2025 VA Disability Calculator
Have you ever wondered how the VA comes up with your combined disability rating? If you’ve ever looked at your ratings and thought, “How did they get this number?” you’re not alone. This is one of the most frequent questions our experts hear from veterans.
How Does The VA Come Up With Disability Rating?
When determining disability compensation, the VA doesn’t simply add up the percentages of each disability. Instead, it uses a system where each rating is applied as a percentage of the remaining “healthy” portion. In other words, if the VA rates you at 10% disabled, they consider you 90% healthy. When applying a second rating, they don’t add it directly to the first instead, they calculate it based on the 90% “healthy” portion.
For example, if you have two 10% ratings, the first is 10% of 100%, which equals 10%. The second 10% is calculated as 10% of the remaining 90% (the “healthy” portion), which equals 9%. So the combined rating is 19%, which is rounded up to 20%.
As you approach a higher rating, it becomes harder to reach 100%. For instance, if a veteran has 50% for PTSD, 50% for sleep apnea, 20% for diabetes, and 20% for a back condition, the combined rating is 80%. Even though 50 + 50 + 20 + 20 equals 140, the final rating is only 80% due to how the VA calculates these percentages.
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Other Factors the VA Considers for Disability Ratings
Several additional factors can influence a veterans overall disability rating. For example, if a veteran has separate ratings for both arms or legs, those ratings may be combined, potentially increasing the overall rating. However, if the veteran has too many ratings for one limb, the VA stops counting additional ratings for that limb. A veteran can also be rated at 100% through Total Disability due to Individual Unemployability (TDIU), which applies if the veteran’s disabilities prevent them from working.
How Can a VA Disability Advocate Help Me?
The team of expert VA disability advocates at Disabled Vets have reviewed thousands of disability ratings, guiding veterans through the complex VA disability claims process. The support of an expert VA Disability advocate not only simplifies the claims process but also increases the likelihood of securing the appropriate compensation and benefits veterans deserve.
Through this experience, our experts have created a unique disability rating calculator designed to help veterans accurately combine their individual ratings and determine their overall disability percentage.
Once the calculator provides the combined rating, you can also input the number of dependents to get an estimate of your monthly compensation.
While this calculator cannot change the VA’s rating decision, it provides veterans with a clearer understanding of where they stand. If you have any additional questions regarding your VA disability rating, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team here or contact us directly at 1-888-373-4722. We’re always here to help.
Call 1-888-373-4722 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form
