VA Claims: Timing is Everything (3-6 months Out)

3-6 Months Out

Benefits Delivery at Discharge (BDD) Program

Okay, if you’ve done everything I’ve recommended up until this point, things should be coming together. You hopefully have all your documents ready, you’ve met with your VSO, you’ve gotten your separation/retirement physical, and you’re prepared to file your VA claims. Within the 3–6-month window, you will be filing under what’s called the Benefits Delivery at Discharge (BDD) program.?

Now, you should have received this information during your time with TAP. However, TAP is often a bombardment of info, so you may not recall what the BDD program is. Essentially, what this program is designed to do is put you at the front of the line. If you’ve ever heard anything about the VA, it’s likely that they are not always the most proficient and timely organization. While they’ve made considerable headway with this issue, they still have shortcomings. Veterans who file claims after they’ve left the military can often wait months and sometimes years to have a claim reviewed and adjudicated.?

As long as you file within 3-6 months, however, you get to move to the front of the line. In fact, under the BDD program, the VA will generally have your claims completed within a few months of your separation. My claims were final within 3 months of retirement. As I previously mentioned, you may not be taking any leave, so your separation/retirement physical may delay the process a bit, but that’s okay because you can still get your physical completed right at the 4-month mark and have about 30 days to still get your claims in under the BDD program.

The last thing I’ll say about BDD is that you do not want to miss this window. If you do, your claims are put into the queue with every other Veteran who filed outside of the program, and that’s likely to be a long process. Will you get backpay for everything? Sure, they’ll back pay you to the day you filed, but that’s still a long time to wait for an answer.

Filing

With the BDD explained, and so long as you’ve followed all my previous articles to prepare, then this section is not very involved. You’re going to meet with your VSO, and they’re going to file your claims. It’s really that simple. Well, sort of. Really, this step of the process falls primarily on your VSO. You’re going to bring all of the documents we’ve previously talked about as they apply to you, and your VSO is going to compile all of them and submit your claims. Again, if they’re good at what they do, they’ll be able to look at your medical records and turn all of your ailments into claims, using the verbiage that the VA is expecting.?

Your VSO will likely have specific questions about your ailments regarding severity, and just be honest. Do not try to exaggerate or even lie about your conditions to your VSO. Your VSO is probably not going to be the wiser, and they’ll input your exaggerations just as you tell them. The problem lies in the documentation. What you’re claiming should match what your records reflect. So if you’re claiming debilitating knee pain and you need crutches to walk around on, and your records only show that you sprained your knee once 15 years ago, you’re quickly going to lose credibility. That’s why you should be getting everything documented at least a year out.

If you exaggerate or even lie about your ailments to your VSO, they’ll input your exaggerations just as you tell them. The problem lies in the documentation: What you’re claiming must match what your records reflect!

Anyhow, your VSO will go through all of your ailments, submit all of your claims, and then you’ll be done with this step of the process. However, the process is not over, and there’s more to come. A good VSO will describe the next steps and approximately when to expect them. I will lay them out as well, and I will use the timelines I experienced at the time of my retirement but understand that experiences and timelines may vary from here on out, and your VSO should be able to help you manage those expectations.

The Dreaded “Packet”

One day you’re going to receive a packet in the mail. For me, it was about two months after I filed and about three and a half months before my retirement/separation date. The packet won’t necessarily say anything about the VA on it because chances are, the VA has contracted your physical evaluations out to a private company. Also, depending on how many claims you filed, the thickness of this packet will be aptly proportionate. Personally, I filed quite a few claims, and my packet was close to 100 pages long. This packet is going to be a little daunting and maybe even overwhelming, but I’m going to help guide you through it.

When you open the packet, there’s going to be a cover letter of sorts that has some FAQ stuff on it, but most importantly, it’s going to have an appointment listed. Depending on how many claims you file and what types of claims there are, you may find numerous instances of these cover letters throughout the packet listing other appointments. These are all of the appointments that have been scheduled to physically screen you for all of the ailments that you filed with the VA.?

Here’s what you need to understand: No one’s going to call, email, or contact you ahead of time to see when your availability is. You’re just going to be scheduled at their discretion, and whenever they schedule you to be seen, clear your calendar because you need to be there. I cannot stress this enough. Do not try to reschedule your VA screening appointments. As it’s been explained to me, if you do, you will go to the end of the line for rescheduling, which from what I’ve heard, can be a substantial wait. You need to do whatever you can to make sure you are present and accounted for during any and all appointments that are listed in your packet.

Whenever you're scheduled to be seen, clear your calendar because you need to be there. I strongly discourage trying to reschedule your VA screening appointments.

Again, the number and type of VA claims filed will determine the number of appointments. Some claims require a specialist to screen you. Case in point, I filed a claim for vision, so one of my appointments was to be seen by an eye specialist. As I mentioned, I filed quite a few claims, and I had a total of 9 appointments on 5 different days spread out over the course of 1 week. Some appointments, namely with the specialists, were done in the matter of an hour or less. However, “zero day” was a doozy. This day is your primary screening. This is when you’ll meet with the primary physician that is going to screen you for the majority of your claims. I’ll go more in-depth about this appointment next week, but I bring it up because this will be the majority of your packet.

So, as you review your packet, you’re going to see that it’s essentially a questionnaire about every claim that you filed with the VA. And you may ask yourself, “Wait, didn’t this all get listed by my VSO when we filed my claim?” The answer is, “Yup.” And guess what, you get to do it all over again. Why this arduous and laborious step is included, I genuinely don’t know. But it’s a necessary evil, and I’m going to give you some tips on how to fill it out.

First, you need to read every single page carefully and fill out every single section. Do not miss or skip a section if it applies to your ailment. Second, be as thorough as you possibly can be when filling it out. There are going to be quite a few sections where you are asked to describe your ailment. You need to spell it all out. When did it start? Where does it hurt? How does it hurt? How badly does it hurt? How often does it hurt? Have you tried any treatments like therapy, braces, ointments, etc.? If so, do any of them make it feel better? If so, how??

Starting to get the picture? You need to be as descriptive as possible and thorough as possible. Give them every single one of the Who, What, When, Where, Why, How, and leave no room for guessing. Paint them a picture so that there’s no doubt in their mind about your ailment.

Be as thorough as possible when filling out the forms. Spell everything out, giving the 5 Ws and the H. Paint them a picture so that there’s no doubt in their mind about your ailment.

The third thing I’m going to highly encourage you to do now, but I will tell you why next week. If you’re like me, and you have horrendous handwriting, or if you even think you might have poor penmanship, you need to type this all out if you can. Heck, I even encourage folks who might have decent handwriting to still type everything out. Again, next week I’ll say why, but for now I’ll address the how.

So how do you type everything in if you were given a paper copy? Well, it takes a little bit of work and resources. Unless you have an old-school typewriter available, you’re first going to have to convert all those pages (or at least those that you have to fill out) into a digital format. I had a scanner at work, so this was relatively easy for me. For those of you who don’t have readily available access to a scanner, you can go to your local FedEx, Staples, or store of that nature. Nowadays, there are also phone apps that can turn documents into pdfs. However you choose to do it, you need to get your documents into a PDF format.

With your packet digitized, you can now type everything in. As I mentioned in an earlier section, you don’t have to have Adobe Pro to do this. You can use regular ol’ Adobe Reader by using their “Comment” tool by activating the tool selecting “Add Text Comment.” This will allow you to place your cursor where you want to type, left-click, and you’re off to the races.

If your handwriting is as horrendous as mine, and even if it’s not, I strongly endorse typing out your packet if at all possible.

Once you’ve finished filling out all the pages – again, ensuring that you have described every element of your ailment – it’s time to print it out. If you don’t have a printer readily accessible to you, once again, you can use FedEx, Staples, or the like to accomplish this. The unfortunate reality, however, is that you need to have it in hard copy and hand carry it to your appointments. At least the last I knew at the time of writing this article, they still didn’t allow you to submit these packets digitally. So set them aside and be prepared to hand-deliver them to your appointments.

That's it for this week! Next week we will begin to dive into the actual VA screenings. In the meantime, hopefully you found some useful information in here, and if you enjoyed it, please like, share, and comment. Be well until next week, and just remember, you're not in this alone!