Make sense of your VA disability options

Claims are confusing partly because they are not one process. Your healthcare, your examination, your benefits decision, and your appeal are handled by different people in different parts of VA, and an answer from one of them does not bind the others.

This guide explains what each step does, points at the rule or form behind it, and says when to stop reading and get qualified help. It is written for veterans, for the families who sit through this with them, and for the clinicians asked to document what they have seen.

Free tool · nothing to sign up for Combined Rating Calculator 30 and 20 make 40, not 50. Enter your ratings and get the combined figure with every step shown — including the bilateral factor most free calculators skip. No email box, no sales pitch, and nothing you type leaves your device. Open the calculator →

Where are you?

• I don't know where to start — the whole method in six steps, including what to say to your doctor.
• I am looking at a decision letter — read each issue separately, then compare your review options before doing anything.
• A date is coming up — which deadlines are real, and which actions do not pause them.
• Something went wrong — which office handles an exam problem, a healthcare concern, or a fee question.
• I want to understand a rating — what a diagnostic code actually requires, read against the current text.
• My combined rating looks wrong — how ratings combine, why rounding happens once, and when the bilateral factor applies.
• I am a clinician — what a DBQ is actually asking you for, and where your role ends.
• I need the right form — official VA landing pages, never a stale local copy.
• I am a survivor, a caregiver, or caring for an older veteran — DIC, caregiver programs, Aid and Attendance, and the long-term care VA runs.
• I want help with my own case — accredited VSO representation is free.

What this is

A reference desk. It explains public rules, links the authority, and names the office responsible, so you can walk into a conversation already knowing what to ask.

It is not a claims service. It does not review your records, choose your filing lane, prepare or submit anything, or represent you. It also cannot — there is no account, no upload, no intake form anywhere on this site, because there is nothing on the other end to receive them. That is a fact about how the site is built, not a promise about how it is run.

Everything here is free. Nothing is sold, and no one is paid to send you anywhere.

Start with VA.gov disability benefits for official current information, or VA's decision-review page if you already have a decision.

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Reviewed October 6, 2026