VA Claim Steps 1–8: What Each Stage Means and What to Do
Understand all eight VA claim steps, why a claim can move backward, and what to check at each stage. Includes a practical action table.
Intelligence Brief
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M21-1 Update: VA Reorganizes How It Service-Connects Insomnia
The VA revised M21-1, Part V, Subpart iii, Chapter 13, the Mental Disorders chapter, to reorganize and clarify how claims processors handle service connection for insomnia.
M21-1 Update: A New Exam Exception for Higher-Level Review Returns
The VA updated M21-1, Part IV, Subpart i, Chapter 2, Section A, the Examination Requests Overview, to add an exception to its complex-medical-opinion guidance for cases returned through Higher-Level Review.
BVA Case Breakdown: When a C&P Exam Is Inadequate, the Board Sends It Back
Citation A25029009: A back pain claim where the Board found the C&P violated three separate CAVC precedents and remanded. How 'inadequate exam' works.
BVA Case Breakdown: After Five Denials, an Asthma Claim Finally Won. Because of One Private Nexus Opinion
A Gulf War Army veteran fought through five VA denials for asthma and sleep apnea. The case turned on one private opinion that did what four VA examiners wouldn't.
Three Denials, One Hearing Transcript: How BVA 24009026 Cracked Open Five Claims
An Army veteran lost the same migraine claim three times across 22 years. Then he sat down at a Board hearing, told one story about being jumped at Fort Riley, and reopened five claims at once. Here's exactly how.
One TERA Memo, Seven Reopened Claims, and a $1,678 Rating: Inside BVA 24018149
A Marine's 2015 denial sat dead for eight years. Then a TERA memo, two intercurrent grants, and a single lay letter pried open seven claims at once. Here's exactly how it worked.
One Private Physician Assistant Opinion, Two Decades-Old Car Wrecks, and a Granted Neck Claim: Inside BVA A25070677
A veteran with three short service stints and two in-service car accidents got his cervical spine claim granted on a single private physician assistant's nexus opinion. Here's how the file came together.
VA Disability Pay Chart 2026: Rates and Dependent Examples
See correct 2026 VA disability rates for veterans alone and with dependents, plus additional-child amounts and a worked household payment example.
Supplemental Claim vs. HLR vs. Board Appeal: Compare Options
Compare evidence rules, forms, deadlines, and review options after different VA decisions. Includes examples and a five-line planning worksheet.
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