Military Careers, Retirement - Air Force Times

Disability Benefits

You do not have to be retired from the military to receive disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs. There are two types of compensation, VA disability and VA pension.

VA disability

Former service members with injuries or diseases incurred or aggravated during active service can receive payments. These are separate from permanent and temporary disability Defense Department payments.

The tax-free monthly income paid under VA disability to veterans with no children ranges from $115 for a 10 percent disability rating to $2,471 for a 100 percent rating. Veterans with at least a 30 percent disability rating get more money for their spouse and for each child.

Veterans who do not qualify for military disability might qualify for VA disability and vice versa. VA disability pay is reduced by any amount received in Defense Department severance pay.

VA disability payments are tax-free; most military retirement pay is not. Any part of military retirement pay that is based on disability, however, usually is not taxed.

Veterans classified as 100 percent disabled are entitled to use military exchanges, commissaries and theaters, as are their spouses and any children living with them. However, they are not eligible for military medical care; VA assumes that responsibility.

In addition to general compensation benefits, veterans who served in Southwest Asia in the 1991 Persian Gulf War and have undiagnosed illnesses can apply for VA disability compensation, even if they cannot directly trace their illnesses or injuries to their experiences in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. Veterans who are sick for six months or more may be eligible for compensation for these chronic conditions.

Once VA grants disability compensation, veterans may have to undergo examinations every few years to determine the status of their ailments. Their disability status, and their VA compensation, could change based on the exams.

Contact: https://mypay.dfas.mil.

VA pension

VA offers a pension for wartime veterans with limited income and permanent disabilities not connected to military service. Payments vary by income, number of family members and capacity for self-care.

The annual basic pension for a single veteran with no dependents is $10,929. A veteran with one dependent would receive $14,313. For each additional dependent child, the pension increases by $1,866.

These figures rise to $13,356 for housebound veterans ($16,740 with one dependent) and $18,234 for veterans who need aid and attendance ($21,615 with one dependent).

The amount of pension to which a veteran is entitled is calculated by deducting any nonwelfare income the veteran and his family receives from these maximum limits. In most cases, the balance is then paid monthly.

For veterans receiving any income, an equivalent offset is subtracted from the payment.

Contact: The 2007 edition of “Federal Benefits for Veterans and Dependents” can be read or downloaded from VA’s Web site at http://www1.va.gov/opa/feature/index.htm.

Did you know?

A complete listing of VA compensation tables for disability payments and a variety of other programs is available online at http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/Rates.