Are you a Veteran who’s trying to get the VA disability benefits you deserve? Filing your claim with the VA can be frustrating and confusing — especially if you don’t know where to start. Understanding your rating is crucial to building and proving your VA disability claim.
What is a VA Disability Rating?
You might be wondering, “what is a VA disability rating?” A VA disability rating is given to a disabled veteran during the VA disability claim process. This rating is also known as a percentage that determines how much benefits (money) the Veteran will be eligible to obtain for their service-connected disabilities.
Eligible Service-Connected Conditions
There is a long list of conditions that will make you eligible to receive VA disability benefits. As long as there is medical evidence to prove your disability is service-related, you have the opportunity to receive disability benefits.
Two common conditions include:
- Physical disabilities
- Mental Disabilities
Physical disabilities can include conditions such as hearing loss, chronic pain, asthma, and cancers caused by exposure to toxic chemicals during your time in service. Mental disabilities can include conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, and traumatic brain injury (TBI).
VA Rating System
The VA follows the rules of the VA’s Schedule for Rating Disabilities (VASRD) to determine rating percentages. This is based on your symptoms, treatment options, and how it directly results from your disability.
All disabilities range from ratings between 0% and 100% and go by increments of 10. If the VA gives you a 0% disability rating, it typically means that the condition hardly affects your daily life. However, is still seen as present (or maybe you didn’t provide enough medical evidence). A rating of 100% generally means your condition is severe enough that you are either not able to work or that your condition impacts your daily life tremendously.
You can also receive a rating for multiple conditions.
VA Disability Compensation
You might be wondering, “what will my disability compensation look like?” Your compensation will determine the rating the VA assigns to you for your condition(s).
The VA will also look into your current living situation — If you have children, a spouse, or dependent parents, you will be eligible to receive additional compensation benefits.
For example, a Veteran receiving benefits in 2021 with no dependents can receive these amounts monthly:
- 10%: $144.14
- 20%: $284.93
- 30%: $441.35
- 40%: $635.77
- 50%: $905.04
- 60%: $1,146.39
- 70%: $1,444.71
- 80%: $1,679.35
- 90%: $1,887.18
- 100%: $3,146.42
You can find the full VA Disability Compensation rates for 2021 here.
Contact Us!
We hope this article helped you better understand VA disability ratings! Ready to start on your VA disability claim? Please don’t go through it alone, and contact us today.
