Veterans' View
Is there a mistake in your new comp rate?
by Amy Simmons, Washington County Veterans Services Officer
Why doesn’t my new comp rate equal my old rate plus 2.7 percent? Every year about this time, when the new compensation rates are announced, veterans services
Why doesn’t my new comp rate equal my old rate plus 2.7 percent? Every year about this time, when the new compensation rates are announced, veterans services officers receive calls from veterans who think there has been a mistake in their new rate. They take their old rate and add the percent of increase and then find the result is more than what the rate table shows. Unfortunately, the new compensation rates are not determined by simply adding the Cost of Living Adjustment to the old rates.
Title 38 United States Code (USC) Section 1114 specifies the rates of compensation for veterans without dependents. The legislation providing the Cost of Living Adjustment provides that the increase (2.7 percent)be applied to these rates and the results rounded down to the nearest whole dollar. For veterans with disabilities of 30 percent or more but less than total, Title 38 USC Section 1115 provides that the additional amounts for dependents shall be the additional amount for total disability times the percent of disability, rounded down to the nearest whole dollar.
In summary, Title 38 specifies the compensation rates for veterans without dependents and additional amounts for dependents of veterans with total disability. The COLA is applied to these rates, rounding down to the nearest whole dollar. For veterans rated 30 percent or more but less than total, the additional amounts for dependents are determined by taking the percent of the rating times the additional amount for dependents for a veteran with total disability and rounding down to the nearest whole dollar. It’s the rounding down that causes the rate to be less than it would be if the new rate were just the old rate plus the COLA.
Veterans Health Administration Toll-Free Hotline (medical care): 1-877-222-8387
VA Web site: Florida Department of Veterans Affairs: www.floridavets.org
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