Filing a GERD Claim

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This is general education, not legal or claims advice, and not guidance for your specific claim. It cannot promise you a rating or an outcome, and no one can. For help with your own claim, see a free accredited representative (see Get free, accredited help below). Nothing here creates a representative relationship.

Current as of October 2026. Rules, forms, and figures change. Check current details at va.gov.

The best way to use this guide

The strongest position is to be your own informed advocate and to work with a free accredited representative. An accredited Veterans Service Organization, such as the DAV, VFW, American Legion, or a county or state veterans office, helps at no charge. Accredited claims agents and attorneys can help too. They can't charge for work done before VA issues its initial decision on your claim, and after that they may charge a fee within the limits of 38 CFR 14.636. This guide is here so you understand your own situation and can work with them as a full partner instead of handing it over blind. If you'd rather handle this yourself, and you're comfortable doing that, the guide walks you through every step. Either way, you stay in control.

What you'll get done

The outcome: By the end of this guide you'll have filed a GERD claim on VA Form 21-526EZ on the path that fits your history, often as secondary to a service-connected condition or the medicine you take for it.

This guide prepares you for the task. It doesn't and can't promise a rating, a percentage, or an outcome. The evidence in your file decides the result.

What you need before you start

• A way to get on VA.gov, or VA's main number, 1-800-827-1000.
• A current GERD diagnosis and your list of symptoms and medicines.
• The name of any service-connected condition, or the medicine you take for it, that may cause or worsen your reflux.
• Any endoscopy, barium swallow, or CT results, and records of any dilation (stretching) of your esophagus.
• Your service dates and branch.
• Your VA file number, if you have one.

When to start: Today. An Intent to File holds your potential start date for one year while you gather the rest.

Start here: the basics

Gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, is stomach acid rising into the esophagus. It shows up as heartburn, regurgitation, chest or upper-belly pain, and trouble swallowing. Since VA rewrote the digestive rating schedule on May 19, 2024, GERD has its own code, Diagnostic Code 7206. Know this before you start: the levels under that code turn on a documented narrowing of the esophagus (a stricture) confirmed by barium swallow, CT, or endoscopy, trouble swallowing, and how often it needs treatment. Heartburn alone, without that history, generally doesn't reach a paying level. GERD is often claimed as secondary: caused or made worse by a service-connected condition, or by a medicine prescribed for one. This guide prints no percentages. See how GERD is rated at va.gov.

Where this is written down: 38 CFR § 4.114, DC 7206 and Note (1); 38 CFR § 3.310.

The steps

Step 1. File an Intent to File today.

How. Submit it online through va.gov/resources/your-intent-to-file-a-va-claim, call 1-800-827-1000, or mail VA Form 21-0966. If you start the online 21-526EZ while signed in, VA records it for you. Save the confirmation.

Do not wait until your evidence is perfect. The Intent to File is free, and it holds your date only if the complete claim follows within one year.

Where this is written down: 38 CFR § 3.155(b).

Done when you have a confirmation saved.

Step 2. Get a current GERD diagnosis on paper.

How. See a provider to confirm GERD and record your symptoms and treatment. Gather any endoscopy, barium swallow, or CT results and any records of dilation. Those tests are what the rating criteria look for.

Done when you have a current diagnosis, with your symptoms and any test results in your records.

Step 3. Choose your service-connection path.

How. GERD can be direct (it started in service and a medical link ties it to today) or secondary to a service-connected condition or its medicine.

If a service-connected condition, or a medicine prescribed for one, caused your reflux, then claim GERD as secondary and name that condition or medicine. If you had reflux before and a service-connected condition or its medicine made it worse, then that's aggravation, and VA will need medical evidence of how bad it was before it got worse, or the earliest medical evidence from after it started getting worse. If it started and was treated in service, then claim direct service connection. If you aren't sure, ask a free accredited representative.

Where this is written down: 38 CFR § 3.303; 38 CFR § 3.310(a) and (b).

Done when you've written down which path fits your history.

Step 4. Line up the medical link your path needs.

How. The file needs a medical opinion on whether your GERD is "at least as likely as not" related to service, or caused or made worse by the service-connected condition or medicine you named. VA usually asks its examiner for that opinion. You can also send one from your own provider. A private opinion should name the condition or medicine and explain how it led to your reflux.

Where this is written down: 38 CFR § 3.159(c)(4); 38 CFR § 3.102.

Done when you have an opinion, or you know VA will get one at the exam.

Step 5. Fill out VA Form 21-526EZ and name GERD clearly.

How. List it plainly, for example "GERD, secondary to medication for service-connected PTSD." You don't need to write a diagnostic code. VA picks the code.

If you already have a GERD rating from before May 19, 2024, then know it was most likely set under the old hiatal hernia criteria. A change to the rating schedule by itself isn't a reason to lower an existing rating. Talk with a representative before asking VA to look at it again.

Where this is written down: 38 CFR § 4.114; 38 CFR § 3.951(a).

Done when GERD is on the form with your path stated.

Step 6. Get ready for the C&P exam.

How. Be ready to describe trouble swallowing, how often it happens, any food getting stuck, choking or inhaling food, weight loss, and every time your esophagus was stretched. Bring your test results and medicine list. Describe things as they really are. Don't play them down, and don't stretch them.

Do not skip the exam. If you can't make it, call before the appointment to reschedule. Without good cause, VA decides a first claim on what's already in the file.

Where this is written down: 38 CFR § 4.114, DC 7206; 38 CFR § 3.655(b).

Done when you can describe your swallowing problems, treatment history, and daily impact.

Step 7. Send one organized package and confirm VA got it.

How. File online at va.gov/disability/file-disability-claim-form-21-526ez and save the confirmation, or mail it with tracking to: Department of Veterans Affairs, Claims Intake Center, PO Box 4444, Janesville, WI 53547-4444. About 10 days later, check va.gov/claim-or-appeal-status or call 1-800-827-1000 to make sure each document is in your file.

Done when you have a dated confirmation and you've checked that your documents are in the file.

Recap checklist

• Filed an Intent to File and saved the confirmation.
• Got a current GERD diagnosis, with any endoscopy, barium swallow, or CT results gathered.
• Chose my path: direct, secondary, or aggravation.
• Lined up the medical link, or know VA will get it at the exam.
• Filled out the 21-526EZ naming GERD and my path.
• Got ready to describe swallowing problems and treatment at the exam.
• Sent one organized package and confirmed VA got it.

Reminder: rules and rates change. Check any current figure at va.gov. Help from an accredited Veterans Service Organization is free. Accredited claims agents and attorneys can't charge for work done before VA issues its initial decision on your claim. After that, they may charge a fee within the limits of 38 CFR 14.636. This guide prepared you for the task. The evidence in your file decides the result.

Go further

• The book: VA Secondary Claims Manual, the full guide this one comes from. Coming soon as a PDF on this site and in Kindle and paperback on Amazon.
• The workbook: The Master VA Claim Workbook, a fillable PDF. Coming soon.
• Free toolkit: the worksheets that go with VA Secondary Claims Manual. No signup.

Get free, accredited help

For anything about your own claim, talk to an accredited representative. Help from an accredited Veterans Service Organization is free. Accredited claims agents and attorneys can't charge for work done before VA issues its initial decision on your claim. After that, they may charge a fee within the limits of 38 CFR 14.636. Free help is available through Veterans Service Organizations such as the DAV, VFW, and American Legion, and through county and state veterans offices.

To find one near you, visit va.gov/get-help-from-accredited-representative. Representation begins only when you sign VA Form 21-22 (for a Veterans Service Organization) or 21-22a (for an individual agent or attorney). With one rare exception for a single unpaid case, only accredited people can represent you before the VA, and only an accredited agent or attorney can charge you a fee. Nothing in this guide creates that relationship.

A warning about claim sharks. Anyone who offers to file your initial claim for a fee, or who guarantees you a rating or a percentage, is selling something you shouldn't buy. Accredited Veterans Service Organizations help at no charge, and accredited claims agents and attorneys may charge only after VA issues its initial decision, within the limits of 38 CFR 14.636. Report predatory companies to the VA Office of Inspector General at 1-800-488-8244.

About this guide

This guide is education, not representation. It explains how part of the VA system works so you can handle your own business with confidence. It is not legal or claims advice, and reading it does not create any representative relationship between you and the author. The author is not affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs, and nothing here is endorsed by the VA.

This guide prints no live VA dollar figures and no rating percentages on purpose, because they change. Before you make a decision based on any number, check the current figure at va.gov. No book can promise you a rating; the evidence in your file decides the result. Help from an accredited Veterans Service Officer is always free.

Details

• PDF, US Letter, 8 pages including the cover
• 13 fillable checkboxes
• Current as of October 2026

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Never a cut of your claim.

About the author: 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.