What is VA Disability Compensation ?
Disability Compensation is a benefit paid to a veteran because of injuries or diseases that happened while on active duty, or were made worse by active military service. It is also paid to certain veterans disabled from VA health care. The benefits are tax-free. Note, the Veterans Administration, is now called the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA). That home page can be reached online: Here
There is also a Veteran Benefits Administration that covers serving veterans to receive the benefits they earned: Here
Who Is Eligible ?
You may be eligible for Disability Compensation if you have a service-related disability and you were discharged under other than dishonorable conditions.
How Much Does The VA Pay ?
The amount of basic benefit paid ranges from $108 to $2,299 per month, depending on how disabled you are.
Disability - 2005 Monthly Rates for Veteran alone.
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10 percent $112
20 percent $218
30 percent $337
40 percent $485
50 percent $690
60 percent $873
70 percent $1,099
80 percent $1,227
90 percent $1,436
100 percent $2,923
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In addition, amounts up to $6,845 per month (R.2) are paid when the eligible veteran is adjudged to have suffered certain specific, severe disabilities. These are all decided on an individual basis. Federal law has been recently changed to permit the award of VA disability compensation concurrently with military retirement pay.
Allowances for Dependents
Veterans whose service-connected disabilities are rated at 30 percent or more are entitled to additional allowances for dependents. The combined amount, from $377 to $2,528 a month for spouses alone; and for veterans with a spouse and children, each child earns $26 to $88 in additional income per month. A disabled veteran evaluated 30 percent or more also is entitled to receive a special allowance for a spouse who is in need of the aid and attendance of another person.
NOTE: You may be paid additional amounts, in certain instances, if:
you have very severe disabilities or loss of limb(s)
you have a spouse, child(ren), or dependent parent(s)
you
have a seriously disabled spouse
The VA pays disability compensation to close the gap in dollars between what you earn now and what you could earn if you did not have the disability. The amount of payment can be reduced if a Veteran or their family has excessive assets. Chapter 16, of the Code of Federal Regulations is an extensively detailed publication that outlines this subject.
Other Factors Affecting Payment Levels
Adjustments to rates are based on a number of factors in addition to dependents. Among factors that can have a significant effect on amounts are:
Veterans with severe service-connected disabilities such as loss of limbs may receive compensation in excess of the 100 percent disability rate.
Additional allowances may be made for veterans requiring aides, such as bedridden individuals who need assistance with eating, bathing or certain other activities of daily living. This adjustment often is referred to as "aid and attendance."
Veterans whose service-connected disability renders them unable to maintain gainful employment may meet criteria for allowances at the 100 percent compensation rate under a program called "Individual Un-employability." A veteran with a single service-connected disability may be eligible if the veteran's disability is rated at 60 percent or more. A veteran with multiple disabilities may be eligible if the veteran has a combined rating of 70 percent or more and at least one of the disabilities individually is rated 40 percent or higher.
Facts About VA Disability CompensationDisability compensation for veterans is not subject to federal or state income tax. About 80 percent of veterans receive their VA benefits by direct deposit, which VA recommends for security reasons.
Veterans are rated at increments of 10 percent reflecting degree of disability. As federal regulations summarize the underlying principle, "The percentage ratings represent as far as can practicably be determined the average impairment in earning capacity resulting from such diseases and injuries and their residual conditions."
Where a veteran has more than one disability, the percentages are not added together to produce a new, overall rating. Instead, a formula described in federal regulations calculates the overall rating.
A veteran may be rated at zero percent, meaning there is evidence of the service-connected condition, but it does not impair the veteran. An example is a minor scar. This zero percent rating, though not compensable, is beneficial, since it raises the veteran's priority in other VA programs and it may be reviewed for a higher rating if the condition worsens.
A veteran may have a number of disabilities individually evaluated 0 percent which produce 10 percent combined disability and entitle the veteran to disability compensation. At the beginning of fiscal year 2002, there were 16,865 veterans in this category of so-called "compensable zero" ratings. Another estimated 1.2 million veterans have overall ratings of 0 percent.
The largest category of service-connected disabilities at the beginning of fiscal year 2002 was musculoskeletal problems, accounting for 40 percent of all disabilities. This includes such problems as impairment of the knee and arthritis due to trauma.
Annual Cost of Living Adjustment
A proposed cost-of-living increase is included in the President's budget proposal released early each calendar year. It is part of the spending forecast and appropriations request for the ensuing fiscal year, a starting point for legislative discussion. However, the actual percentage increase is set through a separate bill debated by Congress and usually signed into law the following fall.
Legislators are not bound by any specific annual Consumer Price Index formula, but historically have chosen to mirror the percentage given to Social Security recipients. The Social Security increase, in turn, is based on a Bureau of Labor Statistics calculation of the rise in the consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers (CPI-W).
Cost of living adjustments become effective December 1 each year but are first reflected in the so-called "January payment," which is the payment received by veterans on or about the first day of the new year. Whenever a payment falls on a holiday or weekend, as is the case with the Jan. 1 payment each year, that month's payment is issued the last preceding business day.
How Do I Apply ?
You
apply by filling out VA Form 21-526, Veterans Application for Compensation
Or Pension. This form has changed extensively to a 26 page correlation
covering the entire gamut of how to complete the form to providing the form for
filling out.
If you have any of the following material, attach it to your
application:
Dependency records (marriage & children's birth certificates)
Medical evidence (doctor & hospital reports)
Click on this icon to download Form
21-256
Completing an Online Application via the Internet
You can also apply online using the "Veterans Online Applications" (VonApp) where all the forms you need will be provided. Click HERE.
Please note:
It is in your best interest to contact a Veteran Service Representative from one of the local Veterans Programs such as the AmVets, DAV or VFW. They are well prepared and able to assist you, free of charge or membership, in preparing and submitting your claim to the VA. The process is regulated by laws and technicalities that must be followed to the letter. One slip could mean a lengthy hold on the timeliness of your claim, or worse, denial.Specially Adapted Homes
Disabled veterans may be entitled to a grant from VA for a home specially adapted to their needs or for adaptations.
For $43,000 Grant. VA may approve a grant of not more than 50 percent of the cost of building, buying or remodeling adapted homes or paying indebtedness on those homes already acquired, up to a maximum of $43,000. Veterans must be entitled to compensation for permanent and total service-connected disability due to:
..(a) loss or loss of use of both lower extremities, such as to preclude locomotion without the aid of braces, crutches, canes or a wheelchair, or
..(b) disability which includes (1) blindness in both eyes, having only light perception, plus (2)loss or loss of use of one lower extremity, or
..(c) loss or loss of use of one lower extremity together with (1) residuals of organic disease or injury, or (2) the loss or loss of use of one upper extremity, which so affects the functions of balance or propulsion as to preclude locomotion without using braces, canes, crutches or a wheelchair.
For $8,250 Grant. VA may approve a grant for the actual cost, up to a maximum of $8,250, for adaptations to a veteran's residence which are determined by VA to be reasonably necessary. The grant also may be used to assist eligible veterans in acquiring a residence which has already been adapted with special features for the veteran's disability. In the latter situation, the amount of the grant is based on the fair market value of the existing special features, and not their cost. Veterans must be entitled to compensation for permanent and total service-connected disability due to:
..(a) Blindness in both eyes with 5/200 visual acuity or less, or
..(b) Anatomical loss or loss of use of both hands.
Supplemental Financing. Veterans with available loan guaranty entitlement may also obtain a guaranteed loan or a direct loan from VA to supplement the grant to acquire a specially adapted home.
Housing Insurance. Veterans with a specially adapted housing grant may be eligible for Veterans Mortgage Life Insurance.
Automobiles or Other Conveyances
Veterans and current service personnel qualify for this benefit if they have service-connected loss of one or both hands or feet, or permanent loss of use, or permanent impairment of vision of both eyes. Veterans entitled to compensation for ankylosis (abnormal immobility) of one or both knees, or one or both hips, also qualify for adaptive equipment for an automobile. There is a one-time payment by VA of not more than $8,000 toward the purchase of an automobile or other conveyance. VA will pay for adaptive equipment, and for repair, replacement, or reinstallation required because of disability, and for the safe operation of a vehicle purchased with VA assistance or a previously or subsequently acquired vehicle. To apply, contact a VA regional office or the prosthetic office at a VA medical center.
Clothing AllowanceAny veteran who is entitled to receive compensation for a service-connected disability for which he or she uses prosthetic or orthopedic appliances, including a wheelchair that tends to wear out or tear clothing, may receive an annual clothing allowance. Any veteran whose service-connected skin condition requires prescribed medication that irreparably damages the veteran's outer garments also may receive the allowance.
Reduction While in Nursing Home or Domiciliary
When a veteran without a spouse or a child is being furnished nursing-home or domiciliary care by VA, the pension is reduced to an amount not in excess of $90 per month after three full-calendar months of care. The reduction may be delayed if nursing-home care is being continued for the primary purpose of providing the veteran with a prescribed program of rehabilitation services.
Vocational Training
Veterans in receipt of pensions between Feb. 1, 1985, and Dec. 31, 1995, may elect to participate in a vocational training program. Under this pilot program a veteran may receive 24 months or more of vocational training and related services as well as up to 18 months of placement and post-placement services. Work income will affect the continuing receipt of pension.
Aid and Attendance or Housebound
A veteran who is a patient in a nursing home or otherwise determined by VA to be in need of the regular aid and attendance of another person or who is permanently housebound may be entitled to higher income limitations or additional benefits, depending on the type of pension received.
Note: The above information was taken from the Federal Benefits for Veterans and Dependants 2004 Pamphlet. To view it now click HERE.
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