Additional cash benefits may be paid to dependents (spouse and children). As the accompanying tabulation shows, higher disability ratings entitle recipients to greater benefit amounts.Ĭash benefits are intended to compensate for the average wage loss for someone with a specific impairment, although benefits are paid regardless of whether the impairment actually causes earnings losses for the individual. A single- or combined-impairment rating of 100% constitutes total-disability status. Disabled veterans with a combined rating of 10% or greater are entitled to compensation in the form of a cash benefit. 3 For veterans with more than one disabling condition, VA combines the individual ratings into a single combined rating and rounds it to the nearest 10%. VA evaluates and rates each service-connected disability (injury or disease) with a percentage value from 0 to 100 according to a schedule established by regulation. The VA disability compensation program pays benefits to veterans who incur an injury or contract a disease that is service-connected-that is, the result of disability incurred in, presumptively related to, or aggravated by their military service. It also examines the probable outcomes had the BRAVE Act been enacted. This article highlights the intent and provisions of each program, and then presents data on the historical interactions between them using matched administrative records from the two programs. It is important to understand that DI and the VA disability program serve different purposes, have different definitions of disability, and may not integrate well. With a focus on DI, the research reported herein is part of SSA's work toward increasing coordination between the VA disability compensation program and SSA's disability programs. The veteran would have to be insured for disability in order to qualify for Disability Insurance ( DI) worker benefits and could not be engaged in substantial gainful activity ( SGA). Essentially, a veteran with a rating of total disability would not have to undergo the medical portions of SSA's disability determination to be eligible to receive Social Security disability benefits. Also in 2009, both houses of Congress introduced legislation known as the BRAVE Act 1 that would certify veterans judged by the VA to have total disability (that is, having a combined rating of 100% 2 or a rating of individual unemployability ) as meeting the medical requirements of the disability programs administered by SSA. In September 2009, the Government Accountability Office issued a report recommending that the Social Security Administration ( SSA) increase its outreach and collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs ( VA) to improve access to Social Security disability benefits for military personnel wounded since October 2001 in operations in Afghanistan and Iraq ( GAO 2009). In recent years, policymakers have examined the interaction of two federal programs that provide benefits to military personnel with service-connected disabilities.
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