Yesterday I had a young man call me and say: “I don’t believe I qualify for VA Disability because I am only 26 years old.” I quickly informed him that this is not the case. At that time I decided to explain exactly what VA Disability Compensation is in detail. Eligible.
I first informed the young man that his age did not matter for Disability Compensation. The first thing I had to determine was what type of discharge he had. In order to receive VA Disability Benefits, you must have received a discharge that was other than dishonorable. I also explained that an honorable discharge was not the only thing that would qualify him, but he also had to have some sort of disability that either occurred while in service, or was aggravated by his time in service.
He informed me that he had an honorable discharge. At that time he also explained that he did serve in Iraq, and that he was suffering from PTSD. He explained that he did have a diagnosis by a doctor for it as well. I informed him that the diagnosis for PTSD was good, because without that, he would get denied. The young man then mentioned that he was also suffering from joint pain, and had some hearing loss. I explained to him that those are all things we may be able to service connect him for as long as there is evidence to support his claim. He then asked how we would get evidence to support his claim, and I explained that we would request his claim file from the VA, and research it to find evidence, and that we would also request any private care records from private doctors that he has seen since he had left service.
Now that we had determined that he was eligible to apply for benefits, I had him fill out a 21-526, which is the VA form that all Veterans must fill out and send to the VA when applying for Disability Compensation. Without this form, the VA will not process his claim. Since this Veteran had decided to become a client of ours, we actually submitted it on his behalf. This is just one of the many things we do for our clients, and it takes some of the stress out of going through the VA Disability Claim process.
The young Veteran then asked me what happens if he gets approved. I explained that if he is approved that he would be granted a percentage based on the severity of each injury. For instance, PTSD is something that he could be granted anywhere from 0-100%. I also informed him that hearing loss is something that he may not see any more than 10% on. I explained that it really depends upon what his records show, and what the VA decides. However, if he is granted, he would receive a monetary benefit each month that would coincide with whatever percentage he was granted. He would also receive back pay for his claims to. I informed him that back pay occurs from the time his claims were filed rather than when injuries occur.
We understand how confusing this can be for anyone to go through alone. So many Veterans turn to Jan Dils Attorneys at Law because we have the knowledge, and the ability to navigate through the VA Disability Claims process. Our friendly staff is always willing to answer questions you may have about eligibility, so feel free to give us a call: 1-877-526-3457.
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