Any veteran of the US military that was injured while serving can file for benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs. If approved for benefits, the veteran will see monthly payments directly from the US government, the amount of money that the veteran gets is dependent on how disabled the beneficiary is; the worse the disability, the higher the monthly payment is. Over and above monthly monetary benefits, the disabled veteran may also receive rehab or treatment at the government’s expense.
Who can apply for VA disability benefits?
Applying for VA disability benefits is not overly difficult but there are certain stipulations. As an applicant, you must be a veteran of any of the branches of the US military. To qualify, the veteran applicant must:
- Have a disease or disabling condition which has been diagnosed
- Must have been involved in an incident during active service, and
- The disability must be directly related to having been in the service
Service connected requirement:
The applicant’s disease or disabling condition must be in some way connected to his or her service; this simply means that the disability can be traced back to an incident during active service. There are three service related connections that are applicable:
- Direct
- Aggravated injury, or
- Presumed
Direct connection is where the injury is directly related to an in-combat event. When applying for VA disability benefits the veteran must show evidence of the disability as well as the incident that caused the disabling injury or disease. In the case of an aggravated injury, the claimant must show that he or she had a certain condition upon entry into the service and that this pre-existing condition was aggravated by an incident during service. A presumed connection can be established when a condition develops that causes a ten percent disability or more and the event that caused it is presumed to be related to service.
When applying for VA disability benefits it can be difficult to tie a disability to a service related event. If you are preparing to apply for benefits you are invited to first discuss your case with Jackson & MacNichol, Attorneys at Law.
