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Why VA Math Doesn’t Add Up: Understanding Your Combined Disability Rating
DCM TIP #1: Know Your Numbers
Do not assume that adding the percentages you see on your VA rating breakdown tells you where you stand. Understanding your individual ratings and how they work together can give you a clearer picture of your VA disability benefits.
And remember: a VA rating is about more than reaching 100%. Each service-connected condition and the evidence supporting it matters.
If you have more than one service-connected disability, you may have looked at your individual ratings and wondered: “Why don’t these add up to my combined VA rating?”
You’re not alone. One of the most confusing parts of VA disability compensation is the way the Department of Veterans Affairs calculates multiple disability ratings. VA does not simply add your individual percentages together. Instead, VA uses a combined-rating calculation. Understanding this calculation can help you better understand where you actually stand.
Why Doesn’t VA Just Add the Ratings?
VA disability percentages are designed to reflect how multiple disabilities affect the whole person. When VA combines ratings, it starts with the highest rating and then applies the next rating to the portion of the person considered unaffected.
For example, imagine a veteran has a 50% service-connected disability and a second 30% service-connected disability. You might expect 50% + 30% = 80%. But under VA’s Combined Ratings Table, 50% and 30% produce a combined value of 65%. VA then rounds the final value to the nearest 10%, resulting in a 70% combined disability rating.
What Happens When You Have More Than Two Ratings?
When a veteran has three or more disability ratings, VA generally starts with the highest ratings and works down. VA combines the first two ratings, keeps the unrounded combined value, and then combines that value with the next disability. The process continues until all applicable ratings have been calculated. The final combined value is then rounded to the nearest 10%.
Why 90% Can Be Especially Confusing
This becomes especially important for veterans trying to understand what it may take to move from 90% to 100%. A displayed 90% combined rating does not necessarily mean the underlying calculation is exactly 90.
VA rounds final combined values ending in 1 through 4 down and values ending in 5 through 9 up to the nearest 10%. That means two veterans can both be paid at the 90% level while having different underlying combined values. That difference can matter when another disability rating is added.
For example, if a veteran’s underlying combined value is exactly 90%, adding another 30% rating results in a combined value of 93%, which still rounds to 90%.
Individual Ratings Still Matter
Your combined rating is not the only number worth knowing. Veterans should also understand what conditions are service connected, what percentage is assigned to each condition, whether any conditions are service connected at 0%, and what the overall combined rating is.
Your VA Decision Letter Is More Than a Percentage: What Veterans Should Look For
DCM TIP #2: Keep Your Decision Letters
Your decision letters are some of the most important records in your VA file. Keep them, download them, and organize them with your medical records, C&P examinations, DBQs, and other claim evidence. Most importantly, understand what VA is actually saying.
Receiving a VA decision letter can bring a mixture of emotions. Maybe your rating increased. Maybe a condition was denied. Maybe you received a 0% rating. Or perhaps you looked at the letter, saw the final percentage, and stopped reading.
Don’t stop at the percentage. Your VA decision contains information that can help you understand not only what VA decided, but also what may need your attention next.
Start With the Decision
First, determine exactly what VA decided for each condition you claimed. A condition may have been granted service connection, assigned a disability percentage, denied, continued at an existing percentage, increased or decreased, or assigned a 0% service-connected rating.
If benefits are awarded, the decision letter may include information such as the disability rating, payment information, and effective date. But do not stop there.
Read the Reasoning
One of the most important questions you can ask is: Why did VA make this decision? Look closely at the explanation associated with each condition. Understanding the reasoning can help you determine whether VA’s decision appears consistent with the evidence in your records.
Review the Evidence
Pay attention to the evidence VA says it considered. Then compare that list with what you know exists. Ask whether your relevant medical records were considered, whether your C&P examination was included, whether submitted evidence appears to have been addressed, and whether the medical history described in the decision matches your actual history.
A decision should never be viewed in isolation from the evidence behind it.
Pay Attention to Your C&P Examination
A Compensation and Pension examination, often called a C&P exam, is not the same as a normal treatment appointment. Its purpose is to gather information that may help VA decide the claim. That makes the examination report an important part of the evidence picture.
Ask whether the examiner accurately documented your symptoms, medical history, functional limitations and flare-ups, and whether the findings are consistent with other examinations or medical records.
What If Two Exams Don’t Agree?
Medical evidence is not always perfectly consistent. A veteran may undergo separate examinations that contain different findings, diagnoses, medical opinions, or descriptions of severity. A difference does not automatically mean an error occurred or that VA must award a higher rating, but it does mean the records deserve a closer look.
At DCM Advisory Group, we have seen firsthand why comparing records can matter. In one client’s case, separate examinations contained conflicting diagnoses. Reviewing the records and identifying the discrepancy became an important part of understanding the evidence, and the veteran ultimately received a 20% increase in the VA disability rating.
Every case is different, and past outcomes never guarantee future results. The lesson is simple: one document may not tell the whole story.
Don’t Ignore a 0% Rating
A 0% rating can be easy to overlook because it generally does not result in monthly disability compensation by itself. But service connection still matters. The condition has been recognized as service connected. If the condition later worsens, current evidence showing increased severity may support a claim for an increased evaluation.
What If You Disagree With the Decision?
VA currently provides three primary decision-review options for qualifying decisions: a Supplemental Claim, Higher-Level Review, or Board Appeal. For most VA benefits, Higher-Level Review and Board Appeal generally must be requested within one year from the date on the decision letter. A Supplemental Claim can be filed later, although filing within one year may be important for preserving an effective date.entage is assigned to each condition, whether any conditions are service connected at 0%, and what the overall combined rating is.
Secondary VA Conditions: Could One Service-Connected Disability Be Affecting Another Part of Your Body?
DCM TIP #3: Follow the Evidence
A secondary condition should not be based on guessing. It should be based on evidence. Your medical records may contain years of information about symptoms, diagnoses, gait, functional limitations, examinations, imaging, treatment, and assistive devices. Sometimes the first step is simply understanding what those records already say.
Veterans sometimes assume that a disability must have started during military service to qualify for VA disability compensation. That is not always the case. A veteran can develop an additional disability after service that may potentially qualify for secondary service connection when it is linked to an already service-connected disability.
What Is Secondary Service Connection?
In simple terms, Condition A is already service connected. Because of Condition A, the veteran develops or experiences worsening of Condition B. Condition B may potentially qualify for secondary service connection when the required evidence establishes the relationship.
VA describes a secondary service-connected claim as a claim for a new disability linked to a disability VA has already determined is service connected. The important point is that the relationship must be supported by evidence; it should not be based on assumption or guesswork.
A Simple Example: Your Knee and Your Hip
Imagine a veteran has a service-connected knee disability. Over time, knee pain causes the veteran to favor one side while walking. Medical records begin documenting an altered gait. Later, the veteran develops a separate hip condition.
Could the hip automatically be considered secondary to the knee? No. An altered gait alone does not automatically establish secondary service connection. But if competent evidence establishes a link between the service-connected knee disability and the diagnosed hip condition, secondary service connection may be possible.
Think Beyond the Original Disability
The human body does not operate as a collection of completely separate parts. Pain, compensation, altered movement, and other consequences of one disability can potentially affect other areas.
That is why veterans should pay attention when their medical records begin documenting altered gait, favoring one side, changes in posture, reduced mobility, recurrent falls or instability, use of braces or canes, new symptoms after an established service-connected disability, or a healthcare provider discussing a relationship between two conditions.
These findings do not automatically establish a VA secondary claim, but they may be pieces of evidence worth understanding.
Medical Evidence Matters
For a secondary service-connected claim, VA generally looks for evidence that you have the additional condition and evidence linking that condition to the disability already determined to be service connected. Medical records or medical opinions are commonly used to support this link, and in some circumstances lay evidence may also be relevant.
This is why saying “my hip hurts because of my knee” is not necessarily the same as having medical evidence documenting a diagnosed hip condition and explaining the relationship between the conditions.
Don’t Diagnose Yourself
Veterans know when something has changed, when a new symptom started, or when one disability seems to be affecting another part of life. But that does not mean you should create your own medical diagnosis or medical nexus.
Instead, tell your healthcare providers what you are actually experiencing. Explain when the symptoms began, what makes them worse, whether you compensate for another painful joint, whether you limp or fall, and how your mobility or daily function has changed. Accurate medical documentation can become extremely important.
Review the Entire Disability Picture
When reviewing your VA records, do not look at each service-connected disability as though it exists completely by itself. Ask whether it has changed the way you walk, move, sleep, work, or function; whether you have developed additional diagnosed conditions; whether your medical records discuss a possible relationship; and whether a medical professional has addressed a connection.