Citation Nr: A25019331
Decision Date: 03/04/25	Archive Date: 03/04/25

DOCKET NO. 230913-381194
DATE: March 4, 2025

ORDER

Entitlement to special monthly compensation based on housebound prior to January 6, 2025, is denied.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. During the pendency of this appeal, a February 2025 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) granted an increased rating of 100 percent for ulcerative colitis, and special monthly compensation on and from January 6, 2025.

2. The Veteran has a 100 percent disability rating based on unemployability due solely to his service-connected post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), on and from August 25, 2006.

3. Prior to January 6, 2025, the Veteran does not have an additional service-connected disability independently ratable at 60 percent, separate and distinct from the 100 percent rating based on unemployability, nor was he permanently housebound due to his service-connected disabilities.

CONCLUSION OF LAW

1. The criteria for entitlement to special monthly compensation based on housebound (SMC) prior to January 6, 2025, are not met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1114(s); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.350(i), 3.400, 3.341.

REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION

The Veteran honorably served on active duty in the United States Navy from June 1971 to April 1973. See DD Form 214. 

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a September 2022 rating decision issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO), denying the claim. In September 2023, the Veteran appealed the denial and selected the direct review docket on his Notice of Disagreement. See September 2023 VA Form 10182.

Notably, while the case was pending, in February 2025, the RO granted both an increased rating of 100 percent for ulcerative colitis, and SMC on and from January 6, 2025. Presuming that a claimant is seeking the maximum benefits allowed by law and regulation, the claim has been recharacterized accordingly. See AB v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 35, 38 (1993).

APPLICABLE EVIDENTIARY WINDOW

As the appellant has selected the Direct Review Docket, the Board may only consider the evidence of record before the AOJ at the time of its decision on the issue(s) on appeal. See 38 C.F.R. §§ 20.300(a), 301. The Board will not consider evidence received after the AOJ decision unless the claimant files a timely request for a Board hearing or an opportunity to submit additional evidence on the NOD (VA Form 10182). 38 C.F.R. § 20.301. The appellant has not filed such a request. If additional evidence was submitted after the AOJ decision, the Board will not consider it. The appellant is welcome to file a supplemental claim to have this evidence considered. See Cook v. McDonough, 36 Vet. App. 175 (2023). 

Entitlement to SMC prior to January 6, 2025.

Under 38 U.S.C. § 1114(s), SMC is payable at the housebound rate if the Veteran has a single service-connected disability rated as 100 percent and either of the following are met: (1) there is additional service-connected disability or disabilities independently ratable at 60 percent, separate and distinct from the 100 percent service-connected disability and involving different anatomical segments or bodily systems; or (2) he or she is permanently housebound by reason of service-connected disability or disabilities. 38 U.S.C. § 1114(s); 38 C.F.R. § 3.350(i).

One is permanently housebound by reason of service-connected disability or disabilities, when substantially confined to his or her dwelling and the immediate premises or, if institutionalized, to the ward or clinical area, and it is reasonably certain that the disability or disabilities and resultant confinement will continue throughout his or her lifetime. 38 C.F.R. § 3.351(d).

The Veteran has been awarded a 100 percent disability rating based on unemployability due solely to his service-connected PTSD on and from August 25, 2006. 

Prior to January 6, 2025, the Veteran does not have a separate, additional service-connected disability independently ratable at 60 percent, separate and distinct from the 100 percent rating received for a TDIU. Finally, the Veteran does not contend, nor does the evidence of record before the Board in this appeal support, that he is permanently housebound by reason of his service-connected disabilities.

As a matter of law, the criteria to establish SMC on account of being housebound prior to January 6, 2025, are not met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1114(s); 5107(b); 38 C.F.R. § 3.350(i)(2). As a result, entitlement to SMC prior to January 6, 2025, must be denied.

 

 

C.B. Iwanowski

Acting Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	E. Fiorito, Associate Counsel

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.