The Board denied the Veteran's claims for an earlier effective date and a compensable disability rating for hypertension (claimed as high blood pressure). The Veteran did not submit any prior communications regarding his hypertension before July 28, 2014. His current claim was received on that date, leading to the assignment of an effective date of July 28, 2014.
The deciding factor: The Board found no evidence of a formal or informal claim for service connection prior to July 28, 2014, and thus denied the earlier effective date claim. For the compensable rating claim, the Board noted that there was insufficient evidence to support a finding of diastolic blood pressure predominantly 100 or more.
- Claimed conditions
- hypertension
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 21, 2020
- Citation
- 20004568
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,549 · Granted: 26% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 20004568.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
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- Denied
The Veteran's claim for service connection for hypertension and increased rating for anxiety disorder have been denied. The Board found that there is no evidence of a current disability meeting the criteria for hypertension, and the Veteran's anxiety disorder does not meet the criteria for a higher rating.
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