In the past, survivors of disabled veterans who passed away were presumptively entitled to survivor benefits, called Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, or DIC. Then, the law changed, establishing requirements which must be met before DIC claims can be granted. Now, because of the complexity of DIC claims, the initial denial rate is around 75%. Occasionally, […]
If you’re a disabled veteran, you may be wondering if you can receive social security disability insurance, SSDI and VA disability benefits at the same time. The answer is yes. SSDI and VA disability are two separate federal programs, although there is some overlap. For example, an SSDI award could make it easier to obtain […]
Major Depressive Disorder, or MDD, is the most common mental illness in the United States. It affects over seven million Americans, along with an untold number of friends, family members, and coworkers of these victims. Frequently, MDD co-occurs with other conditions, many of which are physical. Because of their military experiences, veterans suffer from MDD […]
Do you have a VA disability claim? The number of claims is on the rise. The sharp increase in deployments post-9/11 has pushed the number of disabled American Veterans to nearly four million. That is almost half of the Veterans who serve their country in any capacity, stateside or overseas. Most of these VA disability […]
Military veterans, particularly those with service in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Global War on Terror, have a significantly higher rate of migraine headaches than the general population. In fact, migraine diagnoses in the military increased by 27% from 2001 to 2007 as a result of the increased deployments to the Middle East. Scientists do not […]
Do you have a denied DIC claim? Before 2017, some Veterans claimed the VA’s attitude about disability claims was “deny until they die.” That idea is a bit melodramatic, but not entirely misplaced. Many disabled veterans waited several years for benefits to which they were entitled because of a service-related illness or injury. The Veteran […]
Addressing the questions about VA disability evidence. During his second inaugural address, President Abraham Lincoln laid out the vision for the future Veterans Administration disability program when he envisioned a way “to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan.” For many years, the VA disability system […]
Marriage vows are for better or for worse, and in most marriages, spouses experience plenty of good and bad. Traditionally, spouses live together throughout a marriage, known as cohabitation, though living apart is not as rare as it used to be. If the divorce rate is any indication, it is a safe assumption that many […]
It’s a new era for PTSD treatments. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was first identified in patients who survived concentration camps during World War II. It has also been called “shell-shock” pertaining to service members returning from combat operations. Doctors understand this condition a lot better today than they did 20 years ago. However, regulators have […]
The VA has DIC Benefits for survivors of fallen warriors, also referred to as Dependency and Indemnification Compensation. Nationwide, between 2004 and 2014, over 750,000 disabled veterans died while receiving compensation for a service-connected condition. A large percentage of those suffered premature death due to external causes, meaning a condition that was often connected to […]