Protect What You Earned
The VA Rating Reduction Defense Guide
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About this book
The VA sends rating reduction notices to veterans every year, and too many respond from fear instead of from knowledge. This guide explains how a reduction works, what protections the regulations give long-standing ratings, and how to answer a proposed reduction on time and on the record. You will follow Owen, an Army combat medic who opens a letter proposing to cut his PTSD rating, and see how he and his VSO build the response before the deadline.
Inside this book
- 1How the VA Initiates a Rating Reduction
- 2The 5-Year Rule: Material Improvement Under Ordinary Conditions
- 3The 10-Year Rule: Service Connection Cannot Be Severed
- 4The 20-Year Rule: The Protected Floor
- 5The C&P Reexamination: How to Prepare
- 6How to Respond to a Proposed Reduction
- 7Newer Ratings, Convalescent Ratings, and Scheduled Exams: Special Cases for Reduction
- 8Common VA Errors in Reduction Decisions: How the VA Gets It Wrong and How to Answer
- 9The Secondary Service Connection Defense: Using Secondary Ratings to Protect Your Overall Percentage
- 10Appealing a Completed Reduction
- 11Special Situations and Long-Term Protection: TDIU, P&T, 100 Percent Schedular, and SMC
The book points you to its free field guide, Protecting Your Rating From Reduction (a free download, no signup).
Pairs with
Free guides and worksheets need no signup and no book. Books and workbooks are coming soon.
Free guideProtecting Your Rating From Reduction
Free guideRequesting an Increased Rating for a Worsening Condition
Free guideResponding to a Proposed Reduction and Protecting Your Rating
Free worksheetBuddy Statement Pack
Free worksheetFive Ten Twenty
Free worksheetFlare Log
Free worksheetThe Frozen Record
Free worksheetTwo Week Record
Free worksheetVA Math Worksheet
Free worksheetWork History Record
J. Erickson
Author, educator, former veteran service officer.
J. Erickson is a service-disabled Air Force veteran. He served as a military firefighter and as a veteran service officer, where he spent years walking veterans through the same claims process he writes about now. He holds an MBA and writes plain-language guides for veterans who want to understand the system without a translator.
Read more about the author