Legal Help for Veterans Offers Support to Those Affected by VA Disability Compensation Changes Coming in 2025
January 01, 2025
Legal Help for Veterans, a nationwide law firm dedicated exclusively to assisting veterans with disability benefits claims and appeals, is closely monitoring significant changes the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced for 2025. These updates could significantly affect veterans receiving benefits or filing for compensation shortly.
According to the VA’s official news release, several rating schedules are being revised this year, including criteria for mental health disorders, sleep apnea, and tinnitus. These updates reflect modern medical understanding and improve fairness in the disability rating process. However, changing the rating formula may lead to confusion or misinterpretation, especially for veterans already managing the stress of a claim or appeal.
Attorney James Fausone, a veteran himself and managing partner at Legal Help for Veterans, warns that these policy changes may result in real consequences for veterans’ monthly compensation. In addition to the rating schedule changes, the VA has announced plans to streamline the claims process by increasing staffing and investing in new technology to reduce backlog and improve turnaround times.
Legal Help for Veterans encourages veterans to review their current ratings and consult with an experienced attorney before or shortly after the new criteria go into effect. Veterans with conditions like PTSD, depression, or sleep apnea may be among the most affected, and changes to diagnostic standards could create unintentional gaps in medical evidence or misalignments in how a condition is described.
If the VA reinterprets how your condition should be rated, you’ll need documentation that reflects the full scope of your experience.
Looking Ahead to 2025
Veterans who have already been granted benefits may be eligible to keep their current ratings under certain protections, but those filing new claims or seeking increases will be subject to the revised rules. The VA has not indicated any rollback of existing benefits, but veterans are encouraged to follow updates closely. Even small administrative or diagnostic changes can affect long-term compensation, access to VA health care, and eligibility for ancillary benefits such as housing, education, and caregiver support.