If you have a VA Disability claim, then you are probably interested in maximizing the benefits you will receive. This involves ratings between 0 to 100 indicating how a medical condition affects a person’s ability to work. Here are three ways you can get paid at the level of 100% compensation.
The first way you can receive 100% compensation is by having one condition so severe that it is rated at 100% on its own. Be aware that some types of conditions cannot be rated up to 100%. For example in the VA Diagnostic Code tinnitus (ringing of the ears) can only be rated up to 10%.
A second way to get paid at 100% is to have multiple combined service-connected conditions that result in a rating of 100%. This is called Combined Schedular Rating – with “Schedular” referring to the ratings schedule in the diagnostics code. You need to know that the combined number is not the result of simple addition of the individual ratings. See the video and article on VA Math 101 for a breakdown of how the VA determines ratings for combined service-connected conditions.
The third way to be paid at the 100% rating does not involve getting a rating of 100%. Instead, it requires demonstrating that despite your disability rating below 100%, your service-connected disabilities prevent you from working. This is called TDIU, or sometimes just IU. That stands for Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability. TDIU results in the same payment in benefits as a 100% rating.
A 100% rating results in monthly benefits of about $3,200 at the time of writing. Your own condition(s) and the ratings you receive will determine which path(s) toward 100% may apply to your claim. Watch the video to learn more.
At Tucker Disability Law we handle VA Disability cases every day. If your VA disability claim has been denied, or if you have any additional questions, call Tucker Disability Law at (866) 282-5260 , or review our videos and media library for more information.
Video TranscriptThree ways to get paid 100% VA compensation. I'm John Tucker and I'm a veterans' disability attorney. I represent veterans all over the country in claims for VA disability compensation. I want to tell you three different ways that VA can pay veterans at the 100% level. I'm very often asked by veterans when they call, "How do I get 100%?" Well, the first way is if a veteran has one condition that's so severe, that VA has determined that it actually would prevent somebody from working. VA's rating percentages are based on decisions made by VA years ago about how much a given medical condition impacts a person's ability to work. Take a mental health condition like PTSD. If it's bad enough, it can prevent someone from working and be rated 100%. Now, not every condition has ratings in VA's diagnostic code that go up to 100%. A good example is tinnitus, ringing in the ears. The maximum you can get for that is 10%. So, that takes us to the second way that a veteran can get 100% compensation. That's a combined schedular rating. Schedular just refers to the ratings schedule that's in the diagnostic code. A veteran who has more than one disability can have those combined to add up to 100%. Now it's not addition, and I've got a separate video that talks about VA math and I'd encourage you to watch that, but VA will combine those ratings and they can reach the 100% compensation level. It can't be done with small ratings like tinnitus, but when a veteran has multiple conditions, some of which are larger, it can get to 100%. Now those are the two ways to get schedular 100%. And I should tell you that currently VA compensation is paying a single veteran about $3,200 per month, but there's another way veterans can get that $3,200 per month even if they don't have 100% schedular. That's called, TDIU. Total disability based on individual unemployability, some people call it, IU. IU is something that VA uses to recognize that not all of the ratings that are in the diagnostic code add up to 100%, or compensate somebody at 100%. Sometimes it's possible that ratings that don't combine to 100% prevent a veteran from working. So if you can demonstrate that your service connected disabilities prevent you from working, you can become entitled to 100% level compensation. It's not a 100% rating, but it's the same money as if a person was 100% schedular. If you've had a claim denied by the VA for TDIU, or for multiple claims that you're trying to get rated at 100% or even one claim you're trying to get rated at 100%, call me at the number on your screen. I represent veterans in all 50 States. I'm John Tucker. Thanks for watching.
