Effective October 1 — 4 VA Rating Rules Change and the Word Keeping You at 70% Is Gone

Get The Veteran's Claim Handbook here: https://dalehartman.gumroad.com/l/Vet... There is one word in the VA's rating rules that has kept more veterans parked at 70 percent than any other line in the schedule. It is not a medical term and it is not a diagnosis. To reach 100 percent for a mental health condition today, the criteria ask for total occupational and social impairment. Not severe. Not profound. Total. A veteran who can still get to an appointment and still speak to one grandchild is not total, so the file stops at 70. The VA has proposed removing that word, and the proposal has been sitting there since February 2022. In this video I show you what the proposal actually says, where the October 1 date really comes from, and the one thing worth doing that does not depend on any date at all. Here is what we cover: Why the word total is what keeps a generation of veterans at 70 percent The five areas VA proposes instead — cognition, interpersonal relationships, task completion, life activities and self-care Why a 100 percent evaluation would no longer require total occupational and social impairment The proposed 10 percent minimum for anyone sitting at a service-connected zero Which 11 of the 15 body systems are already rewritten and which four are left Where the October 1 date actually comes from, and why it is arithmetic rather than an announcement What GAO says about VA missing this deadline for a decade The 20 year and 10 year rules that protect a rating you already hold Why what is in your file on the day is what the new criteria get applied to The three things to do now, none of which is filing a claim today Everything here is tied to real sources, including GAO-26-108844, testimony to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs dated 14 January 2026, VA's own press release of 15 February 2022 announcing the proposed updates, 87 Fed. Reg. 8,474, the current General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders at 38 CFR 4.130, 38 CFR 3.951 on preservation of disability ratings, and 38 CFR 3.957 on severance of service connection. One honest note. Everything described here is a proposed rule, not a rule in effect. Nobody's rating changed this morning and no check changed this month. VA told GAO it plans to finalize the remaining rules in fiscal year 2026 — that is a target, not a published effective date, and GAO records the same timeline as already running 10 years beyond VA's original goal. VA also states plainly that no change to a veteran's current rating would occur. An accredited representative will do all of this with you for free. Your county Veterans Service Officer, the DAV, the VFW and the American Legion are accredited and none of them charge. Never pay anybody a percentage of what they recover. Knowing whether your own file describes the five areas VA intends to score, before anything is finalized, is exactly what The Veteran's Claim Handbook is built for. Get the full handbook on ratings, evidence and protections: https://dalehartman.gumroad.com/l/Vet... I am an independent veterans-benefits researcher, not a veteran, not an attorney and not a VA employee. This video is general information, not advice for your specific situation. #veteran #vabenefits #vadisability #ptsd #veterans