Va Disability Combined Rating Calculator

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How Long Does Va Take For Back Pay

Compensation 101: How did I get this rating?

You have received an award for retro or VA back pay and you want to know how long it will take for the VA to pay you your disability benefits. Well, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, once a veteran receives a rating of 10% or more, they will receive a payment within 15 days of the grant of their disability claim.

However, this is not always the case. Oftentimes, the start date for your VA disability back pay is held up for several months delaying the lump sum payment or monthly payment. The VA can hold up payment on disability compensation due to several issues:

  • Being unable to find the veteran make sure they have your current address and banking information for direct deposit. The VA uses existing information they have on file, which may not always be your current address or banking info.
  • If a veteran requires a fiduciary if a Veteran has been found incompetent to handle their funds, they will have to find a person to do so before their award is issued.
  • If the veteran received severance, disability, or retirement pay during the effective time of the retroactive disability pay, or for the same condition they were medically discharged from active duty service for, the VA will have to calculate and deduct those payments from the amount of back pay.
  • Whats A Disability Rating

    We assign you a disability rating based on the severity of your disability. We express this rating as a percentage, representing how much your disability decreases your overall health and ability to function.

    We then use your disability rating to determine your disability compensation rate, so we can calculate how much money youll receive from us each month. We also use your disability rating to help determine your eligibility for other benefits, like VA health care.

    How To Increase Your Va Disability Rating

    If you feel your VA rating does not accurately reflect the impact your service-connected disability has on your life, you can try to get the VA to increase your disability rating.

    One way to do this is to file an appeal.

    If youre still within a year of the VAs decision on your initial claim, you can file a Notice of Disagreement to kick off the formal appeal process. Youll use the Notice of Disagreement form to declare what you disagree with and indicate how youd like your appeal to proceed.

    If you are outside of the one-year period for a notice of disagreement, you can file a new claim for an increased rating. Be sure to include any new evidence, medical opinions or documentation showing that your condition has worsened or is worse than the VA previously rated it

    If your condition has worsened to the point that you can not work, you can file for TDIU, or total disability based on individual unemployability. When in doubt, you can always reach out to a Veterans Service Officer at a Veterans Service Organization. VSOs will help you with your claim free of charge.

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    How To Calculate Your Combined Va Disability Rating

    The VA uses the combined ratings table to determine a final disability rating for a veteran with multiple disabilities.

    To use this table, you must first list each of your disability ratings in order of severity . Find the first one in the left column, and then find where it intersects with the top column number representing your second highest disability rating. Round to the nearest 10 if those are your only two ratings. If not, put the number from the intersection point in the left column, then find where it intersects with the top row number representing your third-highest percentage.

    Repeat this process until you have run the numbers for all disability ratings, then round to the nearest 10.

    For example, a veteran rated for a 50% disability and a 30% disability, would receive a combined rating of 65%, which the VA rounds to the nearest 10, so 70%.

    In a different example on the VA official site, a veteran rated with two disabilities at 40% and 20% has a combined value of 52%. The VA rounds that number down to 50%.

    Assign A Severity Rating To Each Condition

    VA Math  Military Disability Made Easy  #1 in Veterans Disability

    The Veterans Administration uses a disability rating system to assess the severity of a veterans injuries or illnesses and determine their eligible benefits. The ratings range from 0% to 100% and are assigned based on the veterans medical records evidence.

    The VA will first assign a severity rating to each of your disabilities and then combine those ratings to arrive at an overall disability rating. The VA disability calculator can help determine your overall disability rating. The higher your overall disability rating, the greater the level of benefits you will receive.

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    Calculate Your Total Points

    The Department of Veterans Affairs uses a point-based system to determine eligibility for VA benefits. The VA will consider your military service, disability, and financial need when awarding benefits.

    To calculate your total points, the VA will first assign point values to different factors, such as length of service, type of discharge, and disability rating. Then, they will add up all the points values to get your total points.

    The higher your total points, the greater your eligibility for VA benefits. You can contact your local VA office or visit their website if you have any questions about how the VA calculates benefits.

    What Do Va Disability Ratings Represent

    The first thing to understand is what your disability rating represents.

    In short, the VA takes each individual injury or illness into consideration and gives it a numerical disability rating divisible by 10 .

    A good way to look at this is to consider how disabilities affect your ability to perform work and daily activities. To do this, the VA looks at how your disability affects your overall efficiency. Lets say you are a normal 40-year-old retiree with no major service-connected injuries or illnesses. Your efficiency would be rated at 100%.

    But, if you just retired from the military after 20 years of service and tweaked your knee while you were deployed, you may be eligible for benefits.

    Lets say you had an arthroscopic surgery for the injury, but still have some pain and stiffness in that knee. The VA could grant you a 10% service-connected disability rating. The VA determines this rating by looking at your efficiency, which it calls 90%.

    In the previous example, it seems like you can just subtract the 10% from 100% and come up with 90%. But the VA does the math differently:

    Were going to come back to why we did the math this way.

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    About Our Va Disability Calculator

    VA Disability Benefits include tax-free monetary compensation and other benefits, depending on the VA Disability Rating. The VAs calculations use a percentage of the Veterans remaining non-disabled percentage when adding the next disability percentage. For example, if a veteran had three disabling conditions rated at 30%, 20% and 20%, the VA would first apply the largest percentage, 30%.

    To factor in the next percentage, it would not simply add 20 to 30 and get 50. Rather, it would apply the 20% to the Veterans remaining 70% of non-disability. The resulting 14% would be added to the current rating of 30%, creating a total of 44%. If these were the only two disabilities on hand, this would get rounded down and the Veteran would receive a total disability of 40%.

    Next, the third disability rating, 20%, would be applied to the remaining 56% . This would result in an individual rating of 11%. This would then be added to the total of 44%, generating a total disability rating of 55%. This number would then be rounded up, producing the combined disability rating of 60%. Normal math would have reached a 70% disability rating instead.

    If all of this seems more than a bit confusing to you, rest assured that you are not alone. Thats why we have provided the calculator above to help you get a better idea of how your disability ratings add up using VA math. Keep in mind that this tool should be used only to get a general idea of how disability ratings are combined.

    Using The Va Disability Calculator

    Using the VA Combined Rating Table and VA Math

    We have provided a VA Disability Calculator to help veterans understand how their disability ratings are established. Among the more frequently heard objections weve got from veterans is How on earth was the VA able to arrive at the figure for the combined rating they did with all the current ratings Ive got? Have you ever questioned what formula the VA devised to figure the combined rating you received? It may have occurred to you that 2 + 2 does not equal 4 to the VA when they do the math.

    Its substantially beneficial that you know the way your rating is established in order to ensure that your benefits are calculated appropriately. The disparity can actually cost hundreds, or even thousands of dollars a year in compensation payments and other benefits.

    It is because the VA takes the position that it will not add whole numbers together to calculate your rating. Rather, the VA takes percentages of percentages when considering service-connected compensation claims.

    What Is The Formula?

    Firstly, the VA treats each illness or injury individually when considering your numerical disability rating. Ratings are represented by a percentage in increments of 10% . Normal healthy veterans with no service-connected injury or illness have an efficiency rating of 100%. Then according to the severity of disibility it goes down from there. It may help to follow along with the rating table or the VA Disability Calculator as we go.

    For Example

    Then you add 10% of 19, or 1.9%.

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    Do You Deserve A Higher Va Rating

    Are you stuck, frustrated, and underrated?

    In my brand-new FREE 45-minute video training youll learn 3 SECRET VA Disability Claim Tips that could get you a higher VA disability rating , even if youve already been denied

    Heres what youll learn in todays VA Claim SECRETS video training:

    VA Disability Rating Calculator Tip #1:How to Get a VA Disability Increase, Take Control of YOUR claim, Get an Immediate VA Disability Rating Increase, and Have it Decided 6 Months FASTER.

    VA Disability Calculator Tip #2:How to Legally, Morally, Ethically, and Medically Get a 100 Percent VA Disability Rating and Over $3,000/month, Tax-Free, for Life

    VA Rating Calculator Tip #3:How to Write Your Statement in Support of a Claim and Obtain Buddy Letters, So YOU Can Get the VA Rating and Compensation You Deserve.

    Applying For Va Disability Benefits

    Applying for VA disability benefits can be an arduous process with a lot of complicated hoops to jump through. It can also be a very easy process thats relatively straightforward depending on how much research you do and whether or not you are working with an experienced VA disability attorney.

    If you are struggling with a condition that you believe was either caused or worsened by active military service, reach out to one of our VA disability lawyers for assistance.

    If youre not sure what conditions might qualify for compensation, check out our list of the 10 most common VA disability claims to get an idea of what counts.

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    How To Use The Va Disability Pay Calculator

    To calculate your disability rating, take a look at your VA disability compensation award letter and select your official rating.

    Next, select the number of dependents in each applicable category.

    Then, select the appropriate box for your marital status, and whether or not your spouse needs Aid and Attendance benefits.

    Once youve filled out everything, toggle the switch for monthly or annual compensation and hit calculate. .

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    How Can Just4veterans Assist

    Va Combined Rating Table Calculator

    Our goal is to assist veterans in obtaining the highest possible rating from the Department of Veterans Affairs by providing them with the resources and support they need to successfully navigate the VA Claim process. As a result, veterans will have a comprehensive understanding of the benefits available to them as well as the steps they must take to obtain those benefits.

    Veterans helping veterans to gain maximum amount of benefits from the VA

    Overview

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    What Do The Results Mean

    The numbers that you get from the benefits calculator are not a guarantee of the disability rating or award that you will receive. Instead, they are meant to give you a rough idea of how much you may be entitled to based on your disability and the number of dependents that you have.

    These numbers may change significantly based on the VAs assessment of your disability, and if your family situation changes. In the example above, if you were married with three children under the age of 18, then your potential benefit amount would increase to $801.73. If your disability rating also decreased to 30%, then the benefit amount would drop to $566.83.

    This calculator is a starting point to help you figure out the amount of benefits that you may be entitled to if you file an application with the VA. If you have additional questions, reach out to a veterans benefits attorney to schedule a free claim review.

    How Bilateral Disabilities Affect Your Rating

    There is one more issue we need to consider that can greatly impact your rating: the bilateral factor.

    What is the Bilateral Factor? The bilateral factor applies to veterans living with disabilities that affect both limbs . The disabilities dont have to mirror each other. The VA considers separate injuries affecting the left foot and the right knee, for example, to be bilateral.

    The VA combines the individual rates for bilateral injuries and adds 10% of the combined amount to the total percentage, according to the VA. It uses the new total as one rating when calculating the rest of your combined total.

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    Va Combined Rating Table 2022

    Many veterans are confused about how the VA determines combined disability ratings. VA math does differ from the math we learned in school. However, it gets easier when you learn how the VA calculates disability ratings, and how to use the VA combined rating table.

    VA math is simple when you have only one rated disability. Your rating for that disability and the rating for your total disability will be one and the same. However, most veterans have more than one service-connected disability. So how does the VA consider all of them? Thats where it can get complicated.

    Understanding how the VA comes up with your combined rating is important because it helps you be sure your VA disability benefits have been calculated correctly, giving you the disability compensation you deserve. Your combined rating is vital because it can represent hundreds or even thousands of dollars in monthly benefits.

    To help make sense of the VA rating system and how your rating is calculated when you have more than one rated disability, lets explore the VA combined rating table .

    You DESERVE a HIGHER VA rating.WE CAN HELP.

    Take advantage of a FREE VA Claim Discovery Call with an experienced Team Member. Learn what youve been missing so you can FINALLY get the disability rating and compensation youve earned for your service.

    Using The Va Combined Rating Table To Calculate Your Va Disability Rating

    VA Math: How the Combined Rating Table Works for Veterans Disability Claims

    For all the confusion around VA math, determining your disability rating using the Combined Rating Table is actually pretty straightforward. Weve reproduced the VA Combined Rating Table in full at the bottom of this post for your reference. To use the rating table, you need to start with the highest disability percentage, and from there arrange them in order of severity, highest to lowest. Find the highest disability in the left column and the next highest disability in the top row. The number where the column and row meet will represent the combined value of both disabilities. So, returning to the example of John, we find the number at the intersection of Johns 60% PTSD rating and his 30% disabling back injury, which is 72%.

    Next, we use this combined value of 72% for the left column, and then find the next highest disability on the top row, which is Johns 10% left knee. The number at the intersection of 72% and 10% is 75%.

    Repeating the same process once more, we use 75% for the left column and find the 10% for hearing loss in the top row, giving us 78%. The last step is to round up or down to the nearest 10. Thats how the VA arrived at that 80% rating for Johns combined disabilities.

    Need help with a claim? Give us a call today at , or hit the button below to schedule a free consultation.

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    Example Using The Bilateral Factor

    Lets stick with the example profile from above, but lets add another knee disability, one on each leg. So, in total, were working with:

    • 10% rating for right knee
    • 10% for left knee
    • 30% rating for a back injury
    • 20% rating for right shoulder injury
    • 10% for hearing loss.

    The two knee injures would qualify for the bilateral factor.

    The disability rating for each knee was 10%, but when combined, they equal 21%, according to the VAs Combined Rating Table. Here is how it works:

    Who Is Hill & Ponton

    At Hill & Ponton, a team of va disability lawyers, we have reviewed our veterans ratings by hand over many years. We finally developed a disability rating calculator to combine all the veterans ratings and give the final combined rating. After the calculator determines the rating, then you can put in the number of dependents and it gives you the monthly compensation rate that VA should be paying you. This calculator has helped us a lot when we can double-check the ratings of our veterans. As a result, we decided to put it on our website so that others can benefit from it too. The calculator cannot make the VA get the right rating but it can help you understand where you stand. A foundation of where you are in your claim will better help you get to where you want to go. This has been updated for 2023 rates as of 12/1/2022.

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