How to Appeal a Low VA Rating (Not Just Denials)

When you have a service-connected medical condition, you may qualify for VA disability benefits, which include monthly financial compensation. The amount of monthly benefits you receive will depend on your disability rating. However, the VA may assign a lower disability rating to your condition than you expected to receive, given the severity of the symptoms you experience due to the condition. Fortunately, you can appeal the VA’s decision on your disability benefits claim not just to challenge a denial of your application but also to contest a low disability rating. 

Understanding Your VA Disability Rating

The VA assigns disability ratings to veterans’ medical conditions based on the severity of the symptoms caused by the condition and the effect those symptoms have on a veteran’s daily life or ability to work. The VA has a Schedule for Rating Disabilities that establishes criteria for a specific disability rating for a health condition. 

Veterans who have two or more qualifying health conditions will receive a combined disability rating. Combined disability ratings aim to assess the total impact on a veteran’s daily living of all their conditions. The VA does not add up disability ratings for each of a veteran’s conditions to determine the combined disability rating. Instead, the VA uses a chart that assigns a combined disability rating for two individual disability ratings. The VA determines a combined disability rating by combining a veteran’s two highest-rated conditions, then taking the combined rating for those two conditions and combining it with the next highest-rated condition, and so on until the veteran’s combined disability ratings include all their conditions. 

Signs Your VA Rating May Be Too Low

Some of the signs that the VA may have assigned too low of a disability rating for your service-connected or secondary condition include:

• Failure to acknowledge specific symptoms or inadequately recognizing the severity of symptoms
• Failure to recognize secondary conditions (health conditions caused or aggravated by a primary service-connected condition)
• Failure to consider all medical records
• An incomplete or flawed compensation and pension exam
• Assessment of symptoms that do not reflect social or professional limitations experienced by a veteran

Options for Appealing a Low VA Rating

A veteran who believes that the VA underrated their medical condition has several options for appealing the VA’s decision. Veterans have one year from the VA’s initial decision to pursue their appellate options. The VA offers three avenues for challenging a VA disability rating:

• Higher-level review: When a veteran requests higher-level review, a more senior claims reviewer will review the record. The veteran cannot submit additional or new evidence or information during higher-level review. 
• Supplemental claim: A supplemental claim allows a veteran to submit additional or new evidence to bolster the strength of their disability claim. 
• Review by the Board of Veterans’ Appeals: A veteran can request the BVA to conduct a direct review of the record or hold a hearing to allow the veteran to present arguments for why the VA erred in its disability rating decision. 

Strengthening Your Appeal

Veterans can give themselves the best chance of success when appealing a VA disability rating by gathering updated medical records and obtaining opinion letters from treating physicians or medical experts. Alternatively, veterans can have their physicians complete Disability Benefits Questionnaires to provide the VA with information about the effects of the veteran’s condition on their daily life. Finally, buddy statements from family members, friends, or co-workers can also describe the social and professional effects of a veteran’s condition. 

Contact a VA Disability Lawyer Today

Contact Veterans Benefits Law Group today for a free, no-obligation consultation with a VA disability benefits attorney to learn more about how the VA determines disability ratings and your options for challenging a low rating that does not accurately reflect the seriousness of your health condition.