
accredited attorneys out there who can assist you throughout this you know very difficult and kind
of murky process don't give up on your VA claim if you've been denied or if the process seems
endless in one way or another you have earned these benefits and help is available for you
thanks Brandon that's definitely last but not least um it is really important that you don't
give up if you give up and then you decide you want to try again it can cause less retroactive
payment for you um so it's just important to know that you do have someone in your corner
to help you navigate through this incredibly difficult process and we know that VA loves to
throw hurdles in the middle when you're trying to get through things so don't be afraid to
ask for help there's always someone in your corner who can guide you through the process
but I think that's a really good place for us to wrap up today for more information on the topics
that are discussed in this video you can head over to our blog also be sure to check out our
other videos and subscribe to our channel so you don't miss any new content thank you for watching
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