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VA ALS Benefit Claim

mike405
2 Recommendations

This may be helpful if you're a vet filing for
VA ALS benefits: As a recently diagnosed ALS patient
quite by accident I discovered the Paralyzed Veterens
Of America (PVA) will gladly assist in filling out the forms but will act as your legal "claimant's representative" throught the entire process. In doing so, they will not only submit the forms to the proper
authority, but will expedite the process. In many cases
payment is made in 60 days! I think this a wonderful service. The contact person at the PVA National Office in Indianapolis is Penny Melvin and can be
reached at (317) 916-3626

Explore topics in this discussion:

ALS

11 replies

CherylW

Can't say enough wonderful things about our PVA in Buffalo, NY. I am actually not in the Buffalo area but he was the closest to where I lived. He was a great help to me with getting the paperwork processed for my husband. He stayed on top of things and made sure everything went thru as quickly as possible.

birdhunter

Glad to hear about PVA. Our family chose the American Legion to represent our loved one. Years later, he is gone and we still have no results. Recently we changed to DAV, I wish we had known about PVA. It was so difficult trying to prove the military was possibly linked to ALS in March 2008. Some of the same information we presented was denied. Now we hear the same study is being quoted by the VA. The VA denied our claim May 23, 2007. We heard the new law recognizing ALS as a presumptive illness was passed on Sept.23, 2008.
If anyone has information on this, please contact me.

mike405

Unfortunately the deadline for survivors of military
veterens with ALS to apply for retroactive benefits was September 23 2009. As I understand it, the VA
did not notify prior claiments of the deadline and I find it inexcusable.

AdvocacyDepartment

Additional information about the 2008 regulation that established a presumption of service connection for ALS can be found on the veterans section of the ALS Association website, www.alsa.org/policy/veterans.cfm. The site includes answers to frequently asked questions among other helpful information for veterans, their families and survivors.

In general, veterans are eligible for service connected benefits if the veteran served at least 90 continuous days on active duty and has a diagnosis of ALS, regardless of where the veteran served (home or abroad) or when in the past the veteran was diagnosed or served in the military (eg, last year or 40 years ago). Benefits are retroactive to the date of the claim for benefits.

Survivors also are eligible for benefits even if a veteran was lost to ALS many years ago. In general, survivors benefits are retroactive to the date of death or, if death occurred more than one year ago, to the date of the claim.

If veterans or their families and survivors have any questions about VA benefits or would like assistance, please visit the veterans section of The ALS Association's website or contact us at advocacy@alsa-national.org.

mike405

Many thanks to the Advocacy Dept for adding the
additional information.

birdhunter

Thank you for the information. I called your contact person and they put me in touch with the contact person in Nashville, TN. I visited the PVA office the next day and they were so helpful. We made more progress on the claim in 30 min. than I had made in the last two years. There was one question I am still not clear about. If my husband died in 2004, and I applied for DIC in 2004 then shouldn't the date of the original claim be 2004. She said it would be Nov.12,2009. If someone is dealing with an ALS claim, they definitely need to consider PVA.

mike405

I would think your original DIC claim should be honored, Birdhunter. Since your PVA contact recommended refiling I'm sure it's the best course of action. They do stay on top of things, and you have to be patient dealing with the VA.

mike405

It may be helpful to those eligible for VA ALS benfits to update my own efforts; kind of a chronological "diary" as events progress:

10/11/09: Completed VA form 21256, submitted to Indianapolis PVA rep. to forward to VA
10/15/09: PVA rep reviewed form, advised to add detailed list of symptoms, forwarded to PVA following day.
11/11/09: Letter from VA informing claim had been received.

To be continued as events unfold

leenag

Why do you think they would honor her original claim when they only passed it in September of '08. I was in the same boat. My original claim was in 1986. If they go back further than September '08. I would like to know.

AdvocacyDepartment

The general rule for DIC is that benefits are retroactive to the date of death or, if death was longer than one year ago, to the date of the claim. However, the claim also must be within one year. Benefits will not be retroactive beyond those dates. Birdhunter, it's not clear from what you have shared why Nov 12, 2009 is the date from which point you will receive benefits. However, it could be the date that you (or PVA) initiated the most recent action with the VA. Your PVA service officer should be able to clarify the reason for the Nov. 12 date.

Survivors who lost a loved one prior to implementation of the rule on Sept. 23 2008 were eligible to receive DIC retroactive to Sept. 23, 2008, but not earlier. However, their claims must have been submitted between September 2008 and September 2009. As noted above, DIC claims submitted after Sept 23, 2009 are retroactive to the date of death or date of the claim, but no longer than a year in the past.

We hope this information is helpful. Additional information about VA benefits is available on The ALS Association's website at www.alsa.org/policy/veterans.cfm.

mike405

Thanks for clarifying AG, the rules can be confusing
(apparently to me)

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