Your Compassionate Advocate for Veterans’ Disability Claims: Trusted Support for US Veterans

What Disability Benefits Are US Veterans Entitled to?

To qualify for veterans disability benefits, you must have a service-related disability and an “other than dishonorable” discharge. If these requirements are met, you may qualify for the following benefits:

• • VA Disability Compensation: This benefit is a monthly tax-free payment to compensate disabled US veterans for disabilities that were created or aggravated by their military service. You could qualify for anywhere from $133 to over $4000 per month, depending on the specific details of your situation.

• • Special Monthly Compensation (SMC): This benefit is paid in addition to regular VA disability compensation. Typically, this benefit is only available to those veterans who have suffered the loss of certain extremities or organs.

• • VA Travel Reimbursement For Disabled Veterans: Service-connected veterans who are at least 30% disabled, those traveling for treatment of a service-connected condition, VA pension recipients, vets traveling for scheduled compensation or pension exams, and certain low-income veterans may qualify for travel reimbursement.

• • Dependent Benefits: Veterans entitled to compensation who have a disability rated at 30% or more are entitled to additional compensation for dependents. For children to qualify, they must be ages 18 to 23, attend school, and be listed as dependents on your federal tax return. A veteran’s may be considered dependent if the veteran provides more than 50% of their support. If your spouse is also disabled, you may be eligible for increased benefits.

How is My Disability Percentage Determined?

When you apply for veterans disability benefits, the VA will use the evidence you submit and other records to determine what is known as your disability rating. This rating is expressed as a percentage and determines the level of compensation you might receive. If you have multiple disability ratings, the VA will use a complex calculation to arrive at your combined disability rating, which, again, can determine your eligibility for monthly disability benefits and other VA benefit programs. There is a combined disability rating calculator on the VA website that can help you figure out what your combined disability rating might be. The percentages for each of your disability ratings are not simply added together. Instead, the VA uses what is known as the “whole person theory” to determine your combined disability rating. This is necessary to ensure that a veteran’s total VA disability rating doesn’t add up to more than 100%because a person can’t be more than 100% disabled.

Conditions that partially disabled you before you entered the military and that were aggravated by your service will be rated at the percentage your disability increased due to the aggravation. For example, if you were 10% disabled at the time you entered the military, and after your service, you are 30% disabled from the same condition that was made worse by your service, your rating for that particular disability would be 20%.

The evidence that will be considered in determining your disability rating will include:

• • Evidence you submit (a doctor’s report or medical test results, for example)

• • Results of your VA claim exam (also called compensation and pension, or C&P, exam), if you were required to have one

• • Information that may be sought from other sources (such as federal agencies)

How Much Can I Get Per Month for My Service-Related Disability?

Compensation rates for service-related disability can vary widely and are dependent on many circumstances that will differ from veteran to veteran, but, in general, you can expect your monthly payments to fall into the following ranges (2022 numbers):

Veterans with a 10-20% Disability Rating: regardless of whether or not there are dependents, veterans at these levels of disability can expect monthly payments of around $150 to around $300.

Veterans with No Dependents at the Following Disability Ratings:

• • 30%: around $467 per month

• • 40%: around 673 per month

• • 50%: around $958 per month

• • 60%: around $1214 per month

• • 70%: around $1530 per month

• • 80%: around $1778per month

• • 90%: around $1999 per month

• • 100%: around $3332 per month

These amounts will increase if the veteran has a spouse, children, or dependent parents. Spouses of children who receive Aid and Attendance benefits will qualify the veteran for higher monthly payments, also.

What Are Special Monthly Benefits?

Special Monthly Benefits (SMC) are benefits paid to veterans who have lost the use of certain extremities or organs through their military service, either through amputation or loss of function. These benefits are paid in addition to regular VA Disability Compensation.

Conditions that will be considered for this additional benefit include:

• • Loss or loss of function of a hand or foot

• • Immobility of a joint or paralysis

• • Loss of sight in one or both eyes

• • Loss or loss of function of a reproductive organ

• • Loss or loss of function of both buttocks

• • Deafness of both ears

• • Inability to speak in a way that successfully communicates

• • Loss of tissue from a single breast, or both breasts, from mastectomy or radiation treatment

• • Paraplegia

• • Loss of bladder or bowel control

Higher rates of SMC may be paid if any of these conditions exist in combination.If you think you may qualify for these additional monthly benefits due to your service-related injuries, call our law office today.

Why Do I Need an Attorney to Access Veterans Disability Benefits?

The process of determining a disability rating and then figuring out what that means in terms of compensation can be nerve-wracking and complex. Attorney Benjamin Krause works with veterans every day to help with issues around veterans disability, whether there are questions about eligibility, difficulties filling out the necessary paperwork, or fights with the VA for well-deserved benefits. He has dedicated his practice to fighting aggressively for US veterans to get the compensation and support that they have been promised and that they so richly deserve. You have suffered losses fighting to protect the freedom of every American.

At Krause Law, it is our mission to make sure that you and your service are not forgotten. We thank you, and we want to show our gratitude by helping you get the support you need to move on with your life after a service-related injury that has left you fully or partially disabled.

Whether you are wondering how much you can expect in compensation, what is needed to qualify, how to apply, or how to appeal a denial of veterans disability benefits, Attorney Benjamin Krause has the experience and know-how to help.

You need the benefits you have earned.

Don’t wait. Call Krause Law., PLLC at (612) 888-9567 today to schedule an appointment and get started fighting for the benefits you are owed.