Jim,
Thank you for your most appreciated help and support to all of us vets. My ? Is this. Was rated at 40% years ago for gunshot/shrapnel Paid at 30%. Was recently rated oct of 2012 for 50 % ptsd and 50% for allergic rhinitis. So 100% but paid at 90% rate. applied for I.U. only 6 months ago .Just received letter c&p for both in next 2 months. Pretty quick i must say. Is this S.O.P. for an I.U. Claim ?. Can it actually work against me and i may be reduced on one or both ?. Also want to tell you my DAV rep requested an increase in ptsd from 50% could that be why they want another c&p for ptsd? Or are both required to make determination for I.U. Really Jim thanks for any light you can shed on this for and other vets. I am really experiencing HIGH anxiety over this. Guess i have heard too many tales of reduction in ratings etc. should i even worry about this at all.
Reply:
The C & P exam is routine. Many advocates (me) complain that the C & P exam is the most overused tool that VA has. If you sneeze, you get a C & P exam. VA has a big problem with, "This is how we've always done it" and that's one reason for the backlog.
I doubt you have anything to worry about. Yes, there are always circumstances when VA tries to reduce an existing rating. I don't see it in the cards for you. If I were you, I'd read up on these exams here http://www.vawatchdog.org/c---p-exams.html
I'll be updating that page soon so you may want to check it out in a couple of weeks.
Go into the exams having read the advice on that page and don't sweat this. If the very remote possibility did happen...that VA tried to reduce a benefit...I'll be around to help. Those are usually very simple to reverse so it's nothing for you to lose sleep over.