VA disability claims, explained

VA disability compensation is a tax-free monthly payment for health conditions caused or worsened by military service. It is not need-based and never means-tested: your income, savings and employment do not reduce it. It is also not only for combat injuries — bad knees from rucking, hearing loss, sleep apnea secondary to PTSD, and illnesses presumed from burn-pit or Agent Orange exposure are all the same benefit.

The rating matters beyond the monthly check. A service-connected percentage is the key that opens VA health care priority, and most state and local benefits — property-tax exemptions, tuition waivers, fee exemptions — are keyed to it.

Service connection has three parts, and weak claims usually miss exactly one:

VA does not add ratings — it combines them against what is left of the “whole person.” A 30% rating leaves you 70% whole; a second, 20% rating then takes 20% of that remaining 70% (14 points), for a combined 44% — which VA rounds to 40%. That rounding step is why veterans with several mid-sized ratings often sit one condition away from a much higher bracket, and why guessing at your combined number is the most common math mistake in the system.

Ratings run 0%–100% in steps of ten. Even a 0% rating is worth filing for: it establishes service connection while the evidence is fresh, so a condition that worsens later starts from proof, not from scratch.

Start with an Intent to File: it costs nothing, takes minutes, and locks in your effective date — if the claim is granted a year later, back pay runs from the intent date, not the decision date. Then gather your evidence (service records, treatment records, statements from people who know what changed), file VA Form 21-526EZ on VA.gov, and attend the C&P exam VA schedules — missing it is the fastest way to a denial. An accredited VSO representative will do all of this with you at no charge.

Since 2019 there are three review lanes, and picking the right one matters:

• Supplemental Claim — you have new and relevant evidence VA has not seen. The workhorse lane for most low ratings and denials.
• Higher-Level Review — the evidence was right and the decision was wrong; a senior reviewer re-reads the same file. No new evidence allowed.
• Board appeal — a Veterans Law Judge decides. Slowest, strongest; this is also the stage where VA-accredited attorneys and claims agents most often get involved, under fees VA regulates.

Free accredited representation exists for every lane. Never pay anyone to file an initial claim, and never sign with anyone who is not VA-accredited — unaccredited “claim consultants” charging a cut of back pay are the single most common scam aimed at this benefit.