Why Did the VA Reduce My Disability Benefits?

When Are Your VA Disability Benefits Protected?

While there's no such thing as a truly "protected" disability rating, the VA is much less likely to decrease some ratings. Under 38 CFR § 3.327 (b)(2), your rating could be considered "protected" if one or more of the following is true:

• You're over 55.
• You have a "permanent" disability (one that won't improve), such as the loss of a limb.
• You've been receiving benefits for more than five years at the same level without a reduction in your disability rating (called a "stabilized" rating).
• You've had the disability for 10 years or more (the VA can reduce your rating but not terminate your benefits).
• You've been receiving VA disability benefits continuously for more than 20 years.
• You're rated as totally disabled (a 100% disability rating).

Protected benefit rates can still be reduced, but it's much more difficult for the VA to decrease protected disability ratings.

Same Disability Rating for at Least 5 Years

If you've had the same disability rating for five years or more (called a stabilized rating), the VA can't reduce your disability rating without proving that you've had a "sustained" (and likely permanent) improvement in your medical condition. And the VA can't rely solely on one reexamination report as evidence. The VA must review your entire medical history in your service and post-service treatment records and all the employment records in your VA claims file.

Service-Connected Disability Protection After 10 Years

The VA can't terminate a service-connected disability rating that you've had for at least 10 years unless one of the following is true.

• There's enough evidence to prove that the rating was based on fraud.
• Your military records clearly show that you didn't have the required service or the right type of discharge.

Additionally, if your condition has improved long-term, the VA can lower your disability rating and reduce your benefits even if you've been rated for that condition for 10 years.

Protection for Continuous Rating After 20 Years

If you've had a VA disability rating for at least 20 years, it's considered a "continuous rating," and your benefits are protected. The VA can't reduce your disability rating below the lowest rating you've had during those 20 years unless the VA can show that the rating was obtained by fraud.

For example, let's say that 20 years ago, the VA initially rated you as 60% disabled due to a service-connected back injury. Your back worsened a few years ago, and your disability rating was increased to 80%. Even if your condition improves again, the VA can't lower your disability rating below 60% (the lowest rating you had during the 20 years).

Protection for 100% VA Disability Ratings

If you have a 100% disability rating, the VA can reduce your rating only if there's a "material improvement" in your medical condition. To be material, the improvement must involve more than a lessening of symptoms or temporary remission. To find that there's been a "material improvement," the VA must:

• compare the exam that led to your 100% rating to the pre-reduction exam
• consider your entire medical history surrounding the disabling disease or injury (including reports from your private health care providers), and
• determine whether your ability to "function under the conditions of daily life" has changed (enough that you can now work).

The VA must meet all these criteria to find there's been a material improvement in your condition. And even if your condition has materially improved, if your service-connected disability still keeps you from working, you're entitled to keep the 100% disability rating (based on individual unemployability).

One important note: The VA can make the mistake of reducing a 100% rating just because the reexamination report says your current symptoms are consistent with a lower impairment level. But this is an error because the VA is required to consider more than just the reexamination to change your rating.