BOOBS 12 DIFFERENT WAYSPerhaps they should do some PR and label this a “tactical herbicide” rather than get all that unwanted media attention. Wait a minute. What media attention?
ME RATE HIM?He’s not dead yet.
The meek, mild-mannered
Clark Kent look
From the VARO with the fringe on top (Muskogee, Oklahoma) comes this sweetie. We have seen a few of these cross the table over the years and some bear fruit. This one did. The Vet was ably represented by the Oklahoma Dept. of Vet Affairs, a stand up group of VSO reps much like their neighbors south of them (Texas Veterans Commision). Seems those folks care about their Vets.
Johnny Vet here smartly used the law to his advantage and got a win. You and I know this would never occur at the RO in Muskogee. No one wants to get out onto the little limbs and risk saying this. Read his testimony at his hearing and it’s easy to see how he did it. Well done, hoss.
Lawyer Bob and his stalwart crew up in large mosquito land have sent me some interesting news. As often as I inveigh against using the DBQs (disability benefits questionnaires), I have now been told there is a silver lining to the beast. No, don’t get your hopes up. Undersecretary for Benefits Allison (in Wonderland) Hickey has not yet added a porthole for your nexus from your doctor. What has transpired recently is that with the switch to electronic records, you can speed up your adjudication exponentially in VA time. Here’s how…
Here’s the skinny. File your claim on line using the new portal on Ebenefits called VONAPP. Separately file the nexus letter from your doctor or health professional in the same manner. Make sure it is typed rather than hand-written in order that the .PDF word-searchable programs can recognize it. What then transpires is an electronic decision generated by the computer (VBMS). The nexus letter will be perused by a Rating Service Veterans Representative (RVSR) to ascertain it meets the three requirements of current disease, disease in service (or risk factor) and medical assertion of connection between the two. He/she then uploads confirmation into the VBMS that this has been accomplished.
From there the nexus box gets checked off and the claim enters the maw of the computer. The computer can pull out the salient facts on the DBQ and grant your claim much faster with no human interaction (i.e. no VA Examiner). Knowing the VA, this will still result in an inordinately high number of denials but this is a vast improvement over what we’ve been dealing with. Besides, computers don’t get tired and grumpy and spill coffee on their keyboards. They are impartial within the parameters preset by VA. This is a vast improvement over idiots arbitrarily denying you based on nothing more than a whim and the glowing approval of their bonus-awarding superiors.
Look above at the top in the black area for VA Forms or if you’re lazy like me click this. It will give you all the downloadable DBQs needed for your claims. You can also give this link to your provider (be specific for the DBQ http://) so he can type it up on the form electronically and then print a copy for both of you. This will help tremendously. Remember, if the doctor hand writes the DBQ, the whole thing slows back down to a crawl. VA’s VBMS cannot decipher handwriting-especially doctor’s handwriting. Hell, neither can I for that matter.
Image credit: CDC infographic
A lot of positive changes will be coming to millions of under-insured and uninsured Americans in 2014. One change is that the U. S. Preventive Services Task Force has upgraded (6/25/13) 1-time HCV testing for baby boomers from a “C” to a “B” preventative service. That means that insurance companies will have to cover the screening when ACA takes effect.
http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf12/hepc/hepcfinalrs.htm
The CDC has published the above simple infographic in preparation for the change: http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/hepatitisc/.
This resource also provides useful background about the implementation of ACA and HCV.
HCV could NOT have been detected prior to 1989, because the HCV protein hadn’t been identified. NOD has discussed Dr. Edwin Southern’s Western blot test for HIV versus the Northern Blot which detects HCV here. Almost 25 years later, HCV testing will become part of routine preventive care. That’s cause to be happy because this clever sturdy virus is going to be infecting humans for a long time.
HCV is the most common chronic bloodborne pathogen in the U. S.. Among veterans, HCV is endemic and we explore the reasons why this is so on this weblog.
Soon everyone will be able to find out their status through their private or public health care coverage if they chose too. Remember hearing about HCV for the first time? It’s an emotional time. Thousands of patients newly diagnosed with HCV will ask new questions and demand better and more truthful answers from their government.
From the Wilmington, Delaware VARO: Jules just emailed me last night to let us know he has met the beast and won. I have no qualms sharing the limelight with Hadit.com. I’m actually the FNG on the block. T-bird set up her site at Hadit at the turn of the century. We’re the newbies.
Jules, as I mentioned in my email, this is what we live for. Both the sites encourages all to never give up. The vision of the frog attempting to strangle the heron is synonymous with Win or Die. Too bad there aren’t more sites for Vets to visit that truly engage in “hands on” help rather than try to dissuade them or beat them to death with their lips.
Congratulations on a battle well fought.
For all of you Vets submitting claims for bent brains syndrome, you would be advised to investigate the condition of your heart. If you have IHD or other heart-related issues, chances are, according to your friendly VA, it’s more likely than less likely that it is related to the pretzel brain syndrome. Check out this interesting link. And this one too.
Brownwater Jim is at it again.
Two 90-year-old Vets from WW2, Phil and Joe, had been friends all of their lives.
When it was clear that Phil was dying, Joe visited him every day.
One day Joe said, “Phil, we both loved playing baseball all our lives, and we played all through high school and the service. Please do me one favor: when you get to heaven, somehow you must let me know if there’s baseball there.”
Phil looked up at Joe from his deathbed and said, “Joe, you’ve been my best friend for many years. If it’s at all possible, I’ll do this favor for you.”
Shortly after that, Phil died.
A few nights later, Joe was awakened from a sound sleep by a blinding flash of white light and a voice calling out to him, “Joe, Joe”.
“Who is it,” asked Joe, sitting up suddenly. “Who is it?”
“Joe — it’s me, Phil”
“You’re not Phil . Phil just died.”
“I’m telling you, it’s me, Phil,” insisted the voice.
“Phil Where are you?”
“In heaven,” replied Phil. “I have some really good news and a little bad news.”
“Tell me the good news first,” said Joe.
“The good news,” Phil said with joy and enthusiasm, “is that there is baseball in heaven. Better yet, all of our old buddies who died before me are here, too. Even better than that, we’re all young again. Better still, it’s always Springtime and it never rains or snows. And best of all, we can play ball all we want, and we never get tired.” And we get to play with all the Greats of the past.”
“That’s fantastic,” said Joe “It’s beyond my wildest dreams! So what’s the bad news?”
“You’re pitching Tuesday.”
Life is uncertain – Be Sure To Eat Your Dessert First!
I came across this 2013 Memorial Day article and video about “A Ride for Healing.” I’m taken aback. The Veterans of Foreign Wars did not offer membership to returning Vietnam veterans because the war was undeclared.
“You know what? We’ve got a wall in D.C. with 58,200-plus names on it,” Ulferts said. “You go tell them it wasn’t a real war, they died somewhere.”
I’m glad that the VFW is sorry but why now? This is a nice website but should this effort be filed under “better late than never” or “too little, too late?”
If you want to do something truly positive at this late date, get busy on helping veterans with HCV.
Editor’s note.
Rarely do I piggyback comments onto my fellow columnist’s posts but this is one time I feel it necessary. Few of you who were not there in Vietnam understand the loathing we felt from the American public. Hell, we probably loathed ourselves in private. There were times when I seriously questioned what I was doing there and whether God could ever forgive me. Eventually, being hard-headed and 20, I decided to piss on the fire and call in the dogs. I signed up for the second tour. If you’re going to Hell, you might as well go in style.
The empathy we Vietnam Vets feel for each other is something none can describe from any other war. Being despised makes the bond tighter than ever. Kiedove’s husband can probably confirm this. Being considered lower than whaleshit for decades requires some acclimatization. Suddenly being greeted by a Veterans Service Organization with the sobriquet ” Yo. Welcome home, brother” rings hollow-now and forever. They made their bed. Let them lie in it. My ultimate respect will always be for those who fought with me-not against me. As such, the VFW and I have nothing in common and never will. I actually have more respect for those who decided Canada was a viable alternative. At least they had the guts to stick with their convictions and not try to rid themselves of their leopards’ spots decades later. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.
Here’s a great article to include with any VA filing of cryoglobulinemia, secondary to HCV. It affects many when they go out in temperatures below 40 degrees F. The cryoglobulins precipitate into a semi-solid state and cause blockages in the very small veins of the hands, feet, nose and ears. When you return into a warm place, they liquefy again and the pain is indescribable.
Cryoglobulinemia is most often associated with Raynaud’s phenomenon described here. Hope this helps some of you to win your claims on this. Many have this and do not know it. VA is not inclined to do a test of the IgG immunoglobulins unless you pitch a bitch.
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