55y year role right which is outside of 51020 completely has nothing to do with 51020 is also a layered protection it's actual protection um but with everything it's Nuance right if you ever see the word unless or except in 38 CFR it just means that there's some other dash one or- five or CFR code that says probably the opposite right and so I'm going to show you a clear example of what I'm talking about here so here is 38 CFR I'll scroll up so you can see the code here 3327 reexaminations um everyone who talks about the 55y year rule should immediately fall to this code right here um part four in cases of veterans over 55 years of age except under unusual circumstances wouldn't it be nice if the VA just gave an example of what an unusual ual circumstance was um and anytime you know we talked about the Gap in policy last week when it comes to sleep apnea um this is also a gap in policy how I interpret unusual circumstances let's just say I'm a VA Raider might be different from how Jason interprets unusual circumstances and he let's just say he's a VA Raider right and so I I really don't like an open-ended policy thing keep in mind a lot of my degrees are in policy stuff which is it sucked every second of that absolutely sucked um and that's one of the big things that we try to avoid is gaps in policy in my opinion this is a gap in policy right and so Jason can you just I don't know get give an example of what an unusual circumstance could be sure so first I want to start off with usual circumstances right which would be probably 51% of the time or 51% of veterans would typically or more would fall in this category and 49% would fall in this category right that's how I could go okay well this is usual and this is unusual at the maximum levels right or the lowest level depending on which way you're looking at it so just from a from kind of a statistic standpoint you could you could say that this is unusual it's 49% of the time right yeah although be it it's it is if you if you're right I mean am I lying G policy see so so it could be it's a big it's a big bucket okay but I think that the intent here the intent is look a veteran who has gird or hial hernia hiatal hernia today who's 60 years old is older than 55 years of age right so the 55y old uh 55 year rule would apply has hiatal hernia we're just going to say it's static because the chances this is how this works okay this is under the reexamine um re-examinations uh uh section of the CFR so because because the veteran is over 60 years of age and has this condition which would typically warrant a reexamination between two to five years we're going to eliminate that because there're 60 and chances are as you age you're really less likely to get better from that condition and hial hernia we're seeing that in more veterans than less veterans so that's a majority of the time it's a usual circumstance now how many veterans are coming down with cancer well I mean really it's a big number so but still it's less likely that there's a veteran with cancer so that would maybe be an unusual circumstance and I'm also going to say why it is they would look at cancer for an example as an unusual circumstance in the sense of well especially depending on the type of cancer so one active cancer is rated this way period Then the unusual circumstance is well what if it's a cancer that's highly treatable great success rate to put it in and now you don't have it because it's in remission right that's an unusual circumstance so we're going to look at this diagnosis of cancer we're going to rate you here because it's active but it's a 90% chance of putting it into remission so we're going to have to reduce you even though you're 60 years old we're going to keep an eye on this and we're going to adjust accordingly from 100% active cancer to whatever it should be based on the residual aspects of having that cancer you know maybe you had to have maybe it was a throat cancer that was had a high chance of getting it into remission but they had to take out part of your whatever and you had some surgeries and now here you are right so um that would be an unusual circumstance now again I I use those funny numbers but I would like to think that the intent here is unusual means less veterans than normal would have that type of a situation and they're just leaving the door open for that meaning that for most conditions most of your run-of-the-mill things you know you got some something that would potentially warrant a future exam they're just like look you're already you know you're you're a Vietnam veteran and you're fin finally filing for PTSD right and and you did you know back-to-back tours in Vietnam and you're and you're 70 something years old really we're going to re examine you in five years because we think it's going to magically get back look you've dealt with it for so long the chances are it's probably not so we're just going to call it a day and move forward uh so back to you clay yeah the 55y year role I'm gonna go back to what I do in the civilian world uh I'm an instructor and curriculum develop developer and so whenever we teach students they ask me a question um our goal is to prompt them to think critically and so I'll ask the question back I like I'm I'm saying that because anytime I see someone on YouTube Facebook Reddit whatever says hey I'm 55 or I'm 62 whatever um are my conditions static that's I've seen that question that's Pro that's the top three questions I've seen of all time across any platform on any channel um let me tell you the answer and I'm going to throw a statistic here that's not real but you'll get the point 99.9% of veterans who are 55 and older without cancer their conditions are static right and just think about that for a second so here here's my counter question I would pose um you're at 55 plus do you think if you get a a condition right now right this second or you got it 30 years ago logically speaking you're not a medical professional I'm not a medical professional do you think your body at 55 plus is going to have the energy um the nutrients all the stuff it needs the lifespan to heal just think about that the answer is no right that's the answer that's why the 55 rule even exists in the first place I don't know why they chose 55 exactly um I would replace 55y year role just to just to I'm gonna say something Jason and I'm so sorry I'm apologizing to everyone right now I would call it the old man rule right because once you hit that old age you're at some point your body you hit his Peak and then you go down there is no healing that's essentially what the 55 year role is right right oh man if if I fall down and and and sprain an ankle or or twist break a hip right what whatever it is if I fall down and get hurt today at 50 it takes me more days to get over it than it did when I was 20 it's it's an obvious thing and that's and it's not just the exterior aspects of your body it's also the internal so everything is is not moving as fast like you had pointed out and so yeah absolutely I agree with you the 55 year rule is absolutely uh uh referencing the fact that the body doesn't heal like it used to and the chances of you getting any better is even less likely and and you have to remember clay that that what was the provision before this right was well if you show no improvement in five years well if you think about the fact that I'm older it takes me longer to heal now you're going to bypass that five years very quickly right so um you know my my bad knee now has been I mean it's never getting better my bad knee it's real bad yeah right yeah my bad knee is now real bad right but that's essentially the that's why it exists um now what I find funny and again it's a VA diabolical type funny which isn't funny at all is we have the 20-y year rule um and so you would have to be 35 years old at the latest to maintain a service connection and a rating and then you would be 55 it's very likely you'll be 55 first right for most veterans especially your go four era your I mean Vietnam era they're are they're 20 years past the 55 year Ro which is insane to say um and so everyone always freaks out you see YouTube videos about the 55 year rooll and how they're going to reduce you I'm telling you right now I'll put my life on it if you're 55 plus and you don't have unusual circumstances your conditions are static you're either pnt or you're 90% static whatever whatever number you are it's static well and and here's the here's the problem with the VA the VA does not have a calendar up in your in your file digital file that goes oh the veteran turned 55 change them to pnt so if you're 100% not permanent in total right 100% not permanent in total you're 50 years old right you just got to 100% yay in five years you got the 55 year old rule right that's now in effect because you were 50 when you got 100% and you also have the fiveyear rule that now hit in effect so you kind of got a D the it's kind of like the more of these things that you could stack on top of each other makes it even less likely for your your condition to get better which means what there's no future exam if there's no future exam what does that mean the condition's static if the condition's static what does that mean you can get switched over to permanent total but again the VA doesn't have a magical system to go back and look at you they're typically looking forward what's the next case what's the next one what's the next one they're not reaching back in time right you file for something then they go oh well let me look okay now let's look so you might have to if you know your circumstance if you know that you're 100% And you are over 55 years old and you uh really it's just that if if those two things if you're 100% and 55 years old my suggestion would be if you are not permanent in total reach out to an accredited representative talk with them about reaching out to the VA and uh having them switch you to permanent in total obviously you're going to make sure all your checks and balances are in place Not Unusual circumstances do I have all my stuff documented would you accredited rep suggest that I go to a few appointments before we file for this whatever it is right but they'll look into the system see what's going on for you specifically welcome to the world of nuance but the reality is is that you should most likely be 100% permanent in total the VA just missed it because they're forward-looking not reaching back in time yeah um that's really it for today Jason unless you want to talk about anything else I personally don't but I I will say this I genuinely believe I'm going to Pat ourselves on the back here at veterans daily I genuinely believe this has been one of the most if probably number one on my list of best informational videos that we've ever done because a 5 10 20 55 year rule makes for good clickbait and everyone talks about reductions um and I haven't seen a single video where people actually get it right I'm telling you this is correct we showed you the 38 CFR codes um we gave it to you in plain language from a from a accredited attorney site right do with that what you will if you're 55 stop asking if you're a conditions or static that answer is yes yep so check this out I got I gotta tell you this okay there's so much information out there and it's not all right do your due diligence and really double check fact check whatever you want to call it to make sure that you're going down the right path here's my case and point I'm looking at fight for vets.com which is uh attorneys at law okay pyear rule you ready yeah send it the 10year rule means the VA cannot eliminate your rating if you have had it for 10 years or more okay what does that imply I'm thinking my rating right I'm thinking my rating clay my actual percentage now they clarify it I'll give them that they clarify it after that but if I'm a veteran who's just scrolling around looking it stuff right the 10year rule the 10e rule means that the VA cannot eliminate your rating if you have had it for 10 years or more no that's not true now they qu they clarify it while they can still reduce your dis ability uh uh they can still while it can still be reduced if your disability is found to have drastically improved it cannot be revoked so they clarify it but that first part is so I don't know misleading I would say correct is what it is right okay thank you so I just wanted to throw it out there that look not not just double check make sure if something sounds a a little bit it go find it somewhere else talk with somebody call the VA directly ask them get it from the horse's mouth work with your Congressional members office have their uh staffer reach out talk to your accredited rep do a little bit of footwork like I've said before look if if if you're not treating this like it's a million-dollar deal you're wrong because this absolutely is and it's impacting you in your life so put in a little footwork if you have to any last thoughts clay before we close it out um no that's it you sung a symphony there I like all right