How long?

Question:

I appealed my decision for a higher rating for MST, and for further backpay. I did this in July of 2020. How long does this take? It's been almost 2 years!

 

Jim's Reply:

I can't offer you an accurate answer since I don't know anything about your appeal. What I can tell you is that delays in the adjudication of all claims and all appeals...functions that are always running behind...are worse than ever because of the pandemic, work from home trials and so on. 
 

I also can't give you a reasonable guesstimate other than to say that 2 years delay isn't at all surprising, I'd even go so far as to say that we should expect that an appeal to BVA, for example, may take 2 years and even more.
 

There isn't much to be done about the delays unless and until the veteran is medically eligible for end of life or hospice care. If one could provide sound medical evidence of a health diagnosis that indicates that the veteran is rapidly approaching end of life, the appeals process will try to move that case up to the front of the very long line.
 

I understand that this sort of negligent treatment by VA may exacerbate your MST symptoms but the reality is, this is what we all have to deal with.
 

About all you can do is to try to stay on top of your appeal so that you understand that it's 'alive' in the system and then you wait in that long line with thousands of other with the same predicament.
 

Good luck!