Published June 24, 2026. The benefits-news items below were current as of that date. This is an archived issue of our weekly email — subscribe here to get new issues first.
Reading a denial like the board does
Branch CRSC boards deny for a short list of recurring reasons. Learn them and your denial letter stops being a verdict and starts being a to-do list:
- No documented nexus — the rated condition is real, but nothing in the packet ties it to a qualifying event. Most common, most fixable.
- Wrong evidence — a VA rating decision by itself, with no service records showing how the injury happened.
- Condition not rated by VA — CRSC rides on VA-rated conditions; an unrated condition has nothing to attach to.
- Category mismatch — the event was legitimate but argued under the wrong combat-related category (claimed as armed conflict when it's textbook hazardous service).
Reconsideration is the formal second look, and new evidence is what turns it: a jump log, a line-of-duty determination, deployment orders, a buddy statement that names the event, a physician's nexus letter, treatment notes from the week it happened. Each branch runs it a little differently — the Army uses CRSC Form 12e through HRC; the Navy and Marines go through the SECNAV Council of Review Boards; the Air Force will reopen on a signed letter plus new evidence. There's no hard filing deadline, but reconsideration decisions have been averaging roughly ten months — so submit it complete the first time. Resubmitting the same packet and hoping is not a strategy.
One more reason to revisit an old CRSC file: on May 14, 2026, DoD retracted the 2025–2026 guidance that had capped retroactive CRSC backpay and directed the branches to use the effective date the CRSC statute actually requires. DoD also said it will review the records of veterans hit by the earlier capped guidance and issue corrected decisions. If your CRSC was approved but your backpay was cut short under the old rule, that's the exact population being reviewed. How fast the branches work through it is uncertain — but it's a reason to pull your old approval letter back out.
What moved this week
Closed appeal? It may reopen.
In Freund v. Collins, the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims certified a class action over VA's automated system improperly closing appeals — often without notice to the veteran. A proposed settlement would put more than 28,000 closed appeal files (cases closed between Dec. 12, 1990 and Feb. 6, 2025) through a manual review and reactivate any with a timely substantive appeal. It is not final — a fairness hearing is set for Aug. 13, 2026. If an old appeal of yours went quiet, watch your mail for notice. (Source: VA News / MOAA. Pending court approval.)
The medication-rating rule is dead — for now.
VA published an interim rule on Feb. 17, 2026 that would have let examiners discount the benefit of your medication when rating you, then fully rescinded it ten days later. The earlier Ingram standard — examiners assess your baseline severity without medication for musculoskeletal conditions — is back for new, pending, and existing claims. Caveat: VA's court appeal isn't dismissed, so it isn't fully settled. This matters whenever a VA rating underpins a CRSC theory. (Source: Federal Register / MOAA / DAV.)
Fixing the VA side first? Know the lanes.
Reconsideration runs through your branch, but if a VA-side rating has to move first, VA's three review lanes still apply: Higher-Level Review (no new evidence; ~125-day goal), Supplemental Claim (new evidence; averaging around two months in early 2026), or a Board appeal (slowest). Pick the lane before you file, not after. (Source: VA.gov decision reviews.)
VA travel reimbursement (BTSSS)
If you have a service-connected rating of 30% or more — among other paths, like traveling for treatment of a service-connected condition or for a C&P exam — you can claim mileage to and from VA appointments through the Beneficiary Travel Self-Service System. The 2026 rate is 41.5 cents a mile, minus a small per-trip deductible. File within 30 days of the appointment; with direct deposit, payment usually lands in a few days. Most eligible veterans never file. Small per visit — real money across a year of appointments. (Source: VA.gov — BTSSS.)
Find your CRSC denial letter and read the reason line slowly — once. Then write down, in one plain sentence, what the board says it couldn't see. That sentence is your reconsideration to-do list. Can't translate the letter into that sentence? That's exactly what a review call is for.
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