Military Disability benefits are given to veterans and military members with medical conditions that are the result of their military careers. The main idea to describe any Military Disability Benefits is basically to describe the amount of money that veterans can not have because of their disability that they would have been able to earn without it.
Military Disability Benefits
There are two types of military disability benefits, that is VA Disability and DoD Disability. such benefits are given to disabled veterans, only on the basis of service-connected medical conditions.
VA benefits given for disability are for all service-connected medical conditions, while on the other hand, DoD will only give Military Disability Benefits for service-connected conditions that make the service member Unfit for Duty.
The rate of Military Disability Benefits that the veterans get is given by their Total Combined Military Disability Rating. This rating is from 0% – 100%, by which veterans received different amounts of Disability Benefits.
0% rating is the minimum range of Military Disability Benefits, and the maximum rating is 100%.
VA Military Disability Benefits
It is the first type of Military Benefits and is a part of the VA Disability Process. By completing the process, veterans will be able to get Military Disability Benefits for every service-connected condition they have.
By VA Military Disability Benefits, veterans can get the same benefits, no matter how long they served in the military and their rank. The amount of money received from the VA by veterans can be different only on the basis of things like military spouses and the number of their dependents.
Important: All Military Disability Benefits from the VA are NOT taxable.
DoD Military Disability Benefits
Military Disability Benefits from the DoD are taxable unless the disability was caused by combat or activities related to it.
The money received by the veterans according to the Military Disability Benefits from DoD depends on the condition whether the veterans are medically separated or medically retired.
If a veteran receives a 0%, 10%, or 20% Total Combined Military Disability Rating from the DoD, then he is medically separated.
if a veterans get a 30% or higher Total Combined Military Disability Rating from the DoD, then he is referred to as medically retired. Military Disability Benefits for all medically retired veterans contains the following
- Full medical care
- Monthly payments for life.
What is DoD disability retirement pay?
The Department of Defense (DoD) provides compensation to the soldiers who are retired for physical disability. The Secretary of the Army may retire a regular duty Soldier who is seen to be physically unfit to perform his duty as the result of an injury or any service-connected issue incurred in the line of duty. To qualify for retirement from the duty, the Soldier must have completed at least 20 years of creditable service, in accordance with 10 USC 1208, or have other service-connected disabilities that caused the soldier to be unfit for duty and amount to a combined disability rating of 30 percent or more.
Who is Eligible for DoD?
Army National Guards and army soldiers are eligible to get Disability Retired Pay when deemed unfit due to a permanent disability incurred or killed in the line of duty while:
- Present on active duty or doing an inactive training
- Traveling from or to the place at which duty is performed
- After the date, 23 Sep 1996, an injury, illness, or disease developed or increased while remaining overnight between successive periods of IDT at or in the area of the site of the inactive duty training.
How is dod disability calculated?
DoD Disability Ratings are based on time-in-service, rank, and disability percentage. This is in contrast to disability ratings of veteran affairs department ratings which are based only on the severity of the medical issue. Following are the conditions through which DoD disability ratings are given:
- The members with less than 20 years of active service who are given the rating of 30%, or more can qualify for disability retirement benefits.
- The members assigned a disability rating below 30% are separated, that is they are not retired.
- The members with active service of about 20 years or more will be recommended for retirement regardless of their disability rating given by the veteran affair department
What is the Difference Between Military & VA Disability Ratings?
There are two different types of disability compensation given for the military members, and that shows two separate disability ratings. Both look similar at first, but as we will show you that how these two programs are quite different in their structure and guidelines.
- DoD ratings are for life, VA ratings are subject to change that depends on whether the conditions get better or worse within certain veteran affairs time frames.
- VA disability ratings include a review of the patient’s entire medical condition used to inform the rating. DoD disability ratings are only awarded for specific conditions under circumstances.
- Disability payment may be changed if DoD Disability severance pay was given.
- VA disability benefits are not calculated using time-in-grade, or any such similar factor available including the rank of the disabled veteran.
What is concurrent retirement and disability, pay calculator?
Military Disability Retirement is not selected by the service member himself but it comes as the result of a medical review process, as a military doctor or team of different doctors may examine that a veteran’s medical condition warrants disability retirement, and this can occur at any stage in the servicemember’s career.
Disability retirement is not automatic even when it is found that the member can no longer perform military duties as expected and must be medically separated or retired from the duty. This is happening at the DoD level, not the Department of Veterans Affairs department. The VA department claim process is completely separate from this type of retirement or separation determination.