Some Veterans may end up having 100% disability rating. Meanwhile, other Veterans also have 100%, but it’s referred to a total and permanent rating. There are a few things that differ about these ratings.
A 100% disability rating is just a year at 100%, with your total ratings combined, according to VA math. A 100% T&P rating is a combined rating that is unlikely to reduce, so it’s ‘permanent’.
How to Know if You Have a 100% Total Rating
- Ask for a code sheet. This document will tell you your current rated disabilities and if any of your disabilities are known as static.
- If you have any Static disabilities (condition that will not improve, i.e. blindness or loss of a limb).
If you are 100% Total, you are subject to a VA re-examination, usually within two to five years of the original VA decision.
If you have a 100% combined rating, then you may get a re-evaluation setup from the VA. You will be notified of this appointment by the VA.
Note: Always be sure to update your contact information for the VA.
If the VA sends a notification to you to the address that they have on file, and you no longer live there, then they legally held to their portion and you did not. If you move or anything like that, be sure your information is up-to-date.
In the event that you do go through a re-evaluation and they decide they want to reduce you, you do have 60 days to submit evidence to prove whether the reduction is unjust. You can submit evidence such as any medical documentation you may have from previous doctor visits, showing how it has not gotten any better, how’s gotten worse.
If you do happen to get the reduction, despite your efforts, you will have 30 days to request an appeal of that reduction.
Benefits of 100% T&P – Retiree Type Benefits
- No re-examinations (in most cases)
- Access to posts
- Use the commissary
- Military Exchange Shopping
- Space-A Flights
- Champ VA Healthcare
- Chapter 35 Dependent Education Assistance for Spouse and Children
- State level benefits
There’s no magical formula to determine how you get the total and permanent, it is just what the VA kind gives you based off what they review.
How to Qualify for Permanent Disability
There are few ways to qualify for permanent disability:
- Age
- Static
- Protections
- Reductions
Static
If it is a disability that is static, such as loss of a limb disability, there is a very unlikely chance of getting called in for a reevaluation or reduction by the VA. You can feel confident in having the same static rating permanently.
Age
If you are over the age of 55 years old and you have a 100% disability rating total, then you are all but considered permanent. There are a few things to keep in mind about this, and we’ll explain those in the next section.
Protection
There are time protections with your VA ratings. These protections help you keep the same rating, or improve, over 5 year time spans without reductions from the VA. For example, if you had a 30% rating 5 years after your initial claim file and now you have a 50% rating 10 years later, the VA cannot reduce your rating lower than the 30% you had at the 5 year mark.
It’s important to talk about your improvement or unimprovement on your disabilities with your doctor. We don’t want you to think that you’ll get a reduction if you’re being honest about your conditions. However, if your condition is improving on a sustained basis, to the point that you are becoming free of pain, then the VA does have the right to reduce your rating for that disability.
Reductions
Another way you can become permanent is if a VA reduction would not bring your total combined rating lower than 95. Using the VA’s lovely math system, if you had 100% total, and your points came up to a 97 or 98, if they were to take away a 10 or 20 point disability, you’re still going to be over 95, so it makes no sense to reduce you.