Hi, I'm Travis Studdard, a veteran's disability attorney with Perkins Law Firm.
I want to talk to you today about five things you need to know about Parkinson's disease
and your VA disability claim.
If you haven't already seen them, check out some of my other videos about how Parkinson's
disease is rated under VA regulations, but here's again, five things.
Number one, your different symptoms are evaluated individually and rated, but that doesn't necessarily
mean they add up in the way you would think they would, if you use VA math.
For instance, if you have one symptom rated at 50%, plus another at 20%, another at 20%,
and another at 10%, in normal math, that equals 100%.
Under VA math, you would only be entitled to a 70% rating, because of the way the different
symptoms ratings are combined together for a lesser total number.
Because of that, that leads us to point number two.
Even though your Parkinson's may not be rated at 100%, you may still be eligible for a 100%
rating, if your Parkinson's disease by itself, or with other disabilities you have that are
service connected, prevent you from working anymore.
Again, this benefit you may be familiar with is TDIU, or Total Disability based on Individual
Unemployability.
The basic idea is, again, your total rating is less than 100%, but the VA actually pays
you at the 100% level, because you're, in fact, totally disabled as a result of your
service connected disabilities.
Another point, number three, is that if you know anything about Parkinson's disease, you
know it's a progressive disease.
By that, I mean that over time, the disease gets worse, and the symptoms get worse.
That's important to know for a couple of reasons, one being, in VA disability claims, you have
the opportunity for what's called an increased rating.
If your symptoms get worse over time, you can file for a higher rating than what the
VA may have given you in the past.
If you're not at that 100% level, then as you lose more function, or have more debilitating
impairments, then you probably want to file one or more increased rating claims.
There's no limit on when or how many of those you can do.
Even if you do get to that 100% level, you may still want to file for additional benefits,
and that brings me to the fourth point.
Why can you do that, or how can you even do that, trying to get over a 100% rating?
Parkinson's has a large number of effects on the human body, and some of those may qualify
you for what's called special monthly compensation.
There's a variety of different ways you can be eligible.
If you lose the loss of use of a particular body part, or you lose some of your senses,
such as speech, or taste, or hearing, then you may be eligible for some additional compensation,
in addition to your 100% rating.
Or, if your situation gets especially severe, you may qualify for a very valuable form of
Special Monthly Compensation, also known as SMC, if you have a 100% rating, plus 60% for
other disabilities.
Finally, number five, is probably one of the saddest of all in dealing with Parkinson's
disease, and that is that eventually most veterans die as a result of their struggle
with Parkinson's.
In that situation, the veteran's benefits stop, but the surviving spouse or other dependents
would then have a claim arise for what's known as Dependency and Indemnity Compensation benefits,
also known as DIC.
If you have a loved one who is a veteran, whether they were receiving benefits through
the VA for Parkinson's disease or not, you likely have a claim for that, and may be eligible
for monthly payments from VA on account of your veteran's death.
If you have any questions about any of that, you can give us a call, or check us out on
our website.
You can also read more about this and other topics on that website.
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