Citation Nr: 21077440
Decision Date: 12/29/21	Archive Date: 12/29/21

DOCKET NO. 19-05 095A
DATE: December 29, 2021

REMANDED

Whether the change in the Veteran's means test eligibility category in the VA healthcare system from copay exempt to prescription copay required for income year 2016 was not proper is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran had active duty in the Army from October 1955 to October 1957.  This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a November 2018 administrative decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Eligibility Center (HEC) in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Veteran was scheduled for a hearing before a Veterans Law Judge in October 2021.  He arrived at the hearing with his representative and stated that he did not wish to go through with the hearing.  Therefore, the Veteran's hearing request is considered withdrawn.

Income Verification Match (IVM) is a secure procedure by which VA may obtain income information from the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), in order to verify income amounts that are reported to VA.  The adjudication of this matter involves information provided by the IRS and Social Security Administration for 2016.  However, to avoid disclosure of sensitive information, the Board's decision does not directly cite dollar amounts included in any IVM report that has not been verified by the Veteran.  Therefore, the text of this decision is not subject to the additional protections required under the IVM procedures.

Whether the change in the Veteran's means test eligibility category in the VA healthcare system from copay exempt to prescription copay required for income year 2016 was proper is remanded.

The summary of evidence from the December 2018 SOC shows that on August 25, 2018, a signed and dated August 13, 2018, HEC Form 220-1 was received; and on November 16, 2018, a signed and dated October 23, 2018, HEC Form 200-1A was also received.  The record does not contain these documents.  

Therefore, the missing documents must be associated with the claims file before the claim is decided on the merits.

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

1. Associate with the claims file the HEC Form 200-1, signed and dated August 13, 2018, and the HEC Form 200-1A signed and dated October 23, 2018.

2. The Veteran should be notified that he may submit additional documents or reports regarding his 2016 income and expenses, to include real estate disclosure paperwork for the sale of property.

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3. If any of the requested documents cannot be obtained and associated with the claims file, and further attempts to obtain this record would be futile, the HEC must note such unavailability in a Memorandum of Unavailability and associate it with the claims file.

 

 

H.M. WALKER

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	J. Lee

The Board's decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.