There are other benefits you may be entitled to, based on your service-connected disability. Listed below are a few of those benefits. Maximizing your benefits and ensuring you are receiving every benefit to which you are entitled are tasks that a knowledgeable and accredited attorney, like those at our firm, can help you achieve.
- Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU)
When a veteran does not meet the schedular requirements for a 100 percent disability rating but is nevertheless unable to work due to his/her service-connected impairments, the veteran may be entitled to an extraschedular rating of 100 percent under TDIU. - Secondary Service-Connection
Veterans with service-connected impairments may develop other impairments as a result. For example a veteran with service connected diabetes may develop hypertension, a veteran with severe service-connected physical impairments may develop depression, or a veteran with a service-connected left knee impairment may develop arthritis in his right knee from over compensating. Secondary impairments that arise from service-connected impairments are compensable and given a separate rating that is included in the veteran’s overall disability rating. - Special Monthly Compensation
Veterans with certain severe disabilities may be eligible for additional Special Monthly Compensation (SMC). Under the SMC eligibility regulations, you may qualify for additional compensation if, as a result of your military service, you incurred the loss or loss of use of specific organs or extremities. - Dependency and Indemnity Compensation
A death benefit is available to the surviving spouse or children of a deceased veteran. This benefit is called Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC). To qualify, you must show that the veteran’s death was related to an in-service incident or illness. However, survivors of veterans who die from non-service-connected conditions may also receive DIC if the veteran was eligible for, or was receiving, compensation for total disability for a statutory period of time before the veteran’s death. - Aid and Attendance
If a veteran needs the regular aid and attendance of another person, or is permanently housebound, he or she may be entitled to additional disability compensation payments.
