#va #disability #compensation #benefits #presumption
Disabilities that appear within 1 year after discharge
If you have certain chronic (long-lasting) conditions that started within 1 year after your discharge from active military service, you may be eligible for VA disability compensation. Eligible conditions include high blood pressure (hypertension), arthritis, diabetes, or peptic ulcers. Compensation provides tax-free monthly payments. Keep reading to find out if you may be eligible.

Am I eligible for VA disability compensation?
You may be eligible for disability compensation if you meet these 3 requirements.

All of these must be true:

You have an illness or condition that’s at least 10% disabling that appears within 1 year after discharge, and
The illness or condition is listed in Title 38, Code of Federal Regulation, 3.309(a), and
You didn’t receive a dishonorable discharge
Download Title 38, Code of Federal Regulation, 3.309(a) for a complete list of covered illnesses (DOC)

Note: If you get a disability rating, you may also be eligible for VA health care and other benefits.

How do I file a claim for compensation?
You can file a claim online now. You can also file by mail, in person, or with the help of a trained professional.

File for disability compensation online

Learn about other ways to file a disability compensation claim

What evidence will I need to provide to support my claim?
Here’s what you’ll need to provide:

Evidence that your condition is at least 10% disabling (like a doctor’s report that shows you take medicine for your high blood pressure), and
Evidence that your condition appeared within 1 year after your discharge from active service (like a medical report with the date of your diagnosis)
Note: If you have a condition listed in Title 38, Code of Federal Regulation, 3.309(a), you won’t need to show the problem started during—or got worse because of—your military service. This is because we automatically assume (or “presume”) that certain conditions that appear within 1 year after discharge are caused by your service. We call these presumptive conditions.

Download Title 38, Code of Federal Regulation, 3.309(a) for a complete list of covered illnesses (DOC)

§ 3.309 Disease subject to presumptive service connection.

(a) Chronic diseases. The following diseases shall be granted service connection although not otherwise established as incurred in or aggravated by service if manifested to a compensable degree within the applicable time limits under § 3.307 following service in a period of war or following peacetime service on or after January 1, 1947, provided the rebuttable presumption provisions of § 3.307 are also satisfied.

Anemia, primary.

Arteriosclerosis.

Arthritis.

Atrophy, progressive muscular.

Brain hemorrhage.

Brain thrombosis.

Bronchiectasis.

Calculi of the kidney, bladder, or gallbladder.

Cardiovascular-renal disease, including hypertension. (This term applies to combination involvement of the type of arteriosclerosis, nephritis, and organic heart disease, and since hypertension is an early symptom long preceding the development of those diseases in their more obvious forms, a disabling hypertension within the 1-year period will be given the same benefit of service connection as any of the chronic diseases listed.)

Cirrhosis of the liver.

Coccidioidomycosis.

Diabetes mellitus.

Encephalitis lethargica residuals.

Endocarditis. (This term covers all forms of valvular heart disease.)

Endocrinopathies.

Epilepsies.

Hansen's disease.

Hodgkin's disease.

Leukemia.

Lupus erythematosus, systemic.

Myasthenia gravis.

Myelitis.

Myocarditis.

Nephritis.

Other organic diseases of the nervous system.

Osteitis deformans (Paget's disease).

Osteomalacia.

Palsy, bulbar.

Paralysis agitans.

Psychoses.

Purpura idiopathic, hemorrhagic.

Raynaud's disease.

Sarcoidosis.

Scleroderma.

Sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral.

Sclerosis, multiple.

Syringomyelia.

Thromboangiitis obliterans (Buerger's disease).

Tuberculosis, active.

Tumors, malignant, or of the brain or spinal cord or peripheral nerves.

Ulcers, peptic (gastric or duodenal) (A proper diagnosis of gastric or duodenal ulcer (peptic ulcer) is to be considered established if it represents a medically sound interpretation of sufficient clinical findings warranting such diagnosis and provides an adequate basis for a differential diagnosis from other conditions with like symptomatology; in short, where the preponderance of evidence indicates gastric or duodenal ulcer (peptic ulcer). Whenever possible, of course, laboratory findings should be used in corroboration of the clinical data.

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