J Basser: 0:00

Hey Bastard Exposed Vet Productions. I'm Jay. My co-host today is Mr Ray Cobb. How you doing, ray?

Ray Cobb: 0:08

I'm doing great. How are you this evening?

J Basser: 0:10

I'm doing good, you know, for the 19th day of June 2025. Well, I've got 10 more days.

Ray Cobb: 0:18

Yeah, all the bikes are closed.

J Basser: 0:20

Yeah, they're all closed. The V8's closed.

Ray Cobb: 0:24

they can't process claims today let's see today's June the 19th. That means in two days.

J Basser: 0:30

It's the longest day of the year, the summer of the 7th is the lightest time yep, and then the days start getting shorter just after that yep, next thing you know, we'll be getting dark here at five o'clock you get dark here around six o'clock, which is actually five o'clock your time.

J Basser: 0:52

So, yeah, well, sure, uh, some parts of parts of the central time zone here close to here get dark at 4 30. The central time zone here close to here gets dark at 430. So that would suck. Excuse my French, but it would. Last week we discussed claims process, you know, following the initial claim and processing the claim and how to follow your claim and track your claim and et cetera. This week we're going to take the next step. We're going to go into the appeal section and I want to get a pen and piece of paper and write this down.

J Basser: 1:33

Folks, if you don't have access or you're limited on your computer usage and you have a hard time navigating the Title 38 CFR because there are different levels of appeal, when you get adverse reaction, I'm not saying a denial. The reason I'm saying adverse reaction is because you can actually appeal a claim that actually was approved and I'll explain it to you in a minute. But we'll base it off, we'll go off and we'll say denial and we'll look for time constraints. All right, you've been in the VA for a year, you've had all your exams. You sit there and you wait and wait and finally something pops in the computer and says you have a decision In VAgov. You open up and look. You open your letter up and you look You've been denied. It'll tell you what your options are in the format of the letter, what you can do. So we'll discuss those options to an extent.

J Basser: 2:38

There's three options of appeal. If your claim evidence in your claim is all you have and you have nothing else new to submit, or you know that you will not be able to submit anything else, you can opt for a. It's called a high-level review or HLR. What that means is you ask for a HLR, high-level review, and the VA kicks it up to a high-level reviewer and it's usually somebody at a different office, a different regional office, that you review that. And the time frame in that process is kind of limited. I mean it could be anywhere from two weeks to months, several months, because it all depends on what's going on. If they can find an error and kick it back. And once they find an error and it kicks back to the regional office, then I think it turns into a supplemental claim, right, which is claim number two.

J Basser: 3:48

A supplemental claim is an appeal. A supplemental appeal is an appeal where when you submit the appeal, you can also submit additional evidence, as long as it is new and relevant. That means that they don't already have it and that it has bearing on your case. That's relevant, of course. Now they have to. How do you say this? A good legal term there, ray. When lawyers use and they try to look at the law and they try to look at all the ways around the law or different points of the law, what do they call that little move Interpret, interpret the rules and they look at it and they'll go through the process or the supplemental and make a decision.

J Basser: 4:40

That way I've won a couple of supplementals in my lifetime. It's not too bad. I've actually won an HLR here a while back. It's not too bad. I've actually won an HLR here a while back. It's not too bad either. But it's kind of scary because we've been saying before that once you have a denial in your hand and you send it back and you ask for somebody to change something, if they know each other, it's going to be hard to do. It's kind of a buddy system in that aspect, ray. Kind of a buddy system, you know, in that aspect and, ray, you touched on that beforehand about the buddy system. I have.

Ray Cobb: 5:11

Okay, yeah, and you know there's I don't know there's mixed feelings. You know, when a supplemental claim, there's one part that you were talking about in the letter which I think is most important, that I've noticed here recently that a lot of the denials have been leaving out. You know they are supposed to tell you why they denied the letter, I mean why they denied the client.

Ray Cobb: 5:38

in the letter they're supposed to say there was not this evidence tying it to your heart, or there was not any any uh doctor's statement or there wasn't any enough evidence of this particular nature and if you, if recently they've been leaving that part out. And that's a very important part for a veteran, because if, if they put that in there, like, for example, they said we did not see anywhere, uh, let's take my left eye they we did not see anywhere where um laser was used on your left eye. Now that means that and I understand I've got 5 000 uh pages of documentation in my medical records there at the VA. So what can be done about that is number one. You know when you had that laser. They don't. That guy, I think, has what 15, 20 minutes to look at that case. So how is he going to find that one little paper on a given day that they did 2,500 shots of laser in my left eye, and it's not supposed to be more than 1,500 at any one time. So you know, that's what caused me to go blind in my left eye. Now how do I find that? I know where it is. I knew where it was when I turned the claim in. What I didn't do, which I should have done, I did not print that out, highlight it and submit it under 1438, pointing it out. Here's this happening. This date is in my record, making it easier for that agent, for that educator, to look at. I did not do that, he didn't take the time to look for it and it's really in that particular case. It was one day, one incident, two pages which stated in really just one little paragraph, will said in the left eye did 2,500 and in the right eye did 1,500. And then I had to go back and look up and see if they were never supposed to do more than 1,500. So they did what they were supposed to in the right eye but didn't do what they were supposed to in the left eye. Now, under your supplemental claim, if you look at that and you pull that evidence now I could print out that sheet. If they had told me that's what they used, I could pull out that sheet and then I could also print off the sheet that I found. Um, oh, I think it was john hopkins, where they talked about the amount of lasers that should be done on the retina at one, any one given time, without healing. Uh, and I could print that off and I could circle, which I finally did circle the 1500 per day versus the 2500, five hundred per day and submit that and that's how I won my case. But hindsight, if they had not, if I had done that in the first part, I may not have ever been denied to start with. But when they told me in my denial letter what they could not find, I knew where it was. So I was able to go find it and then support it with outside documentation and and win my my supplemental client. Um, that's a. That's just an example of what what we may have to do, uh, in those cases. Now here's another part.

Ray Cobb: 9:04

Today I was talking with a veteran. He's 90 years old. He just got out of the VA hospital. Last week we had some bad storms around here. He went out to inspect his property. There were some limbs down. He tripped and fell over some limbs and broke one kneecap and messed the other one up, twisted the other one pretty bad, and he was in pretty good, real good shape until that point.

Ray Cobb: 9:28

But he's back home now and he called me and we were talking about aid and attendance at the age of 90. And his daughter comes in and helps every day. So I told him what he needed to do to start and try to get his aid and attendance, but he didn't know what to do. He had heard about it but he didn't know where to start or what to do or what to look for. He really didn't even know what it was called, you know, and um, so I was able his, his daughter kate, was coming over to the house this afternoon. He called me first this morning and she was coming over to the house this afternoon. He called me first this morning and she was coming over to the house this afternoon to bring some groceries and do some stuff for him. So I had him, I told him I'd call back at 3 o'clock after she was there and I got to talk with both of them and she understood and she had never heard about it, about standard aid and attendance. So hopefully we got him on the right track. But in the meantime I was telling him what he needed to gather to support that aid and attendance. And that's one of the keys that recently what I've seen Now I don't know if it's going to help or not, but recently I've had two other cases where I've helped individuals gather and tell them what they needed ahead of time before they submitted their claim. Now they had already filed an intent to file.

Ray Cobb: 10:53

One gentleman in particular that I enjoyed talking about, because he took two months to gather the exact information that I told him he would need to win his case. Then he went and filed his case. He won it in six months. They dated it back to the date of the intent to file and he ended up getting $14,000 in back pay and $2,000 a month from here on Now. I think they low-balled him, but I also think he doesn't have enough documentation from talking with him to prove that he actually has a higher level of diabetes than what he does. I don't think there's not enough information by him talking with the doctors, telling him how much highs and lows and fluctuation there is, and a lot of that has to do because, like other gentlemen, they just don't like going to doctors. You know you get to be 75, 80 years old, uh, you don't like continue to run to doctors every month or two. But in this particular case, if he wants to win, in order for him to have won this case and gotten a higher level, he would have needed to be doing that, but he hasn't been. So now what I've told him to do is start making 90-day and six-month appointments and in a year we will ask for a reevaluation or a higher level of disability, once we have enough documentation in his medical records to win.

Ray Cobb: 12:35

But all of this is all a part of how you appeal the supplemental claim. It's all about that supplemental claim. So you've got time to do it. That supplemental claim, so you've got time to do it. And even if you do a supplemental claim, you don't have to turn your additional evidence in on that particular day. You can turn that evidence in or add evidence as long as they haven't made their decision.

Ray Cobb: 13:04

Am I correct about that, if I understood it correctly? Okay, so let's say he knows he's going to have a doctor's appointment in a month. Down the road he can go ahead and turn his supplemental claim in now, go to the doctor, talk to the doctor and hopefully the doctor will give him a little higher rating or higher more of his disability statement, and then he can add that in Now. Will they send him for a new CMP? Probably, probably will. And then that brings up another thing that you should do on these appeals when you go, if you have a.

Ray Cobb: 13:44

I learned this from James Cripps. I got to give James credit for this. He's good at it. If you know you're going for a higher level review or you're going for a higher CMP, whatever, then the best thing you could do is spend a little of your money maybe $120, go see a doctor outside of the VA, but take your VA notes and say here's what this doctor says Do you agree with this? And they'll read the notes. They'll read them every time, then they'll do their exam and then they'll make their decision whether they agree or disagree. Now, I've had doctors, most of the time that I've done this, knowing that they would do it, uh, would either agree and one said I agree with the findings of my case, dr pimp and um. However, I would recommend a stronger brace on his foot, uh, to make it more stable. Now, with that being said, that's a good, positive second opinion. And it cost me $120, but it ended up getting me somewhere around $1,600, $1,700 more a month, so that $120 was well spent, wouldn't you say.

J Basser: 15:14

Investment.

Ray Cobb: 15:19

And let's take a scenario like I had at another podiatrist who said oh well, I'm not going to write you a letter unless you let me do your treatment, which some of them will. So make sure they'll write you a letter before you go. You haven't lost anything, you know. You've got another opinion, you know what the situation might be so you can proceed with that. So you know, fortunately, guys and I know, when you get to be your age, and my age especially, and like that gentleman today that's 90 years old, you really don't think and you know we have not. My age group especially, did not grow up having to research stuff out on your own, and I, you know, I hate to think about how it was back, oh, let's say back in the 70s and 80s, when we didn't have, when the computers were just starting to come in and there wasn't such a thing as vagov and all of those things.

J Basser: 16:24

You know it's a wonder anybody ever won a case well, in fact, those days things were a lot different too. And when you had to physically mail or physically send the claims folder from st louis to the regional office, yeah, and they had to go through it and they had piles of paperwork everywhere and they got caught in several scandals back then. You know shredding, shredder gate and yeah, and the time wait gate and all this other stuff, so yeah, I never, I never will forget you talking about St Louis.

Ray Cobb: 16:53

I went down after I won my case my first got my 100%, and they were still kind of kicking around trying to figure out, I think, exactly how much I had gotten. And I went down to the regional office and there was a little lady that helped me and, uh, she was fairly short, she, she was probably oh, uh, five one maybe at the most, and that was that was where it heals and she came, went upstairs and she took my file, my case, off of a truck that was about to be sent from the regional office back to St Louis for the third time. And when she walked back into her office her hands were straight down, my files were in there and she had her chin up holding them together under her chin. That's how many files I had, you know, and that was what.

Ray Cobb: 17:53

Everything was done on paper files. So she sat down there with me and we spent more than an hour of her just looking very quickly to find out the information that they were sending all of those files back to st louis for reevaluation. And she found it and marked it and called upstairs as she referred to it and told him what she'd found or whatever. They said, okay, send it back up. She sent it back up and two weeks later I finally got the letter in the mail telling me what my uh pay would be. And everything was fine after that. But that's how hard it was back in those days, wasn't that long ago? I mean, we're talking 2000, and well, that was 20 years ago, 2005, 2006.

J Basser: 18:38

What happened? Such more supplemental claims. You have new evidence that you submit. Adjudicate it, do that find errors or kick it back to that. They find errors? They'll kick it back to you, Make it deny the claim at any level. But you have other options too. So say you get denied again.

J Basser: 19:01

Your next step's going to go see the Board of Vegetable Appeals, which opens up another what do you call it? Another quagmire, yeah, yeah. And so you get your information there set up and you put your Form 9 in. Whatever the form is now. It used to be a Form 9, and I guess it's a different form now. Let's see what that form is. I'm sorry, it's now form 101.8.2. The longer form, 9. It's a decision review request or notice of disagreement. Hmm, that's the decision review request. You got to need to fill one of them out and get it sent in. So get to the BBA, the Board of Veteran Appeals.

J Basser: 20:09

My best advice for you if you're doing this, like we said last week, make sure you've got a claims agent or attorney or a VSO helping you that knows something about the process, Because you just kicked this thing off from the planet up to the starship Could be the death star if you don't watch it. You know that's a timely process to BVA. You get her situated and you get everything done and they'll sign you a docket number and you'll be. It depends on what kind of appeal you ask for through the BVA. The first is called a direct docket review. That's a sister to the HLR process, except it's BBA's version of it, and what that means is they'll look at your records as they are today that's in the have on file. You can't add new evidence at all and they'll make a decision based off the records. You won't see the judge, but they'll look at it and they'll make a decision based off the records. You won't see the judge, but they'll look at and make that decision.

J Basser: 21:14

Okay, now the second option is you guys sit down, have a video conference. A video conference is uh, you'll sit down with your rep in a room in the regional office. The screen will pop on and the judge will be on the TV screen and you guys have your hearing. That way you can present your evidence and talk. Usually, a rep do most of the talking you don't do, unless you've got a rep. That shouldn't be there. You know what I mean, right?

Ray Cobb: 21:48

Yes, but Well, that's a very good point. You know that that you're making there. I I can't emphasize. My suggestion has always been lately um, I'm gonna say in the last two or three years or four years for sure that if you have to go even for the first supplemental claim before you even go to the board, there is so much that can be done now by an agent. I recommend all my guys to get an agent because here's why, if you can find one that you can work with and that will work with you, it's because an agent has direct access to everything. He can actually see memos that goes from adjudicator to his supervisor. Even before the decision is made, he says I think I'm going to do this, or what do you think about this, any questions like that that go on behind the doors you can actually find. He can see. You can't see them, you'll never know about them, but it gives him an insight of what they're thinking in, the direction they're going, which gives him some information about how they or why they may have denied your claim.

Ray Cobb: 23:02

So I recommend very strongly that when that happens because let's say, let's say you're already, um, I'm going to just take something that's minimal let's say you're already. I'm going to just take something that's minimum. Let's say you're already eight months or nine months and you're going to be receiving $2,000. That's $18,000 back pay and by the time it gets to the board or whatever, you've got another six or eight months. Now we're up to, you know, $14,000, $16,000 in back pay, or $30,000 back pay rather, excuse me, 16 months $14,000, $16,000 in back pay, or $30,000 back pay, rather, excuse me, 16 months $2,000 a month. And so if you look at that, $30,000, 20% is basically $30,000 to $6,000. You're still going to walk away with $24,000 of back pay. Plus you're going to get $6,000. I mean, excuse me, $2,000 the rest of your life, if not more. So you know you. You know for that it's a great investment to spend and be willing to spend that 20%. Now should he spend 40% or 50% or 60%? Like what do we call them? Claim sharks?

J Basser: 24:15

No, no, but if you get a credited agent.

Ray Cobb: 24:19

yep, if you get a credited agent, one that's a part of NOVA, and they limit themselves to 20% of the back pay, you're in good shape. That's a fact and you definitely got to have it. If you go to the Board of Veterans Appeals, you just definitely have to have it.

J Basser: 24:41

You have to have it in any appeal process. You can't use an agent. An agent can't charge you for an initial claim, it's only in the appeal process. Same for an attorney, but an attorney can charge you 33%.

Ray Cobb: 24:55

HR right.

J Basser: 24:57

Right, okay, but you know we'll do a show once to let any agents and attorneys here. For too long we did one here a few weeks ago. You can look at and go back to their archives and look. The most important thing about an appeal initial claim anything if you have a representative is access, and accreditation, first of all, is the biggest thing too. Accreditation shows that they know what they're doing because they have to take a test to do it. Access to the VBMS system is paramount. If you go to your rep and say yeah, I'm accredited, do you have access to VBMS? They say no, go to the next one Because that's where they get to see all the good.

J Basser: 25:47

Well, yeah, they can be accredited and not have access because they charge so much money to have access to it. Oh okay, I wasn't aware of that.

Ray Cobb: 25:57

That's another good. That's another good point. When you go to a gentleman and he's credited okay, then he's going to be able to pretty much. He's not going to take able to pretty much. He's not going to take your case unless you're a personal friend. He's not going to take your case. If he doesn't think he can win it, at least know how he can win it, because he has to do all that work. He has to file those documents, he has to write his, his brief, his legal brief, and do all that work, not being guaranteed that he's ever going to get any money and that's another thing to be aware of. Guys, if somebody says, well, we'll do it, we need $5,000 a month, which is what one of the local attorneys around here was doing no, you don't pay anybody up front, you just don't know you'll do that.

J Basser: 26:53

No, I mean, don't wait, you should. The only time you should pay something up front is if the agent or ask you to pay what we call that a. It's a fee. It's not doing a print, but that basically gives them the opportunity to start opening up.

Ray Cobb: 27:10

Yeah it's a retainer's fee. You retain them to represent you and that is deducted out of what he receives back. So you're going to get that money back anyway. Yeah, when you win your cash, I mean that's an additional fee too.

J Basser: 27:31

They look at it and that's what they look at so they can represent you. Because they have to look at the evidence and see where you're at, because if you got a bone or a case, a bad case, then they're going to tell you the truth. That's what people need to realize. People need to start telling the truth. In this business, you can blow smoke all you want to, but if your evidence doesn't result in a win, then you need new evidence or you need to figure out what's going on. I've been doing this a long time. I've seen all sides of the spectrum. I know what it's like. It's kind of sad to have to tell somebody that you think is going to make it. We've had to make it, you know. But you know we've had to do that.

J Basser: 28:14

Yeah, okay, so all right, we discussed a direct docket review with the BBA, so you don't want to do a direct docket review? Of course that's the fastest way. It's about 21, 18, and 24 months right now getting to it. Unless you way, it's about 21, between 18 and 24 months right now getting to it. And last year, like ray's buddy there, the guy he talked to today he's 90 years old. This dude gets to ride in the front train car all the way around the rails. You know that, don't you?

Ray Cobb: 28:39

yeah, he. Matter of fact, if it got up there they saw his age.

J Basser: 28:43

He probably would be seen within what two weeks, three weeks, more like I'm gonna say it's going to be processed in two weeks, even initial claim yeah yeah put it on there. Put them up there. So if you're 75 years old going to the bba, you are entitled to have your claim advanced on the docket, which I think. Now, if you are not at the bba, you in a regular system to get your claim expedited you have to be 85? Is that what it is?

Ray Cobb: 29:21

I think that's correct. Well, there's a couple of things 85, facing bankruptcy or facing the chance of being homeless. I think there's one more. I forget what the third one is. I know those are two Facing bankruptcy and facing homelessness.

J Basser: 29:41

Economic hardship, financial hardship they call it. I guess that's it.

Ray Cobb: 29:51

There's one more. Yeah, I can't think of what it is, Ralph. I guess I haven't seen it enough to remember it.

J Basser: 29:57

Well, you can get that going. Oh, is that?

Ray Cobb: 30:05

if you're on hospice, yeah if you actually have a terminal diagnosis. Right.

J Basser: 30:16

Terminal. Yeah, okay, that's the term. My grandfather had a BVA claim, or a BVA was a six-day turnaround. He had a BVA hearing at the regional office in six days. Because of his age he won his BVA appeal. Two days later he died. So at least he did win, you know. So it's pretty cool. You guys waiting on a video conference. You could probably wait years.

J Basser: 31:13

Right now the time frame is pretty far drawn out. Of course they say they've got this and that and this and that you can look at the BVA website and you can look at their delays and things like that. It's that far behind that you think they are. It's a bunch of charts and graphs and things like that. You can look at it. It'll give you some type of idea. But if you had a young engineering student, look at this stuff, it'd be a lot better. They'd explain it to you a lot better.

J Basser: 31:40

But if you're in that lane, you've got to wait for a pretty good while. This is supposed to be the fastest level of appeal known to mankind, but that requires you to get in the car or get on an airplane or on the train and ride to DC, to the BVA itself, and have an in-person hearing. I'd recommend doing that, the reason being is I want them to see me in person. I want them to see me as I am. If you're boogered up in a wheelchair or scooter and you can't walk around, you stand up, fall down, things like that. If you've got rheumatoid arthritis and your legs are going sideways and all kinds of crazy stuff like that and they're denying your claim, let them see it. A picture is worth a thousand words, right, ray?

Ray Cobb: 32:38

yes, and the interesting part, when you're saying that you're correct, because you will never see anyone in the regional office that makes a decision. So they're not going to see you in that wheelchair. They're not going to see you with those braces on your feet. They're not going to see you with those braces on your feet.

J Basser: 32:58

They're not going to see you with that cane in your hand. I think they'll start taking pictures of vets and putting them on all of this. Yeah, they start taking pictures of vets and their situation and start attaching them to the claim. Have his AFOs and his wheelchair.

Ray Cobb: 33:12

Well, you can do that. You're allowed to do that. You have to do it and attach it and use, for example. There's nothing that says you can't do it. I don't know if they would look at it or pay any attention to it, but you can take a 4138 and write a statement in there. This is what I have to wear and what I have to do, and this is how. This is my wheelchair, and you have somebody take a picture of your wheelchair and attach that photograph to the, to the 4138, as additional evidence or as a personal statement of your condition.

J Basser: 33:53

Upload that bad boy.

Ray Cobb: 33:56

Now I don't know. I've never recommended that to anyone, but I don't know if that would work or not work.

J Basser: 34:03

It worked.

Ray Cobb: 34:03

Now let me back up a little bit. I did one thing but it had to do with during the caregiver program, so it's a little different. But they denied me in the caregiver level one. But they denied me in a caregiver level one and the question was putting the AFO braces and the importance of my wife putting the AFO braces and my shoes on every morning and adjusting my socks properly.

Ray Cobb: 34:37

I actually had a ulcer on top of the foot, a blister that turned into it, got infected and and turned and I had to have a skin graft. Well prior to the skin graft, um, when I was, when I was denied a level one r1, uh, prior to the skin graft, I had this, you know, sore on top of my foot about the size of a half a dollar. So, being a photographer that I was, I just got out one of my camera, one of my lenses, and I took a picture of it and printed it off and submitted it with my appeal paperwork and it was approved. So I have used a photograph before. I had forgotten all about that.

J Basser: 35:13

Good point.

J Basser: 35:14

Good point. I've used photographs. We've used videos, not on me but other events I've helped for navigating years ago. We use a plane crash video on our carrier. It's pretty cool, but all right.

J Basser: 35:32

So you, you picked your lane, go through. You either went to dc or you did a nature, you did the direct document view, or you waited and went through the board hearing and made a decision. Say, if it's a negative decision, well now what do you do? Hopefully you got an agent to help you through this process, or somebody an agent or an attorney to help you through this process, or somebody an agent or an attorney, and it's up to the attorney to speak. Now, you know, because you've got a choice, you have to go to Veterans Court, united States Court of Veterans Appeals, and you pay $50 to fill out the form. Once the form gets there, it shows that you're going to file at the court and you haven't got an attorney fixed yet.

J Basser: 36:25

Once they get their $50 and you hit the airways up there, next thing you know you're getting bombarded in the mail by all these different attorney offices. So you stack them in a pile and you set them there and they'll call you. And you call them and y'all talk and they'll want to look at your case and they'll look at it. I'm going to tell you right now, folks, unless it's a pretty good amount of change, a lot of the attorneys won't take your case. I went through like 11 before I found one, so A lot of the attorneys won't take your case. I went through like 11 before I found one, so you know.

J Basser: 37:00

I mean, it's like most of them. You know, I don't want to accuse anybody of cherry picking, but I think they're. You know, they want to cover their expenses, so, but I found a pretty good one. Well, they have to.

Ray Cobb: 37:30

Well, they have to. Most of them, the ones I'm aware of, they're in major cities and therefore their rent on their property is outrageous. The one out of Washington that you and I both are familiar with that some of our personal friends have used, they assign five attorneys to each case. Now, the best of my knowledge, unless a case is going to pay be worth $100,000 or more, they practically never touch it. Am I correct about that?

J Basser: 38:00

I don't know. I don't know if it's actually monetary value. I guess it really depends on the case itself too. If you look at it and they see a major mistake, like, so I've got one attorney, we can fix this. If it's got a little complexity to it, you've got to look at it. Yeah, it all depends on how far back it goes to and what it is.

J Basser: 38:22

Say, for example let me give you an example Say I get qualified for aid attendance. Say, last Friday, I disagree and they made the back date the day I filed for aid attendance and I'm like well, I don't agree with that. What do I do? Okay, I think it should be the date the condition arose, which is basically like 2018. Because that's when everything happened, that's when the VA did this and that and this and that. You know that's when I started receiving all this help and stuff you know to extend, and so I would have to appeal that to an early effective date. Well, it would probably get denied and you're going to wind up in court. So there is. You know, that's what you've got to look at. You know you've got to look at now, if you go back to 2018 at $4,000 a month.

Ray Cobb: 39:21

that's a pretty good lick, right, oh yeah. And so that's Well, like one of our friends we know got his award what was close to $300,000. Oh, yeah, and they got 20%, that's what we do in Michigan. And that took, you know. I think they had that case for over working on it themselves for more than a year.

J Basser: 39:42

We had bills. There wasn't a quick turnaround. Bill got over 600 grand, $600,000, over $600,000. So that's a lot of money. I'll never see that kind of money, you know. I mean I've got too much other interest, you know. But that's what lot of money. I'll never see that kind of money, you know, I mean I've got too much other interest, you know. But that's what you look at, you know.

J Basser: 40:01

Select your attorneys and get a good group. If anybody needs any advice on selecting an attorney or an agent, please go to exposevet at gmailcom. Drop us a line, we'll answer your email, questions or whatever. We'll give you the best thing that we can do. Hopefully we can put in call-ins on here one of these days and get a phone line going and we can start answering questions. We'll have to see what's available here in the near future, but the corn is a different bird. I see a lot of stays, with stays meaning that say you file, your attorney files a paperwork, attorney files a brief, then they file for an extension to answer the brief, then they send the answer in, then your attorney files an extension to read their answer. Each extension is 30 to 45 days. So this extension, the brief, this extension, the answer this extension, the rebuttal, this extension, that, this extension, this, and then it goes in front of the judge over a year later, I might add.

Ray Cobb: 41:14

Yeah right.

J Basser: 41:16

Over a year later I might ask yeah, right, so it takes three or four months for the judge to get his paws on it and he'll make a decision on it whether to remand it back or grant the claim and make them do whatever, or they can dismiss it or deny it or whatever. So it all depends on what the judge says after all this, because they're trying to negotiate to begin with. You know, put weight and evidence together and a lot of little precedent sitting in here. Now, if you are a veteran and you're appealing to the Federal Circuit, the United States Court of Veterans Appeals, you are eligible to apply or to ask for the Equal Act for Justice Amendment. Remember this E-A-J-A. That's probably four of the most important syllables you ever heard.

J Basser: 42:10

Equal Act for Justice Amendment means that if you are at the federal court amendment mean that if you are at the federal court, veterans Court, you will sign an agreement with your attorney, an EJA agreement. You'll sign that paper and send it to them. That means that the government will pay your attorney's fees, provided you come out victorious. If you lose, you owe nothing. That way the attorneys don't charge you, you know, uh, for your agents will not charge you a bunch of money off your breadthroat. Of course some attorneys are trying to get that too, but I mean, it's just the nature of their business, you know that makes sense, right, it does.

Ray Cobb: 42:59

And and um, you know what you got. One thing, folks, when we're talking about this is you know it's taken us. You know one thing, folks, when we're talking about this, you know it's taken us, you know, roughly 35 minutes to get to this point, but maybe you know 40 at the max. But we're talking, by the time you get to this point, you've been working in that system six, seven, eight years.

Ray Cobb: 43:24

Mm-hmm been working in that system six, seven, eight years, you know. So, uh, I think the most important thing, too, is to tell the the vets don't give up if you have to go six, seven, eight years, if you, if you have these conditions and they're military connected, my, I don't care if it takes you 12 years to win it, because the back pay is going to be tremendous and you deserve it. So you know, as long as you can, keep moving forward, keep moving forward, don't stop until you win your case.

J Basser: 44:03

If you've got a serious disability and it could be life-threatening, I'd go ahead and fill out the forms now for your wife or your spouse to substitute for you. Don't submit them, don't date them. Just give them to your agent, your rep, and say here, when this hits the fan, date it and send it in, because when you pass on, she's got to have something to hang on to, because she can get accrued benefits, what they owe you, and she can draw dependent indemnity compensation. If the death is basically because of the service-debt condition, it don't have to be the main cause, just a contributing factor.

Ray Cobb: 44:45

Well, that's an interesting point. Now back to one or two cases I've helped with. Where it was, the individual had cancer. Both individuals had cancer. We actually had it dated and signed by the veteran when we submitted the claim and I'm glad we did. He didn't live four months.

J Basser: 45:14

Right.

Ray Cobb: 45:14

Now she still hasn't heard, but she was at our last seminar that we were at and she got one of our friends to represent her. Now and they have been and they've they've had their video connection. I haven't talked with her several weeks or months now and the last time I forgot to ask her, but I haven't heard any shouting or screaming.

Ray Cobb: 45:37

So I don't think she's, I don't think she's gotten the decision yet, but just the fact that it should be, uh, just the fact that we took those steps to have him sign it and turned it in um with the claim, so that, um, in this case he passed on and she is able to continue to fight and represent him. And she did have to do the video conference video court with the judge. That was a year and a half ago.

J Basser: 46:21

Yeah, time flies, buddy.

Ray Cobb: 46:22

Okay, let me just yeah, yeah, and let me just say it's camp lejeune and we'll we'll keep you guys informed. Uh, uh, talking about that, I I mentioned to you the other day, um august the 14th, the vietnam traveling walls coming here to winchester, tennessee, and I'm looking at the possibility of that's on Thursday I think it is the 14th, 15th and 16th. I'm looking at possibly the 15th of having another seminar like we had here before. We've been what a year and a half, two years since we've done one.

J Basser: 47:01

Well, it's been a year and a half again. It's right after November to May. It's about a year, and probably a year and seven months.

Ray Cobb: 47:12

Yeah, but we're almost to July. By the time we have it, it'll be August again. So you know, yeah.

J Basser: 47:21

It'll be a hot time down in Tennessee folks.

Ray Cobb: 47:23

It will If we come out we'll be a hot time down in Tennessee, folks it will. If we come out, we'll have a good time. Hopefully the breeze will be blowing, you know. Get a little breeze off the mountain, that's what I'm hoping.

J Basser: 47:35

Breeze off. They think you chop up pontoon boat long enough.

Ray Cobb: 47:44

I have to give that some consideration. I may have to start taking leave of absence from well, no, I can't. You only come on during December and part of January, because that's the only time the fish aren't biting, and in January and February I like to go out and photograph eagles and things. So, yeah, we'll have a little bit. I'm getting old enough to retire. Did you know that? Yeah, I don't know.

J Basser: 48:13

I think it's cold anymore. There's a lot of nomicrap going on Cold weather. You know, no more cold weather for me. I mean, it's that big day. It's degrees outside and I'd be freezing to death. It's true.

Ray Cobb: 48:24

I understand, I understand. I understand It'll be warm inside and Pam will say, man, I'm burning up. She'll feel my hands and she'll say they're cold as ice. Yeah, they are. The other times it's cool and my hands are warm. You just never know.

J Basser: 48:41

Let me get some final points here in the snow Folks. We've got about 10 minutes left, so I want to discuss this issue real quick. So now you the last two weeks we discussed the initial claims and appeals. We didn't go into an exorbitant amount of detail, but we did lay the groundwork where you can have a kind of a roadmap to follow, roadmap to follow the strongest advice Ray and I both can give you.

J Basser: 49:13

Do not do this by yourself. Get help. If you have to use a VSO, find one that's accredited and a good one. Get recommendations from people to help you, from people to help you. Look at your state agencies, your state department of medical affairs. Look at your county. They've got a person there that can help you, especially here in Kentucky. They've got them, you know, by county or whatever. Some counties have more because you know, unfortunately, we've got a couple cities in the state that's got a whole lot of people in it and uh. So, but get help, um, if that person is good, they're accredited and they can help you track your claim and do it, you win. That's good. But if you get denied and you have to go to appeal, listen to your rep. What's he saying, or she's. Excuse my French.

J Basser: 50:05

I don't want to set it up, but at that point you might want to look at bringing on somebody that does it full-time. You know, basically I'm saying to somebody that to be politically correct, have skin in the game. Somebody's livelihood is basically the same as your livelihood, you know. So you could look at bringing on an agent. Somebody's livelihood is basically the same as your livelihood. You could look at bringing on an agent or an attorney. I would recommend this process at this point. I would find an agent first. There's a couple hundred of them in the country. There is a page on VAgov that has a listing of all of them that are active. It's got their contact information, phone numbers, and you can find one close to you. If you want, you can contact them. If they cannot take your case, they can recommend somebody that can.

J Basser: 50:55

I know there's several agencies out there that work with attorney groups and things like that, so they're really kind of unreachable. They just got their accreditation to work. But there's some that specialize and there's one that specializes in special monthly compensation and he's probably the best I've seen over and above any other, and I've been doing this for 30 years. He may not be able to take your claim or your appeal. But he has a host of people he can send over and send you to that we'll take.

J Basser: 51:25

If you have any questions about an agent or attorney, go ahead and drop us a line at exposemen at gmailcom. We'll get back with you and send you a response. If you need help finding somebody, let us know. We'll help you find them. We'll help navigate that situation. We can do that. That's what we do. We don't get directly involved in people's claims. There's what we do, you know. I mean we don't get directly involved in people's claims. There's no reason to. I could have been an agent years ago. There's too many bass in the world they've been caught yet and that, of course, if I'm so boogered up now I'd have to have an automatic fishing pole. I like to get my little boat right. You put the water and drag the line behind it. You seen those. They got the little remote control boat. You put your remote control boat.

J Basser: 52:12

I need to get one of them. This is going to be awesome.

Ray Cobb: 52:15

Yeah, I saw one of those little demonstrated. I guess it was on one of the outdoor channels this week.

J Basser: 52:24

I'd love to have one of them, man, that'd be cool. Oh my goodness, I'll put a link up here and we'll start selling them. We'll get some money back from Bass Pro Shop With that guys. We're going to go ahead and end our few minutes already today, ray. Thanks for coming on, buddy. We appreciate you Enjoyed it.

Ray Cobb: 52:45

Enjoyed it, enjoyed it Always do.

J Basser: 52:48

Enjoy the pontoon this weekend. We've got a couple more weeks left in town before we head back out to DC.

Ray Cobb: 52:55

Yeah well, it's supposed to be pretty here beginning tomorrow morning. It's sunshining all the way through Monday, so I plan on being on the lake a lot.

J Basser: 53:09

It's going to be frying hot next week, son. I said 95, 97 degrees here next week. One day I'm going to turn freeze to death. Well, with that, folks, thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. You can find this posted up on YouTube after a while, and with that, this will be John J Basher, on behalf of Mr Ray Cobb, with the J Basher Exposed Vet Productions. We'll be signing off for now.

Ray Cobb: 53:40

Thanks.