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Did you know that VA Claims Insider has a VA disability calculator to help you decipher what your VA Disability rating is intended to be? This feature, which is available on our app, is a great asset for gathering an estimate on your compensation rating.
What is a Military Disability Rating?
A “Military Disability Rating” refers to the percentage assigned to a medical condition by the Rating Authorities. Both the VA and the DoD use Military Disability Ratings to determine the amount of Military Disability Benefits a Disabled Veteran should receive for his conditions.
The percentage of the Military Disability Rating is intended to reflect the degree to which the condition impairs the veteran’s ability to work. Or, in the case of mental health conditions, the degree to which the condition impairs a service member’s ability to interact with others in a social setting. All Military Disability Ratings range from 0% to 100%, rounding off to the nearest 10 (you can’t get a 33% Military Disability Rating—it would be rounded down to 30%). The higher the percentage, the worse the disability.
Once all the conditions a veteran has that qualify are assigned their Military Disability Ratings, then all the Military Disability Ratings are combined using VA Math to give the vet a single overall Military Disability Rating. This total combined Military Disability Rating is then used to determine the exact type, and monetary amount of Military Disability Benefits the veteran receives.
To understand more about this, find out from Military Disability Made Easy!
The VA Math
The VA “fuzzy” math can be confusing and can lead to many misunderstandings on how the VA determines the total percentage of a person’s disability. By using the disability calculator, you can wipe all that confusion away.
Here is an example: when you look at these disability percentages, the thought is that the overall rating would be 100%. However, the VA gave them a rating of only 90%. Let’s look at how the VA determined that this person’s Military Disability Rating is 90%. The following image is this Veteran’s disability list. As you can see, there are several that are not service connected but there are also some that are service connected. We’re going to be taking the ratings from the service-connected disabilities and inputting them into our calculator.
In the next image, you will see the first prompt from our calculator. You will type in the number of disabilities you would like to calculate. In this example, we are discussing a Veteran who has 8 disabilities, so we’ll put in 8.
After you click submit, another form will come up. In this form, you will input each disability rating. Start from the highest rated disability and decrease to the lowest rated disability.
The following image shows the results given by the previous input percentages.
How is the VA Disability Calculator Valuable to me?
Your first thought might be: “But, with all of those percentages why doesn’t this veteran have a 100% disability rating?” Well, let’s look at those percentages from a different perspective.
You are 100% human. The first percentage entered is 70%. This is also the highest number entered You will take that and subtract it from your 100%. Therefore, there is 30% remaining of you. Take the next highest percentage, 30. Now that is 30% of the 30% remaining of you. Then so on down the percentage list.
If you are a visual learner, this is roughly what the math looks like:
100 – 70% = 30
30 – 30% = 21
21 – 20% = ~17
17 – 10% = ~15
15 – 10% = ~14
14 – 10% = ~12
12 – 10% = ~11
There is value in this calculator because it will allow you to see exactly how the VA calculates the disability rating. This is how the VA determines your total disability rating. The label of the VA’s “Fuzzy” math is a myth.
The VA “Fuzziness”
The VA rater determining the eligibility of disability is not a doctor. They often do not take the time to read through medical evidence with a fine-toothed comb. It is up to you to clear up that fuzziness the rater has. You will do this through statements and supporting evidence in order to get that rating you deserve. This calculator will allow you to see what you must do to reach your goal percentage and help you understand how the math works.
Here is the link to the VA Insider link to the disability calculator. I hope that you find this information helpful in your journey.
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About the Author
About VA Claims Insider
VA Claims Insider is an education-based coaching/consulting company. We’re here for disabled veterans exploring eligibility for increased VA disability benefits and who wish to learn more about that process. We also connect veterans with independent medical professionals in our referral network for medical examinations, disability evaluations, and credible independent medical opinions and nexus statements (medical nexus letters) for a wide range of disability conditions.
