Veterans Benefits Manual

Veterans Benefit Manual by NVLSP attorneys is the practical guide for the veterans benefits advocate, with critical information to navigate benefits issues.

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Print Book:1 Volume, Softbound, 2270 pages
2023-2024 Edition
ISBN: 9781663369543
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2023-2024 Edition Editors:

Barton F. Stichman, Special Counsel to and co-founder of the National Veterans Legal Services Program
Ronald B. Abrams, Special Counsel to and Former Joint Executive Director of the National Veterans Legal Services Program
Richard V. Spataro, Director of Training and Publications of the National Veterans Legal Services Program
Stacy A. Tromble, Director of Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims Litigation of the National Veterans Legal Services Program
Rochelle Bobroff, Director of Pro Bono at the National Veterans Legal Services Program, supervising the Lawyers Serving Warriors® program.

The 2023-2024 edition of the Veterans Benefits Manual has been thoroughly updated with the important developments in veterans law over the past year. The most significant new information in this edition of the Manual involves the numerous changes in law made by the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act of 2022—one of the greatest expansions of veterans benefits in U.S. history. The parts of the Manual explaining the changes made by the PACT Act include:

  • The service locations in Southwest Asia, Afghanistan, and Africa that now entitle veterans to the presumption of exposure to toxic substances (Sections 3.9.2.2 and 3.4.6.10);
  • The more than 20 diseases and medical conditions that now qualify for presumptive service connection due to exposure to toxic substances, such as fumes from burn pits (Section 3.9.2.2);
  • The new service locations outside Vietnam and the Korean DMZ that entitle veterans to the presumption of exposure to herbicides containing dioxin (Sections 3.4.6.8 and 3.8.1);
  • The two additional diseases that now qualify for presumptive service connection due to Agent Orange exposure (Sections 3.8.1.2, 3.8.3, and 3.8.4);
  • Additional radiation-risk activities that qualify veterans for presumptive service connection for radiogenic diseases (Section 3.4.6.5);
  • The newly available monetary benefits for children born with spina bifida to a veteran exposed to herbicides outside of Vietnam (Section 7.7.2);
    • The greatly expanded groups of veterans that now qualify for enhanced eligibility status for enrollment in the VA health care system (Sections 10.2.1 and 10.5.2); and
    • A new section explaining the non-VA process that veterans and survivors can now use to obtain monetary damages for illnesses caused by contaminated water at Camp LeJeune (Section 3.9.1.2).

In addition to information about the PACT Act, highlights of the other updates to the 2023-2024 edition of this Manual include advocacy essentials such as:

  • How the modernized review system created by the Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act of 2017 (AMA), which took effect on February 19, 2019, has been operating in practice (Chapters 12, 13, and 16);
  • Advocacy tips on how to obtain an effective date earlier than August 10, 2022, for an award of benefits for a medical condition presumed to be caused by toxic exposure under the PACT Act (Section 3.9.2.4);
  • Advocacy tips on how to use the PACT Act’s presumption of toxic exposure to obtain a favorable medical opinion connecting such exposure to non-presumptive conditions (Section 3.9.2.5);
  • Advocacy tips on using the Claims Accuracy Request (“CAR”) program to overturn a Regional Office decision when there are clear errors of fact or law (Sections 12.8.1.10 and 16.3.2.6.6);
  • Advocacy tips for filing a successful claim for service connection for an undiagnosed illness on behalf of a veteran of the Persian Gulf War (Sections 3.7.1.2.1 and 3.7.2);
  • Discussion of the 2023 Federal Circuit decision that invalidates the VA’s secondary service connection regulation, making secondary service connection available if a primary service-connected condition prevents treatment of a different condition not otherwise connected to the primary condition (Section 3.4.4); and
  • Updated information regarding Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance Traumatic Injury Protection Program (“TSGLI”) benefits, including initial claims, administrative appeals, and federal court review (20.2.2).

The 2022-2023 Edition ISBN was 9781663347992.

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Table of contents

 Chapter 1  Introduction And How to Use This Manual

PART I  DISABILITY BENEFITS FOR VETERANS
Chapter 2  Veterans' Basic Eligibility For VA Benefits
Chapter 3  Compensation for Veterans with Service-Connected Disabilities
Chapter 4  VA Disability Benefits or Damages for Injury or Death Caused by VA Health
  Care or Other VA Activities
Chapter 5  Setting, Increasing, or Reducing a Veterans' Service-Connected Disability
  Rating
Chapter 6  Pension For Veterans with Non-Service-Connected Disabilities

PART II  VA BENEFITS FOR NON-VETERANS
Chapter 7  VA Benefits For Family Members

PART III  RULES AFFECTING THE AMOUNT OF BENEFITS PAID
Chapter 8  Effective Dates For Awards of Benefits
Chapter 9  Special Issues For Disability And Death Benefits

PART IV  VA HEALTH CARE AND OTHER BENEFITS
Chapter 10  VA Health Care
Chapter 11  Other VA Benefits

PART V  THE VA CLAIMS ADJUDICATION PROCESS
Chapter 12  Adjudication of Legacy and Modernized (AMA) Claims by VA Regional Offices
Chapter 13  Board Of Veterans' Appeals
Chapter 14  Avenues Available to Correct Errors in Final BVA Decisions and Common
  Errors Appealable to the Court
Chapter 15  Court Review of VA Decision-Making

PART VI  ADVOCACY ON BEHALF OF VA CLAIMANTS
Chapter 16  Reviewing VA Claims Files
Chapter 17  Effective Advocacy Before the VA
Chapter 18  Obtaining Military Records And Information To Help Substantiate A Claim
Chapter 19  Attorney's and Agent's Fees Paid By VA Claimants Or By The VA

PART VII  CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS
Chapter 20  Military Compensation
Chapter 21  Correcting Military Records

GLOSSARY
TABLE OF CASES
FORMS APPENDIX
INDEX