Let's take a look at the timeline back to the date my VA Claims were complete and read the current situation in the last paragraph.
2/26/2014 VA Claims complete
4/07/2014 Medical Exams (VA C&P Exam) Complete
5/08/2014 Four unfitting conditions by MEB along with an update to PULHES of 323213 , nobody could explain how/why my hearing profile went from a 3 to a 2... I have had a permanent 3 since 1997!!! Bi-lateral Hearing aids since 2012!!!
5/15/2014 Informal PEB Complete - do not know the outcome other than unfit (don't know which conditions)
Awaiting VA Rating - as of 7/03/2014 IDES shows an Army average of 109.06 days and I am at 49 days.
Still awaiting VA Rating - as of 12/03/2014 I am at 202 days in the VA Rating phase of IDES. 297 overall days in IDES.
1/30/2015 Congressmans office claims that there is a VA Doctor in Seattle that stated there is enough info for the rating and it will be completed without additional info from the C&P Doctor.
STILL AWAITING VA RATING - as of 2/4/2015 I am at 265 days in the VA Rating phase of IDES. 362 overall days in IDES.
Here is the situation as of 11 FEB 2014 - eBenefits shows the claim is all the way back to under review. The Doc in Seattle is asking for an addendum from the original C&P because some of the information is over a year old!!!! NO S---!!! Who sat on this for the last year!!! Now they want another C&P with updated testing to include another EMG on my arm which is one of the more painful things I've had to go through. They also want another PFT and possibly another MRI for my back.
The Congressmans office is baffled and so am I. The active duty WTU issues are bad, but the National Guard and Reserve situation is beyond acceptable. Now I am 367 days in IDES and 272 days in the VA Rating phase. Stick me in a WTU and just get this overwith!
WOW! I certainly can relate to your frustration level. It is absolutely maddening this is happening to your claim.
You had your C&Ps in APR 2014, and in May 2014, the MEB found you unfit for further military service and sent your claim to the VA for ratings.
You should have a PEBLO assigned to your case - or someone who has a record of the MEB paperwork. You should have signed those MEB documents and they should have given you a copy of them Those documents list all the issues (physical & mental) that the military (MEB part) has found you unfit for further military service.
It will also list any other physical/mental issues the military has determined you have, but those issues are still deemed "fit" for further military service.
You need to get a copy of this paperwork. It ought to list ALL issues - both fit and unfit - both physical and mental.
That paperwork is sent forward to the VA and each issue on this document is given a VA rating.
In my case, by the time the VA rater got around to rating my claim (must have been a big pile of claims ahead of me), all the medical evidence that my claim had in it was older than six months. But I suppose because the VA had received my claim in a timely manner, and all the evidence was "fresh" at the time they did receive my claim, they went ahead and rated all but 4 issues in my claim.
The 4 issues they didn't rate (those issues were "deferred") was for the reason they needed additional evidence or, that one issue needed "fresh" evidence (another repeat of a test I had already done two times prior to VA C&P test results that they were looking at!).
I was assigned to a CB-WTU, under the COC of a WTU. It still took almost a year to get my ratings back from Seattle, and about 13 months total time elapsed from the C&P exams for the 199 to come back from the military side (PEB) for me to review.
Because my process was so long and soooo drawn out prior to even getting to the C&P phase, I knew in advance (thanks to this web site!) that the VA prefers "fresh" evidence. So while I was in the process of getting coded for a medical IDES, I went and "refreshed" all the physical MRIs on all my issues every six-9 months.
And then, while I was waiting for the ratings to come back from the VA, I got new MRIs done on the big stuff because I sat and waited for over six months for the VA ratings to come back, too.
But you should have received and signed a copy from the MEB side, prior to your clam being forwarded to the VA, that lists all your fit and unfit issues that went forward to the VA for rating.
V/R,
nwlivewire
