Citation Nr: 18140466
Decision Date: 10/03/18	Archive Date: 10/03/18

DOCKET NO. 15-40 688
DATE:	October 3, 2018
ORDER
The Veteran's copayment status for the period of January 8, 2013 through January 7, 2014, is exempt.
FINDING OF FACT
The Veteran’s attributable income, after offset of his claimed medical expenses, for the 2012 calendar year has not exceeded the threshold amount for the VA National Means Test (NMT).
CONCLUSION OF LAW
The Veteran’s copayment status for the period of January 8, 2013 through January 7, 2014, is exempt.  38 U.S.C. §§ 1710, 1722, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.271, 3.272, 17.47.
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION
The Veteran had active duty service from November 1965 to August 1969.  This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a February 2015 letter of determination by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Eligibility Center (HEC).  The Veteran initially requested a Board hearing before a Veterans Law Judge in his June 2015 substantive appeal, VA Form 9, although he withdrew that request for a hearing in a June 2017 correspondence.
As background, the Veteran filed a means test information in January 2013.  Based on that means test and information received from the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) through the Income Verification Match (IVM) program regarding his income in the 2012 calendar year, it was determined that the Veteran’s income exceeded the NMT amount of $30,978.00, but did not exceed the GMT threshold amount for his area as a veteran without any dependents.
The Veteran asserted in his February 2015 notice of disagreement that, although the noted IVM income information was correct, VA’s decision was incorrect because it failed to take into account medical expenses he incurred in 2012 for a stroke.  The Veteran submitted evidence medical expenses in the amount of $1,290.00, and evidence of the cost of prescription medications in the amount of $432.00, with his June 2015 substantive appeal, VA Form 9.  
In the March 2015 statement of the case, it appears that the VA HEC accepted evidence of medical expenses in the amount of $1,627.00, and found that as a result of the offset such medical expenses—after the 5 percent deductible amount of $612.00, in this case—reduced the Veteran’s attributable income for the 2012 calendar year to below the NMT threshold amount.  The VA HEC assigned the Veteran’s priority group (PG) as PG5.  
The March 2015 statement of the case appears to implicitly award the Veteran copayment status as exempt for the period on appeal of January 8, 2013 through January 7, 2014, although such is not explicitly done in the statement of the case.  Insofar as such is not explicit, the Board makes that award explicit at this time.  
Given the Veteran’s confirmation in his statements of record that the IVM information was correct, and the amount of medical expenses, the Veteran’s attributable income in this case is less than the NMT threshold amount.  Accordingly, assignment of an exempt copayment status for the period on appeal of January 8, 2013 through January 7, 2014 is appropriate.  
Insofar as such was done implicitly by the VA HEC in the March 2015 statement of the case, the Board makes such exemption for that period explicit in this case and to that extent the Veteran’s appeal is granted.  38 U.S.C. §§ 1710, 1722, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.271, 3.272, 3.275, 17.47.
As a final matter, the Board acknowledges the Veteran’s complaints regarding VA customer service and its practice regarding retro-active billing of copayments.  The Board reflects that neither of those issues are appealable issues, and in any case, such complaints retarding retro-active billing are moot given the award of benefits in this case.  
 
JAMES G. REINHART
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	M. Peters, Counsel