How to read your VA rating decision letter

A VA rating decision letter is dense and written in the VA’s own shorthand. Here is what each part means, in plain language. This is educational, it explains your letter and is not legal advice or a prediction about your claim.

1. The combined evaluation

Near the top you will see a combined evaluation, a single percentage like 80%. This is your overall rating and what your monthly compensation is based on. The VA does not add your individual ratings together, it combines them so each condition applies to the part of you still considered healthy, then rounds to the nearest 10. That is why 60% plus 40% is 80%, not 120%. See the exact math on the combined rating calculator, or read the combined evaluation definition.

2. Each condition and its diagnostic code

The letter lists every condition it decided, each with a percentage and a four-digit diagnostic code from the federal rating schedule (38 CFR Part 4). The code tells you which set of criteria the VA used to rate that condition. Each condition is also marked as service connected (granted) or not (denied). A denial of one condition does not change the ratings that were granted.

3. Effective dates

Each granted condition has an effective date, the date your benefit starts for that condition. It determines any back pay you are owed, and it is usually tied to when you filed. Different conditions on the same letter can have different effective dates.

4. Status flags: static, deferred, future exam

The VA marks conditions with status flags that are easy to misread:

• Static: the VA does not expect this condition to improve, so it is not scheduled for re-examination.
• Deferred: the VA has not decided this issue yet, usually pending more evidence or an exam. It is not a denial; a later decision is expected.
• Routine future examination: the VA plans to re-examine this condition on a set date to see whether the rating should change.

5. What to do next

If something on your letter looks wrong, or you are considering a next step, the people authorized to help are VA-accredited representatives, and many Veterans Service Organizations help for free. Everything on this site is built to bring to that conversation, never to replace it.