A new federal rule for determining disability compensation — which became effective today — states that a rating must be based on how well a veteran functions with medication and not on the underlying impairment itself. (Stars and Stripes)
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.
“This action will have no impact on any veteran’s current disability rating,” said Peter Kasperowicz, VA press secretary.
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.
The VA will now determine a disability rating based “on how you’re doing on your present medication, not how bad your condition is without it,” the Veterans VA Benefits and Claims Assistance group posted to its 68,000 members on Facebook.
Disabled American Veterans also issued a statement, expressing “alarm” and accusing the VA of conducting an “unnecessarily expedited [rule-making] process that effectively shut out veterans from providing any meaningful input.”
Charles Garbarino, a retired Army colonel and physician who served for three tours in Iraq, predicted that many veterans will stop taking their medication.
“A lot of veterans prescribed medication for their service-related medical problems will cut it off, rather than lose compensation,” Garbarino said.
Garbarino, 74, of South Carolina, said he is especially worried about veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder who may spiral into depression and become suicidal if they choose to end their medication to keep the same benefit level.
But the VA said the rule simply formalizes longstanding policy and practice for rating disabilities. The VA pays out more than $150 billion in disability compensation to veterans each year.
The new rule acknowledges VA’s actions for determining ratings, which are based on a veteran’s service-related disabilities and any medications taken to treat those disabilities, Kasperowicz said.
The interim final rule was published as an amendment to the Code of Federal Regulations. It directs how VA examiners assess a veteran’s impairments on daily life skills and employment.
The amendment was a response to a 2025 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims in Ingram v. Collins, according to the VA.
That ruling required the VA to disregard the “ameliorating” effects — or improvements — veterans experience from taking medication when determining a disability level for musculoskeletal conditions.
But the VA wrote in the Federal Register notice that the court order was an “erroneous interpretation” of regulations that risks disrupting the delivery of benefits across the nation.
The court ruling will cause “considerable administrative costs for the agency,” delays in awarding benefits and increase compensation costs “on a disability level that veterans are not actually experiencing.”
The VA indicated its new rule applies to all body systems, including cardiovascular, digestive, musculoskeletal and mental health.
