Get Paid at the 100% VA Rate if Your Conditions Prevent You from Working.

By Jessica M. Friedman of Friedman Law Firm, P.C.

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

If you have a condition that prevents you from maintaining a job (a “substantial gainful occupation” in the VA’s language), you may be entitled to a benefit called Individual Unemployability (“IU”). When a person gets IU, they are paid at the same rate as if they had a condition rated at 100%, but their rating is actually lower than 100%. There are certain conditions and ratings which, due to the severity of their symptoms, we think should automatically raise the question for the VA about whether you are entitled to IU. For example, a 50% rating for migraines is the highest rating available. At 50%, the VA has found that you have “very frequent and completely prostrating and prolonged attacks” which cause severe economic inadaptability—do you think someone with symptoms like that could hold a job? What about someone who has a mental condition “with deficiencies in most areas, such as work, school, family relations, judgment thinking, or mood” due to symptoms such as panic, depression, or obsessional rituals? That person would only have a 70% rating, but they probably can’t work, right? So, we think they should be entitled to IU, which could mean a big difference in how much they get paid. A single person (unmarried, no children) who has a 50% rating gets $838.64 per month in 2017, but a person on IU gets $2,915.55—more than $2,000 more per month! The difference between a 70% rating ($1,338.71) and IU is more than $1,500 per month. If you have a rating for a condition that prevents you from working, give us a call and we can help you get the benefits you deserve. Phone: 1-800-728-0434; Email: LifeHealth@FriedmanFirmPC.com.

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