Benefits Center
The benefits you earned go far beyond a single rating. Here is the full landscape.
Most veterans claim one benefit and never learn about the rest. From TDIU and Special Monthly Compensation to survivors’ benefits, pension, and state programs, this is the full map of what your service may have earned, and what the VA will not volunteer.
How Your Combined Rating Is Actually Calculated
VA math is not addition. Under 38 CFR §4.25, each rating is applied to whatever is left of a whole person, and the result is rounded to the nearest 10. That is why a 50 and a 30 combine to 70, not 80. Run your own ratings through the diagram below before you count on a number, because many of the benefits on this page turn on it.
Why 50% + 30% Does NOT Equal 80%
The VA uses “whole-person” math, not simple addition. This is how ratings really stack.
The VA always begins from a whole, healthy person (100%).
50% of 100 is subtracted. You have 50% “efficiency” left.
30% is taken from the REMAINING 50 (0.30 × 50 = 15). 50 − 15 = 35 left.
100 − 35 = 65, then rounded to the nearest 10 → 70%.
Bottom line: 50% and 30% combine to 65% → rounded to 70%, not 80%. The same math turns two 50% ratings into 75% → rounded to 80%, not 100%. Every rating you add is worth less than the last. That is why which conditions you claim, and in what order, matters as much as how many.
Real Veterans. Real Claims. Real Outcomes.
Every case on this desk belongs to someone who served. These are the veterans this practice represents, across every era, branch, and condition: the Vietnam vet who was told it was too late, the Gulf War vet the system called a mystery, the young veteran who walked out of a five minute exam with a zero. Different stories, same fight. The record decides the claim, so we build the record.
Veteran Representation
Veteran Representation
Veteran RepresentationIt Starts With the Claim Exam
Your compensation and many of the benefits below trace back to how your conditions are rated. Here is what the exam that sets those ratings looks like.
Your VA Claim Exam: What to Expect
Tips to Prepare for Your VA Claim Exam
