Top Reasons Your VA Disability Claim Gets Denied

When you apply for veteran disability benefits, the last thing you want is for your claim to be denied or delayed unnecessarily. Unfortunately, innocent mistakes can derail your claim. Earlier this year, the VA reported that the approval rate for PACT Act related claims was just over 75%. That’s significantly higher than the approval rate for all claims. That means hundreds of thousands of claims denied in 2024 alone.

Fortunately, getting the right help can make all the difference. The experienced disability benefits advocates at Disabled Vets understand what’s required to create a successful VA disability claim and how to avoid common mistakes.

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Common Triggers for VA Disability Denials

Some of the most common issues that lead to disability denials include:

Providing insufficient evidence to connect a medical condition to the veteran’s military service–in particular, failing to submit a thorough and well-crafted nexus letter.

Providing insufficient documentation of the service-connected medical condition or conditions and resulting limitations–typically not submitting adequate test results and other medical records or not providing sufficient information about the limitations the condition causes.

Making the claim too narrow–when a service-connected condition alone isn’t sufficient to warrant VA disability benefits, a combination of conditions may be. Too often, veterans fail to include secondary service-connected conditions that might have changed the outcome or resulted in a higher disability rating.

Making technical errors–a veteran who otherwise qualifies for VA disability benefits may receive a denial or see their claim denied if they use the wrong form, fail to attach required documentation, enter the wrong information, or miss a deadline.

Not cooperating with requests for more information–if the VA schedules you for a C&P exam and you don’t show up or they request additional information and you don’t respond, your claim could be decided based on the incomplete information the VA has.

Of course, these are just a few common mistakes resulting in unnecessary denial of VA disability claims. When you work with one of our experienced advocates from the beginning, we can help ensure that your claim is complete, accurate, and adequately supported. If you’ve already filed a VA disability claim and your claim was denied for one of the reasons above or another reason, it’s not too late to get help. Call us today at 888-373-4722 or fill out our contact form here for a FREE consultation.

Call 1-888-373-4722 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form