After the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) determines that you are a Veteran who suffers from a disability and are eligible for benefits, it will assign a disability rating to your disability. This rating will be crucial to the determination of the amount in monthly disability benefits you will receive. If your rating is set too low, it can cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars in monthly benefits.
What Is a Disability Rating?
A disability rating is an average detriment to your earning capacity resulting from your service-related illness or disability. The VA uses a Schedule for Rating Disabilities that contains over 500 diagnostic codes for physical and mental disabilities as part of its assessment. Once your disability is assigned a diagnostic code, the VA uses a rating scale of 0 to 100% in 10% increments to set your disability rating. Your disability may be rated at anywhere between 10 to 100%. The greater the percentage, the more severe your disability is considered, and you would receive a larger monthly disability payment.
If you are like many Veterans, you may suffer from more than one disability. The VA will not just add the percentages for each disability to establish your rating. Instead, they will use a different rating table and complicated formula to set it.
How Your Disability Rating Will Determine Your Monthly Benefits
The VA sets the disability rate of payment every year to take into account Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLA). In 2019, as a single person, you could receive these monthly payments based on your disability rating:
- 10%: $140.05
- 20%: $276.84
- 30%: $428.83
- 40%: $617.73
- 50%: $839.76
- 60%: $1,113.86
- 70%: $1,403.71
- 80%: $1,631.69
- 90%: $1,833.62
- 100%: $3,057.13
If you are married or have dependent children or parents, you would receive additional monthly benefits based on your disability rating. For example, if you are married with one child, here is what you may receive depending on your percentage of disability:
- 30%: $516.83
- 40%: $735.73
- 50%: $1026.36
- 60%: $1,290.86
- 70%: $1,609.71
- 80%: $1,867.69
- 90%: $2,098.62
- 100%: $3,352.41
Discuss Your Disability Rating With a Roswell VA Disability Lawyer
As these examples show, it is crucial that your disability rating is set at the correct rate so that you receive the disability benefits that you are entitled to. Our experienced VA disability attorneys can help you ensure that the VA rates your disability properly. To learn more about your entitlement to benefits and how we can help, call our office to schedule your free consultation today.
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