So Why Does All this Matter in Terms of the DoD/PEB? If your brain is about to overheat, don’t worry, the hard stuff is over. It’s not necessarily hard, it’s just daunting because it can lead to ludicrous results, by design. This is why VA math terrifies many people. Why? Because there’s no VA math to be done. This means the following: If a Service member has only one VA rated disability, their discrete rating with be the same as their additive rating. An additive rating is what the example 30%, discrete rating, becomes after it has undergone VA math (15% * 30% = 4.5%). The above example shows the difference between, what we at Joel Pettit Law like to call, “additive ratings” and “discrete ratings.” A discrete rating is a VA disability rating with no VA math applied thereto. Suffice it to say, the Bilateral Factor will add small percentages to the assigned disability percentage calculation because two or more conditions affect both sides of the body hence, the use of “bilateral” in the description. We will not go down that rabbit hole here, as it is outside the scope of this post. That said, this calculation can get more complex when Service members have conditions that call for applying what the VA calls the Bilateral Factor. This process is exceedingly simple when all the conditions are separate and distinct from one another. Of note, the VA and the DoD round disability rating to the nearest 10%. For example: A Service member assigned 70%, 50%, and 30% disability ratings would calculate his or her overall disability rating thusly: VA Disablity Rating Calculations for Display Purposes Only Think of it this way: Health * Discrete Disability Rating = Additive Disability Rating. Repeat those steps for every VA disability rating. The, next calculation starts with 30, because that’s the remaining health of the Service member. Simply put, VA math starts with taking a 100% healthy body, then multiplying that healthy body by the member’s highest VA disability rating. The difference is you don’t have to scale your math to serve an entire industry. Funny enough, these are the same mathematical principles used by world renowned economists and equities traders. By “simple” we mean it involves nothing more than addition, subtraction, and multiplication. The real answer involves, what some people consider, complicated math. VA disability ratings at every level are difficult to understand. Of course, we all know these types of answers help no one. The obvious answer: The Service member is severely disabled. Many calls like this begin with a comment to the effect: This must be a typo, right? How Does Someone Receive a 100% VA Disability Rating? In fact, we frequently get phone calls from Service members and personnel from their Commands asking whether these types of Physical Evaluation Board (PEB) findings are correct. Even on a theoretical basis, this duality is hard to comprehend. Anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure of going through the Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES) probably wouldn’t believe that it’s possible for a Service member to receive a 100% VA disability rating while the DoD rates that same person 0% disabled.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |