When you’ve served your country, you deserve the benefits that come with that sacrifice. That’s why Kallio Law represents veterans in a wide range of benefits matters. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs denies benefits claims more often than you think, leaving veterans behind while they deal with long wait times and cover-ups. We can help.
Service-related Disabilities
To qualify for disability benefits, you must be a veteran with a current medical condition or disability that began or became exacerbated during your service. A whole range of physical injuries qualify for VA benefits, including:
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBI)
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Spine and back injuries
- Knee, leg, arm, and shoulder injuries
- Amputations
- Gunshot and shrapnel wounds
- Illnesses resulting from exposure to toxic chemicals
- Hearing or eyesight loss related to service
- Tropical diseases acquired while serving
- Gulf War syndrome
This list is by no means exhaustive of those injuries qualifying for VA benefits. If you have any service-related disability, you may qualify for benefits. To show a service-related injury, you need:
- A medical diagnosis of a current disability;
- Medical proof that the injury developed or became aggravated during military service;
- A medical connection between your current disability and your injury or disease that developed while serving.
Service-related medical records may provide much of the documentation needed.
Disability Ratings
Disability ratings range from 0% to 100%, with compensation ranging from $142 a month, for a 10% rating with no dependents, to $3,684 a month for a 100% rating with four dependents. Disability compensation depends on the disability rating and the number and type of dependents. Benefits are typically tax-free, and a veteran may also receive Social Security Disability at the same time with no offset.
For veterans with multiple service-related injuries or disabilities, the VA uses a complicated formula to determine the disability rating. The VA ranks each disability from most severe to least severe and determines a veteran’s efficiency based on the most serious disability. If a veteran has two disabilities, and the most severe disability renders them 50% efficient, the VA will then look at the next disability on the list. If this disability has a 10% disability rating, and the veteran is still 50% efficient, the VA will multiply them, totaling 5%. Then the VA adds this 5% on to the 50% to get 55% and rounds it up to the nearest 10. So, this veteran would have a 60% disability rating.
The VA denies many veteran disability claims on the first application. Moreover, the disability rating system is imperfect and somewhat subjective in that the VA often assigns an improperly low disability rating. The nonprofit National Center for Policy Analysis reports that the VA denies 30% of veterans’ initial disability claims, and many estimate that the VA wrongly denies more than 50% of those claims. At Kallio Law, we help veterans appeal their disability denial and their disability rating to ensure they get the benefits they deserve.
TDIU Denials
Total disability based on individual unemployment (TDIU) benefits disabled veterans, allowing them to be compensated at a 100% disability rating even if their total disability claims don’t add up to 100%. Kallio Law represents clients in pursuit of TDIU and higher disability ratings.
Other Veteran’s Benefits
Veterans are also eligible for a wide range of other benefits, including:
- Education assistance;
- Vocational rehabilitation and employment;
- Veterans’ Mortgage Life Insurance;
- Service-disabled Veterans’ Insurance;
- Adapted housing grants
- Automobile allowance;
- Clothing allowance;
- Dependents’ Educational Assistance; and
- Health care.
Kallio Law helps veterans get the benefits they deserve. Kallio Law represents veterans before VA regional offices, the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, and the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.
