How Does the VA Rating System Work for Disability Claims?

Veterans often reach out to me and ask how the rating system works for VA disability claims. The things that I will tell them are that once the VA recognizes that a disability is service-connected, meaning that it acknowledges that the disability is related to service, the VA will look at the severity of the condition. They will examine someone’s medical records and also consider a veteran’s lay report or their own personal knowledge of how their disability impacts their ability to work, which is really what VA disability compensation is intended to address. They will look at that combination of evidence and identify how severe the condition is, then assign it a number that’s supposed to represent that severity. The VA disability system will assign a rating in 10% increments from zero to 100%. Zero could mean that someone’s condition is related to service, but it does not necessarily impact someone’s ability to work. In contrast, a 100% rating will indicate that someone’s condition completely impacts their ability to work in the civilian world. There are, of course, some exceptions and technicalities to how that system works.