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What 0 percent is really worth
A 0 percent rating pays nothing. It is still one of the most valuable pieces of paper you will ever hold.
- It is service connection — VA has agreed the condition came from your service
- It makes you enrollable in VA health care
- Care and medication for that condition carry no copay, at any rating
- Mental health care is covered
- Travel pay for appointments tied to that condition
- 10-point federal hiring preference
- VALife insurance eligibility
- If the condition gets worse, you already have the service connection — you are asking for a higher rating, not starting over
★ Zero percent is a door, not a dead end.
Health care
Your rating sets your Priority Group
Enrollable does not mean free. Priority Group decides what you pay.
- Group 150 percent or higher, TDIU, or Medal of Honor
- Group 230 to 40 percent
- Group 310 to 20 percent, plus former POWs, Purple Heart recipients, and veterans discharged for a disability
- Group 4Aid and attendance, housebound, or catastrophically disabled
- Group 5Income- and pension-based — not a rating band
- Group 6Includes a 0 percent compensable rating and certain special authorities
- Groups 7 and 8Income-based
A 0 percent
non-compensable rating lands in Group 5 only if your income is below VA's limits,
you receive VA pension, or you are Medicaid-eligible. Otherwise it is Group 8. In Groups 2 through 8
you pay copays for
non-service-connected care.
Priority groups on VA.gov
★ Know your group. It is the whole ballgame.
What you pay
Copays, and the cap nobody mentions
VA health care copay rates are effective January 1, 2026. Compensation rates are effective December 1, 2025. Two different clocks.
- Service-connected condition — no copay for care or medication, at any rating
- Priority Group 1 (50 percent or higher, TDIU, Medal of Honor) — exempt from outpatient, inpatient and medication copays outright
- 100 percent — no cost care and no medication copays
The $700 cap. Total medication copayments for an enrolled veteran will not exceed $700 per
calendar year. That is in the regulation, 38 CFR 17.110. Most people paying VA medication copays
have never been told there is a ceiling.
Medication tiers for 1–30, 31–60 and 61–90 day supplies, effective January 1, 2026:
Tier 1
$5 / $10 / $15 · Tier 2
$8 / $16 / $24 · Tier 3
$11 / $22 / $33.
Current copay rates
★ Ask if a copay should have been charged at all.
Money left on the table
Travel pay starts at any rating
This is the one I see missed most. You do not need 30 percent.
You qualify for beneficiary travel reimbursement at any rating, including 0 percent, when you
travel for treatment of a service-connected condition — VA says this plainly, "even if your VA
disability rating is less than 30%."
You also qualify if:
- You are rated 30 percent or higher — then it is for any care, not just service-connected care
- You receive VA pension
- Your income is below the maximum annual VA pension rate
- You cannot afford the travel under VA's hardship guidelines
- You are traveling to a VA claim exam (the C&P exam)
- You are traveling to get a service dog
- You are traveling for VA-approved transplant care
★ Mileage you never claimed is money you gave back.
Urgent care
Three visits in the community
Copays run by Priority Group, not by rating percentage. Rates effective January 1, 2026.
- Groups 1 through 5 — no copay for the first 3 urgent care visits per calendar year, then $30 per visit
- Group 6 — no copay for special-authority conditions, $30 otherwise
- Groups 7 and 8 — $30 per visit
- A flu shot alone carries no copay in any group
Do not translate group numbers into rating bands. Group 5 is income- and pension-based, not a
rating. A 0 percent compensable rating sits in Group 6. Look up your own group before you assume.
★ Use an in-network urgent care, not the ER, when you can.
Read before you need it
Emergency care at a non-VA hospital
Call 911 first. Then get VA notified.
72 hours. VA must be notified within 72 hours of when the emergency care starts. That deadline
is the same at every rating. If the provider does not notify VA, you or someone acting for you can.
Notification alone does not make VA pay. For care to be
authorized, the facility must be
in VA's community care network and VA must get that 72-hour notification. For
unauthorized
emergency care, you must be enrolled in VA health care or exempt from enrollment, a VA facility must
not have been feasibly available, and a prudent layperson must have believed delay endangered life or
health. Then service connection decides the path: under 38 U.S.C. 1728 VA may pay if the emergency
involved a service-connected condition, or you are rated permanently and totally disabled, or the care
supported VR&E participation. Under 38 U.S.C. 1725, for a
non-service-connected emergency,
you must also have received care at a VA or in-network facility within the preceding 24 months and have
exhausted any third-party payment.
VA's emergency care page
★ Put the 72-hour rule in your Family's hands too.
Corrected
Federal hiring preference starts at 0 percent
I have seen this printed as starting at 10 percent, and as starting at 30 percent. Both are wrong, and both cost people jobs.
- XP10-point preference — a veteran who served at any time
and has a present service-connected disability, including a 0 percent non-compensable rating; or
is receiving compensation, disability retirement benefits, or pension from the military or VA; or
received a Purple Heart
- CP10-point compensable preference — a compensable rating
of at least 10 percent but less than 30 percent
- CPS10-point 30-percent compensable preference — 30 percent
or more
At 30 percent or more you may also be appointed noncompetitively to almost any position at
any grade under the "30 Percent or More Disabled Veteran" appointing authority. And if an agency tries
to pass you over on physical-ability grounds, OPM has to approve it.
That 30 percent mechanism is a
noncompetitive appointing authority. It is not direct hire
authority, whatever a flyer told you. Claim your preference on the application — nobody claims it
for you.
OPM's Vet Guide
★ Zero percent still gets you 10 points.
Employment
Veteran Readiness and Employment (Chapter 31)
This used to be called Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment. The name changed; a lot of paper did not.
- Service-connected rating of at least 10 percent
- An employment barrier — your disability makes it hard to get or keep suitable work
- A discharge other than dishonorable
A "serious employment handicap" is not required at 10 percent. I have watched that single wrong
line stop people from applying. It matters only for extending the 12-year eligibility period for
veterans discharged before January 1, 2013. If you were discharged on or after January 1, 2013, there
is no time limit.
★ Ten percent and a barrier. That is the test.
Housing
The home loan funding fee exemption
On a VA-backed loan the funding fee runs into the thousands. Exempt is exempt.
You are exempt if you:
- Are receiving VA compensation for a service-connected disability
- Are entitled to compensation but receive retirement or active-duty pay instead
- Are a surviving spouse receiving DIC
- Are a service member with a proposed or memorandum rating before closing
- Are an active-duty Purple Heart recipient
The test is
compensation, not a percentage. Do not take my word or a lender's guess on your own
status — have VA confirm your exemption in writing before closing, and ask about a refund if you
already paid a fee you should not have.
Funding fee page
★ Get the exemption confirmed before you sign.
Your Family
Dependents on your compensation
Adding your Family to your award starts at 30 percent.
- At 30 percent or higher, you can receive additional compensation for an eligible spouse,
child or dependent parent — and that can include aid and attendance for a spouse
- At 10 to 20 percent, VA states you will not receive a higher rate even with a dependent
spouse, child or parent
A
dependent parent is claimed on
VA Form 21P-509. That is not the same form as a spouse
or child. Getting that one wrong sends the claim in a circle.
Compensation rates
Special Monthly Compensation goes well beyond spouse aid and attendance. If you have loss of use
of a limb, blindness, deafness, or a combination of severe conditions, ask specifically about SMC. It is
not automatic and it is rarely volunteered.
★ If you hit 30 percent, add your Family.
Four and six figures
Grants and allowances tied to severe disability
These are not on most rating charts at all. They are the largest single payments on this page.
- Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) grant — up to $126,526 for FY 2026
- Special Home Adaptation (SHA) grant — up to $25,350 for FY 2026
- Both apply on VA Form 26-4555
- Automobile allowance — one-time payment up to $27,074.99, effective October 1,
2025, on VA Form 21-4502
- Adaptive equipment for a vehicle is a different application — VA Form 10-1394
- Annual clothing allowance — $1,053.19, effective December 1, 2025
★ Ask about these by name. Nobody offers them.
Retirees
Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay
CRDP at 50 percent is real — but only for retirees. I want you to know that before you count on the money.
- You must be entitled, for the month, to both military retired pay and VA disability compensation
- Your VA rating must be not less than 50 percent
- If you retired under Chapter 61 for disability, you must also have completed 20 or more years
creditable under 10 U.S.C. 1405, or 20 years computed under 10 U.S.C. 12732, at retirement
A 50 to 90 percent veteran who never served to retirement gets nothing from CRDP. That is not a
door closing on you — your compensation is your compensation. It just is not this.
Because VA shares rating data with DFAS, in most cases DFAS pays concurrent retired pay with no written
claim. If you believe you qualify and are not being paid, submit a written claim to DFAS on
DD Form 827.
DFAS CRDP page
★ Retiree first, 50 percent second.
Dental
What a rating gets you at the dental chair
Two very different things get listed side by side. One is free care. One is insurance you pay for.
Any needed dental care (VA Dental Class IV) if you have one or more service-connected
disabilities rated 100 percent disabling, or you are unemployable and paid at the 100 percent
rate due to service-connected conditions (TDIU). This is a 100 percent and TDIU benefit. It is
not limited to Permanent and Total.
The exclusion VA states outright: if you are being paid at the 100 percent rate on a
temporary rating — a long hospital stay or convalescence, for example — that does not
qualify you for this benefit.
VADIP — the VA Dental Insurance Program — is open to any veteran enrolled in VA
health care at any rating, and to the current or surviving spouse or dependent child of a veteran or
service member enrolled in CHAMPVA. VA says it "started as a temporary program. It's now a permanent VA
program with no end date."
You pay the full insurance premium for each person on the plan, plus
copays. It is discounted private dental insurance, not free VA dental care.
VA dental care ·
VADIP
★ Free care and cheap insurance are not the same benefit.
Education
Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance
DEA, Chapter 35. The word "Survivors'" is part of the name. Drop it and Families never learn they qualify.
A spouse or child may qualify if the veteran:
- Is permanently and totally disabled due to a service-connected disability
- Died as a result of a service-connected disability
- Or the service member died in the line of duty
- Is missing in action, or was captured in the line of duty by a hostile force, for more than 90 days
- Was forcibly detained or interned in the line of duty by a foreign entity for more than 90 days
- Is in the hospital or getting outpatient treatment for a service-connected permanent and total
disability and is likely to be discharged for that disability
Up to
36 months of benefits if training started on or after August 1, 2018 (45 months if before).
Time limits for children and spouses were
removed for qualifying events on or after August 1,
2023.
DEA on VA.gov
★ P&T can put your kid through school.
Family health care
CHAMPVA, caregivers, and survivors
CHAMPVA covers the Family, not the veteran.
CHAMPVA is for:
- The spouse or dependent child of a veteran rated permanently and totally disabled from
a service-connected disability
- The surviving spouse or dependent child of a veteran who died from a service-connected
disability
- The surviving spouse or dependent child of a veteran who was rated P&T at the time of death
- In certain cases, the surviving spouse or dependent child of a service member who died in the
line of duty, not due to misconduct
The exclusion most people miss: you must not be eligible for or enrolled in TRICARE.
Two more doors for the household. Ask about the
Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family
Caregivers (PCAFC) — for a severely disabled veteran's household, the caregiver support is
often the largest benefit nobody applied for. And survivors should ask about
Dependency and Indemnity
Compensation (DIC) by name.
CHAMPVA on VA.gov
★ Your rating covers people besides you.
Insurance
VALife — and why S-DVI is a dead end
If a chart told you to apply for S-DVI, that chart is out of date.
VALife — guaranteed-acceptance whole life in $10,000 increments up to $40,000, open
to any veteran with a VA service-connected rating, even 0 percent. If you are 80 or younger there
is no time limit to apply.
81 or older? You are still eligible if all three are true: you applied for VA disability
compensation before turning 81, you received the rating for that same disability after turning 81, and
you apply for VALife within 2 years of being notified of that rating.
The limit you must understand before you buy. Full coverage does not start until 2 years after
you apply, and cash value only begins accruing 2 years after approval. If you die during that
2-year waiting period, VA pays your beneficiaries only the premiums you paid plus interest — not
the face amount.
S-DVI stopped accepting new applications after
December 31, 2022. If you already hold a
basic S-DVI policy, you may still get a premium waiver if total disability — a condition that
prevents you from working — began
before your 65th birthday and lasted 6 consecutive
months. There is no waiver on Supplemental S-DVI, and the waiver runs on the policy's total-disability
definition, not on holding a 100 percent VA rating.
VALife ·
S-DVI
★ Zero percent buys you insurance nobody can refuse you.
Student loans
Total and Permanent Disability discharge
Federal student loans can be discharged. Permanent and Total status is not required.
- You qualify if VA documentation shows a service-connected disability, or combination of
disabilities, rated 100 percent disabling
- Or that you are totally disabled based on an individual unemployability rating (TDIU)
The Department of Education matches records with VA every quarter and mails eligible borrowers a notice.
Do not sit and wait for that letter. Education's own words: "If you believe you have a qualifying VA
disability determination, you can submit a TPD discharge application."
TPD discharge at studentaid.gov
★ TDIU counts. Apply, do not wait for mail.
Base access
Commissary, exchange, MWR and the ID card
This is a DoD benefit, not a VA one. There is no such thing as a VA commissary.
- Open to veterans with any service-connected disability rating, including 0 percent, who were
honorably discharged
- Also military retirees, former POWs, Reserve members, and Purple Heart and Medal of Honor recipients
The gate, literally. For in-person access you must present a Veteran Health Identification
Card (VHIC), or a VA eligibility letter with a passport or driver's license. A VHIC requires
enrollment in VA health care. Enroll first or you will be turned away at the gate.
The Uniformed Services ID (USID) card is a separate card, issued through DEERS. DoD has replaced
the legacy DD Forms 1173, 1173-1 and 2765 with the Next Generation USID card, and older VA guidance
still calls it a DD Form 2765. On who qualifies, DoD's own pages and VA's guidance do not agree —
one lists "100% Disabled Veterans" with no permanent-and-total qualifier, other guidance ties the card
to a permanent and total rating. So I will not hand you a percentage on this one. Take your rating
decision to an installation ID card office and have them check DEERS. What I can tell you: the card
conveys
commissary, exchange and MWR access only. It does
not convey TRICARE or care at a
military treatment facility.
VA's commissary and exchange page
★ Get the VHIC first. Then go shop.
Travel
Space-A flights, Category VI
Real benefit. Badly oversold on most charts.
- Requires a permanent service-connected disability rated as total — a 100 percent
rating that is not permanent does not qualify
- Requires a Uniformed Services ID card
- Category VI is the lowest travel priority there is
Do not book non-refundable onward travel on a Space-A seat. Routes, passenger eligibility and
who may travel with you are set by DoD policy, not by VA, and that policy is where the real limits live.
Confirm the current rules with the passenger terminal before you plan anything.
AMC Space-A page
★ Permanent and total, or it is not this benefit.
Burial
Burial and plot allowance — not rating-tiered
I have seen this printed as a 10 percent benefit. It is not tiered at all.
For deaths on or after October 1, 2025, non-service-connected death:
- $1,002 burial allowance
- $1,002 plot allowance
- $441 headstone or marker reimbursement
Service-connected death: $2,000 if the veteran died on or after September 11, 2001, or
$1,500 if before that date. That is a flat statutory figure — it is not indexed each
October like the figures above.
Eligibility turns on circumstances, not a percentage. A survivor qualifies if the veteran died of
a service-connected disability, or died while receiving VA compensation or pension, or while eligible
for compensation or pension, or with a claim pending, or while getting VA care, or while in authorized
travel to VA care — and the veteran did not receive a dishonorable discharge.
Burial allowance on VA.gov
★ Tell your Family this exists. They file it, not you.
State and local
The benefits I cannot list for you
Property tax exemptions, license plates, hunting and fishing licenses, tuition waivers and more.
These vary by state and by county. There are more than fifty separate authorities and no single federal
source that covers them, so I will not print a promise here that might not be true where you live. What
I will tell you is that in some states these are worth more per year than a low VA rating pays.
Go ask, in this order:
- Your State Department of Veterans Affairs
- Your county veteran service office
- Your county appraiser or assessor, for the property tax exemption specifically
Take your rating decision letter with you. Ask what your percentage qualifies for, and ask what a
higher percentage would qualify for.
★ The state money is the money most people miss.
Free help
Who helps for free, and who may charge
If you read this page and realize something was missed, this is the part that protects your wallet.
VA-accredited representatives at Veterans Service Organizations, state departments of veterans
affairs, and county veteran service offices help free of charge. Start there.
A VA-accredited attorney or claims agent may charge a fee, but only for representation
after an agency of original jurisdiction has issued notice of an initial decision on the claim.
Fees for getting the initial claim filed are not chargeable. A fee not exceeding 20 percent of
past-due benefits awarded "shall be presumed to be reasonable if the agent or attorney provided
representation that continued through the date of the decision awarding benefits." That is 38 CFR
14.636. Any fee agreement must be filed with VA.
Not every accredited representative is free. Accreditation is not the same thing as no charge.
Ask, in plain words, before you sign anything: are you accredited by VA, and will you charge me a fee.
Ask an accredited representative about filing an intent to file before you submit a claim, and
about what it does for your dates. It is a short conversation that can matter.
★ Free help exists. Use it before you pay anyone.
The clock
If a benefit was denied or under-rated
Deadlines are the one place where doing nothing is the same as giving up.
- Higher-Level Review — within 1 year of the decision notice. Your claim must not
be a contested claim; contested claims are not eligible for Higher-Level Review and go to the Board on
the shorter contested-claim timeline
- Board Appeal — within 1 year of the decision notice
- Supplemental Claim — VA states there is no filing deadline
Do not read "no deadline" as "no hurry." The one-year windows for Higher-Level Review and Board
Appeal close permanently. Ask an accredited representative how the timing of a Supplemental Claim
affects your effective date before you decide to wait — that is a real question with real money
attached, and it is worth asking out loud.
★ A denial is a step in the process, not the end of it.
Last word
What decides your eligibility
- Your disability rating
- Whether you are Permanent and Total (P&T)
- Whether you are paid at the 100 percent rate for Individual Unemployability (TDIU) —
VA's full term is Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability
- Your state of residence
- Your Priority Group and whether you are enrolled in VA health care
- Your character of discharge
- And other factors, case by case
I am one man who spent twenty years in uniform and two years in the transition office at Fort Riley
watching people walk out the door without the information they had earned. Rates and rules change. When
you check something on this page, check it against
VA.gov and bring your rating letter with you.
★ Never give up. Ask again, ask higher, ask someone else.