Benefits every 100% P&T veteran should check

Money benefits

• YesMonthly disability compensation
• YesDependent compensation Available at 30% combined and up. Spouse or child: VA Form 21-686c, plus VA Form 21-674 for a child 18 to 23 in school. A dependent parent is a different form — VA Form 21P-509, submitted by mail.
• ConditionsSpecial Monthly Compensation (SMC) Paid for specific losses, loss of use, or certain combinations — not conferred by a 100% rating on its own.
• ConditionsSMC Aid & Attendance Requires a need for regular aid and attendance documented by a physician on VA Form 21-2680, Examination for Housebound Status or Permanent Need for Regular Aid and Attendance. You do not self-certify this.
• ConditionsSMC-S (Housebound) Needs a single disability rated 100% plus additional disabilities independently ratable at 60% or more that are separate and distinct from it and involve different anatomical segments or bodily systems — or permanent housebound status. A 100% combined rating alone does not qualify (38 CFR 3.350(i)).
• ConditionsAnnual clothing allowance — $1,053.19 Requires a prosthetic or orthopedic device, or skin medication, that damages your outer clothing. You must qualify by 1 August each year. Payments go out 1 Sep – 31 Oct. Rate effective 1 Dec 2025; it adjusts each 1 December.
• YesMileage reimbursement for VA appointments Do not rule yourself out at under 30%. You qualify if any one of these applies: a rating of 30% or higher; you are traveling for treatment of a service-connected condition at any rating; you receive a VA pension; your income is below the maximum annual VA pension rate; you cannot afford the travel under VA guidelines; or you are traveling for a scheduled claim exam, to get a service dog, or for VA-approved transplant care. File within 30 days — later claims are usually denied.
• ConditionsTravel pay — lodging, meals and transportation Preapproval required for lodging and meals, and also for regular transportation — bus, taxi, rideshare, subway, light rail, train or plane — and for special mode transportation. Mileage, parking and tolls do not need preapproval.
• ConditionsCRDP — Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay Only if you are a military retiree — entitled to retired pay, with a VA rating of 50% or more. Chapter 61 disability retirees also need 20+ years of creditable service. If you never retired from the military, you are not eligible. Run by DFAS, not VA.

Care and prescriptions

• YesNo-cost VA health care — Priority Group 1 Priority Group 1 is a service-connected rating of 50% or more, or VA finding you unemployable because of a service-connected disability, or a Medal of Honor recipient. In Group 1 you pay no inpatient or outpatient copays. You still have to enroll. Note the copay exemptions for care actually start at a 10% rating — if you are rated 10 to 40%, check before assuming you owe anything.
• YesNo-cost prescriptions Priority Group 1 pays no copay for any medication. Separately, medication for a service-connected condition is copay-exempt at any rating (38 CFR 17.111(c)).
• YesVA dental — Class IV Any needed dental care, for a 100% service-connected rating or 100% based on unemployability. A temporary 100% rating does not qualify.
• YesVision care and eyeglasses
• YesHearing aids
• YesProsthetics
• YesHome health, respite and adult day health care Copay-exempt for a compensable service-connected veteran.
• YesTelehealth
• YesMental health services Readjustment counseling and related mental health services have no copay regardless of priority group (VA copay page). Other mental health care can carry a copay unless you are exempt, for example through Priority Group 1 or a service-connected rating of 10% or more.
• ConditionsCaregiver Support — PCAFC 70% minimum rating, plus a 6-month continuous in-person personal care need and VA health care enrollment.
• ConditionsEmergency community care You or the provider must notify VA within 72 hours.

Benefits for your people

• YesCHAMPVA health coverage For your dependents, not for you. Requires your P&T rating, and the dependent must not be eligible for TRICARE.
• YesDEA / Chapter 35 education for dependents 36 months of entitlement if training began on or after 1 Aug 2018 (45 months if before). Spouses and children have different use windows — check yours.
• ConditionsDependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) For survivors. Three paths: rated totally disabling for 10 years or more before death; or rated totally disabling continuously since release from active duty and for at least 5 years before death; or at least 1 year before death for a former POW who died after 30 Sep 1999.
• ConditionsBurial and national cemetery benefits Eligibility is based on service, not your rating. For deaths on or after 1 Oct 2026: $1,032 burial plus $1,032 plot ($1,002 each for deaths from 1 Oct 2025 through 30 Sep 2026). For a service-connected death: up to $2,000 if the death was on or after 11 Sep 2001, $1,500 if before. These tiers change each 1 October — check the link.
• ConditionsPresidential Memorial Certificate Requires national cemetery burial eligibility. VA Form 40-0247.

Home loan and housing grants

• YesVA funding fee waiver Exempt if you are receiving VA compensation for a service-connected disability. Also exempt: eligible for compensation but receiving retirement or active-duty pay instead; a surviving spouse receiving DIC; a service member with a proposed or memorandum rating before closing from a pre-discharge claim; and an active-duty member who shows a Purple Heart on or before closing. This alone saves thousands.
• ConditionsVA-backed home loan Eligibility comes from your service and your Certificate of Eligibility — not your rating.
• ConditionsSAH grant — up to $126,526 Requires a specific qualifying disability: loss or loss of use of more than one limb; a lower limb plus residuals of organic disease or injury; permanent decreased vision in both eyes of 20/200 or less; certain severe burns; or certain post-9/11 single lower-extremity loss — that last path is capped at 120 grants per fiscal year. You must own or be about to own the home. A 100% P&T rating by itself does not qualify.
• ConditionsSHA grant — up to $25,350 Loss or loss of use of both hands, certain severe burns, or certain respiratory or breathing injuries. For SHA, you or a Family member may own the home.
• ConditionsTRA grant — $50,961 or $9,100 For adapting a Family member's home you are temporarily living in. Amount depends on whether you are SAH- or SHA-eligible. These three grant maximums are the FY2026 figures and they increase every 1 October — check the link before you rely on a number.
• ConditionsHISA grant — home improvements $6,800 lifetime for service-connected, or non-service-connected when rated 50%+. Must be medically justified. VA Form 10-0103.

Automobile and adaptive equipment

• ConditionsOne-time automobile allowance — up to $27,908.90 Requires loss or permanent loss of use of one or both feet or hands, permanent decreased vision in both eyes of 20/200 or less, certain severe burns, or ALS. Apply on VA Form 21-4502. Rate effective 1 Oct 2026; it adjusts each 1 October.
• ConditionsAdaptive equipment grant Same qualifying conditions, plus ankylosis of the knees or hips qualifies for equipment only. Adaptive equipment alone is VA Form 10-1394 — not 21-4502.
• StateDisabled veteran license plates
• StateVehicle registration discounts
• StateFree driver's license designation

Training, hiring and business

• ConditionsVR&E — Chapter 31 VA lists two requirements: a discharge that is not dishonorable, and a service-connected rating of at least 10%. Still serving? You need a pre-discharge rating of 20% or higher, or to be awaiting discharge for a severe illness or injury incurred on active duty. No time limit if you were discharged on or after 1 Jan 2013.
• ConditionsLicensing and certification test reimbursement — up to $2,000 per test Requires remaining GI Bill or Chapter 35 entitlement. This is not a benefit of the 100% rating.
• ConditionsApprenticeships and on-the-job training Same — requires GI Bill or Chapter 35 entitlement.
• Yes10-point federal hiring preference (CPS) For a compensable service-connected rating of 30% or more, in competitive federal hiring. Comes with pass-over protections.
• Yes30 Percent or More Disabled Veteran appointing authority A noncompetitive appointment path at any grade level. Note: this is not "Direct Hire Authority" — under DHA, veterans preference does not even apply.
• YesVeterans Business Outreach Centers (VBOC) Free business counseling and training. Open to veterans generally.
• ConditionsSBA service-disabled veteran-owned certification Requires a service-connected disability rating.

Commissary, exchange and MWR

• YesCommissary access
• YesExchange privileges — PX, BX, NEX, MCX
• ConditionsMWR facilities Included under the 2020 expansion. Excluded: fitness centers and gyms, child development programs, craft and hobby activities, and MWR activities primarily funded by appropriations. Included: recreational lodging, bowling, golf, restaurants, marinas, equipment rental, movie theaters, vehicle storage, kennels and AmericanForcesTravel.com.
• ConditionsArmed Forces Recreation Center lodging Space-available basis only.
• ConditionsSpace-A travel — Category VI A permanent service-connected disability rated total travels in Category VI — the lowest priority. Geography is limited: within the continental U.S.; directly between it and Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam or American Samoa (Guam and American Samoa travelers may transit Hawaii or Alaska); or within Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands on Air Mobility Command flights. No overseas travel. Check current DoDI 4515.13 and your departure terminal before you count on a seat or on bringing anyone with you.

Parks and state programs

• YesAmerica the Beautiful — free Military Lifetime Pass A free lifetime pass for veterans and Gold Star Family members — not an annual one. Accepted proof: a DoD ID (DD Form 2, DD Form 2765 or Next Generation USID), your VHIC, the digital Veteran ID Card, or a veteran designation on your state driver's license or ID. Gold Star Families use a printable voucher. A separate free Access Pass exists for permanent disability. Run by the National Park Service.
• StateProperty tax exemptions This is often the single largest dollar benefit on this page — and it changes completely at the state line.
• StateFree or discounted hunting and fishing licenses
• StateState park passes
• StateState tuition assistance programs
• StateState Veterans Homes Owned and run by state governments. Each state sets its own eligibility, and residents pay a cost that varies by state. VA only recognizes, surveys and pays a per diem.
• StateLocal business discounts

Four things commonly stated wrong