Veterans slam new VA rule for determining disability ratings [View all]

https://www.stripes.com/veterans/2026-02-17/new-va-rule-disability-ratings-20780685.html

WASHINGTON — Veterans and their advocates slammed a new rule by the Department of Veterans Affairs for determining disability compensation, predicting it will lower their payments for service-related illnesses and injuries.

The rule, effective immediately, states that a disability level must be based on how well a veteran functions while on medication and not on the underlying impairment itself.

Titled “Evaluative Rating: Impact of Medication,” the interim final rule was published in the Federal Register and affects how the VA rates a veteran’s disability for new claims and when reevaluating disabilities through clinical exams.

“If medication or other treatment lessens the functional impairment a disability causes and thereby improves a veteran’s earning capacity, that is the proper disability level for which the veteran should be compensated,” the VA stated in the notice.

A public comment period opened Tuesday and will run through April 20. But many veterans and their advocates were already criticizing the rule. Some veterans predicted that the rule will lower disability ratings and subsequent compensation awards.

“This is an erosion of benefits,” said Jason Cameron, a Marine Corps veteran, podcaster and retired veterans benefits service officer from Monterey County, Calif.

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