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hi my name is Matthew Fusco and welcome to another edition of cck live under five today
we're going to be covering how VA determines permanent and total status for disabled veterans
so permanent and total disability is a phrase that you'll hear a lot but it refers to Veterans whose
disabilities are total meaning they are rated at 100 disabling by the VA and they are also
permanent meaning they have zero or close to zero chance of improvement and it is important to note
that while permanent in total is often used as a single single phrase veterans can have a total
disability that is temporary or they can also have a permanent disability that is rated as something
less than 100 percent permanent and total ratings are importantly protected from being reduced and
may actually entitle you or your dependents to additional VA benefits now you might be wondering
how VA actually determines permanent and total status so when VA evaluates a veterans disability
it looks at symptoms and severity as well as how much the condition impairs your ability to
function at work and in everyday life from there a rating is assigned based on va's rating schedule
a 100 rating for a disability indicates that that condition is completely or totally disabling VA
deems a disability permanent when it is reasonably certain based on medical
evidence that the level of impairment will continue for the rest of the veterans life
now VA is allowed to take age into account when determining permanence unlike other areas of
disability determination so that is important to factor in as well now in order to tell if you have
permanent and total established status status established by the VA something you can look
to is your actual VA rating decision there is a permanent and total box that might be checked off
if your disability has been rated at as permanent and other times there might be language in the
rating decision something saying like eligibility to dependents chapter 35 DEA slash CHAMPVA are
established or your rating decision might say something like no future exams are scheduled
for your disability both of those phrases can indicate permanence so it's important to take a
look at your rating decision and see if either of those things are mentioned to figure out if VA has
determined that your disability is permanent in total um that specific language might vary between
Regional Offices but it's good things to be on the lookout for in your rating decision itself
now if your letter says that future exams are scheduled then your total disability rating is
considered temporary by VA instead of permanent so keywords to be on the lookout for in your
rating decision to see if your condition has been rated as permanent in total now that's
a very brief overview of a super uh important topic so for more information on permanent and
total ratings other types of ratings and just other information about VA disability benefits
please take a look at our blog and other videos on our website as well be sure to like this video And
subscribe to our channel for more veterans related content and as always thanks for watching [Music]
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