0% Disability Rating
When deciding veterans disability benefits claims, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs often assigns a 0 percent rating for service-connected conditions considered less severe. This rating means the VA officially recognizes that your condition exists and is connected to your military service, but doesn’t consider it disabling enough to warrant monthly compensation.
- Many veterans receive 0 percent ratings from the VA for service-connected disabilities.
- A rating of 0 percent means the VA has found your condition doesn’t impact your life enough to qualify for monthly compensation.
- Ratings under 10 percent often result from insufficient medical evidence of symptoms.
- The veterans’ benefits attorneys at Veterans Guide can help you request an increase or file an appeal of your 0 percent VA rating.
Receiving a 0 percent rating is frustrating, especially when you’re trying to stay afloat while managing your condition. It’s easy to feel isolated or overwhelmed when handling your disability rating, particularly when it seems like the VA doesn’t recognize how debilitating your condition is. Veterans Guide can streamline the process to help you raise your 0 percent VA rating and increase your monthly disability compensation.
What Does a 0% VA Disability Rating Mean?
Receiving a 0 percent VA rating can seem counterintuitive. If the VA considers you 0 percent disabled, why does it issue you a rating at all? A 0 percent rating has specific medical and legal meanings that the VA uses to determine your VA benefits.
When the VA issues a 0 percent rating, it acknowledges your disabling condition is service-connected. However, it also finds that your condition isn’t debilitating enough to warrant monthly compensation.
This rating doesn’t mean the VA considers you to have no symptoms at all. Rather, it generally indicates the VA believes you can still work without being significantly hindered by your injury or illness, or that your condition otherwise has a very limited impact on your daily life.
While you aren’t eligible for monthly compensation with a 0 percent rating, you may still qualify for some benefits, including VA health care for your service-connected condition, eligibility for federal veteran hiring preferences, or mileage reimbursement for health care-related travel.
When and Why Does the VA Assign a 0% Rating?
There isn’t a single universal reason that the VA assigns a 0 percent rating for a given condition. Common reasons include the following:
- The VA doesn’t believe your symptoms currently impair your earning capacity./li>
- Your condition is considered asymptomatic or mild.
- Your records don’t contain enough medical evidence of your injury or illness.
Many veterans receive 0 percent ratings because they don’t meet the criteria for a rating of 10 percent or higher for their specific service-connected condition.
For example, one common disabling condition veterans suffer from is gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD. To receive a 10 percent rating for GERD, you must demonstrate that you require daily medication to manage dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing. If you have a service-connected GERD diagnosis, but your symptoms don’t require daily medication, you would only qualify for a 0 percent rating.
Another condition for which you could receive a 0 percent rating is post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. To qualify for a 10 percent rating for PTSD, you must show that the disorder either causes you to have recurring symptoms under stress or requires continuous medication to treat. If your PTSD doesn’t meet these criteria, you can’t receive a rating higher than 0 percent.
How To Increase Your 0% VA Disability Rating
Having your disability rated at 0 percent doesn’t always mean that the VA gave you the correct rating or that you can’t receive a higher one in the future. You can seek a VA rating increase, sometimes up to 100 percent, by taking these steps:
- Step 1: Get current and thorough medical documentation of your condition. Insufficient documentation is one of the most common reasons for low VA ratings or denials.
- Step 2: Request a secondary rating if your condition has led to other issues. If you’ve developed another condition related to your original service-connected disability, you could qualify for higher benefits.
- Step 3: File for an increase or request an appeal. A reconsideration with new evidence can often result in a higher rating.
- Step 4: Solicit “buddy statements” about how your condition impacts your life. Letters from people who see how your condition affects you daily, also called lay evidence, can be important data for the VA to review.
- Step 5: Work with the team at Veterans Guide to strengthen your claim. We can connect you with experienced veterans’ benefits attorneys and advocates who can help you seek a VA rating increase.
Common Conditions Rated at 0%
Many service-connected conditions can be rated at 0 percent but might warrant higher ratings with the right documentation. These include the following:
- Scars, which can be rated from 10 to 80 percent, depending on levels of pain and disfigurement
- Hearing loss or tinnitus, which can be rated anywhere from 10 to 100 percent, depending on the type of hearing loss and its cause
- Hypertension, which can be rated at 10, 20, 40, or 60 percent based on diastolic blood pressure
- GERD, which can be rated at 10, 30, 50, or 80 percent depending on the severity of esophageal damage
- Eczema and dermatitis, which can be rated at 10, 30, or 60 percent based on frequency and number of skin lesions
- Migraines, which can be rated at 10, 30, or 50 percent based on migraine episode frequency
To increase your VA rating, you generally must provide new medical evidence to establish that your condition meets the requirements for a higher rating. A veterans’ benefits attorney can review your symptoms and medical care with you to help you determine whether your disability meets VA qualification standards for an increased rating.
How Veterans Guide Can Help You Increase Your Rating
The VA-accredited representatives and support we offer can make all the difference with your disability rating. Our team is deeply committed to advocating for U.S. service members and veterans, ensuring access to the benefits and support you’ve earned through your sacrifice and service. We handle requests for increased ratings, file appeals for denied claims, and document secondary conditions and service connection to maximize veterans’ access to benefits.
If you received a 0 percent rating from the VA and believe that your condition meets the criteria for a higher rating, we’re here to help. Contact us online today for your free case consultation.
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