New data from the Department of Defense reveals that the prevalence of military sexual trauma, or MST, has reached new heights. Military sexual trauma is the term the VA uses to describe the effects of sexual violence, abuse or harassment experienced by a military service member during active duty. If you are suffering from the …
Category: Veterans Disability Benefits
Understanding Your PTSD Rating (Update 2023)
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is often rated at a level that fails to reflect your actual disabilities and extent or stage of impairment. These and other issues make it very hard for you to get a handle on your PTSD rating. A prevalent disability among U.S. service members, PTSD claims are hard fought battles for …
Top 5 Questions about a TDIU Claim
As veterans’ benefits lawyers, we represent TDIU claims on behalf of disabled veterans who cannot work. Many military men and women go overseas with hopes and plans for their futures and careers. Yet too many come home vastly changed. Due to injuries, exposures and diseases sustained during active service, countless veterans return home with no …
Camp Lejeune Presumptive Conditions – VA Water Contamination Claims
With recent changes to the law, here is what you need to know about Camp Lejeune presumptive conditions – from fast track disability decisions to appeals. VA currently offers two separate benefits to all qualifying veterans, and certain family members, who served at Camp Lejeune for no less than 30 days (cumulative) from 1953 through …
New VA Appeals System Begins! Veterans Have New Options to Appeal
This week the Department of Veterans Affairs launches its new, revamped appeals process for veterans disputing their disability claims decisions. The new law is called the Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act of 2017; or in shortened form, Appeals Modernization Act (AMA). Passed into law in 2017, the Act intends to reform the unacceptable wait …
Vietnam Blue Water Veterans Now Have Agent Orange Presumption!
Jan. 29, 2019: A landmark court decision should prompt past due benefits for countless blue water veterans. Vietnam War-era troops who served in the “blue waters” off Vietnam now qualify for the presumption of exposure to the chemical defoliant Agent Orange. In Procopio v. Wilkie, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled …
Executive Disability
The purchase of an executive disability insurance policy is one of the most important parts of a secure financial plan for high salaried professionals. Individual disability income insurance (IDI) is costly, and is actively marketed to corporate executives, financial analysts, sales executives, physicians, dentists, architects, stock brokers, attorneys and others who seek financial security and …
Veterans Denied PTSD Sexual Trauma Benefits Are Now Encouraged to Re-Apply
Was your claim for PTSD sexual trauma denied in the past? VA now supports reapplication of previously denied disability claims for these types of cases. VA has acknowledged that errors were made in its decisions on many of these claims and has agreed to launch a review of denied benefits for PTSD related to military sexual trauma (MST).
Vietnam Veterans – New Study Shows PTSD Symptoms Worsen Over Time
A study has found that even after 40+ years, close to 11 percent of Vietnam veterans still suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and it seems that many more of them are gradually getting worse rather than getting better.
Dr. Charles Marmar, chairman of the psychiatry department at New York University Langone Medical Center and director of the NYU Cohen Veterans Center, is one of the authors of this study and confirms, “Most people who serve in war are resilient.” He goes on to explain that among those that do develop post-traumatic stress disorder, “if they’re going to recover, they’re going to recover early on”.
Veterans ID Card System – Approved by Congress, Possible 2017 Rollout
On July 20, 2015, Congress approved the Veterans Identification Card Act. This federal bill offers all honorably discharged service members a Veterans ID card that, in theory, should make it easier for veterans to prove their military service.
This ID card measure was on the books for several years. It had originally passed through the Senate and the House without much opposition but Congress proved a more formidable opponent. When the Obama administration voiced their reservation regarding the actual need for new ID’s Congress sat on the measure for several years. With approval finally being handed down from Congress, the measure headed to the White House to be signed into law.