WASHINGTON — Veterans and their advocates slammed a new rule by the Department of Veterans Affairs for determining disability compensation, predicting it will lower their payments for service-related illnesses and injuries. The rule, effective immediately, states that a disability level must be based on how well a veteran functions while on medication and not on the underlying impairment itself. Titled “Evaluative Rating: Impact of Medication,” the interim final rule was published in the Federal Register and affects how the VA rates a veteran’s disability for new claims and when reevaluating disabilities through clinical exams. “If medication or other treatment lessens the functional impairment a disability causes and thereby improves a veteran’s earning capacity, that is the proper disability level for which the veteran should be compensated,” the VA stated in the notice.

Read more at: https://www.stripes.com/veterans/2026-02-17/new-va-rule-disability-ratings-20780685.html
Source - Stars and Stripes