Filing a Hemorrhoids Claim

In crisis? Call the Veterans Crisis Line: dial 988, then press 1. You can also text 838255 or chat online at veteranscrisisline.net. It is free, confidential, and available 24/7.

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 file a hemorrhoids claim on VA Form 21-526EZ that documents the type of hemorrhoids, whether they prolapse, how many times a year they clot (thrombose), and any persistent bleeding with anemia.

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

• Internet access for VA.gov, or the VA phone line at 1-800-827-1000.
• A current record of internal or external hemorrhoids.
• A dated log of each clotting (thrombosis) episode in the past year, and whether internal hemorrhoids stay prolapsed.
• Records of any persistent bleeding and blood tests showing anemia, plus any procedures or surgery.
• Records or a statement about the in-service onset.
• Your VA file number, if you have one.

When to start: Today. Once VA has your Intent to File, you have one year to send the complete claim, and VA treats the claim as filed on the Intent to File date. If you file within a year of leaving service, the effective date can reach back to the day after discharge. Otherwise it's usually the date VA gets the claim (or the Intent to File date), or the date the condition arose if that's later.

Start here: the basics

VA rates hemorrhoids under Diagnostic Code 7336. VA rewrote the digestive schedule effective May 19, 2024, and the hemorrhoid criteria changed. The old "mild or moderate" versus "large, thrombotic, irreducible" wording is gone. Today the code looks at three things:

• Whether they're internal or external, and whether internal hemorrhoids are prolapsed, or continuously prolapsed.
• How many episodes of thrombosis (a painful clot) you have per year.
• Whether you have persistent bleeding with anemia.

Anemia from hemorrhoid bleeding is part of this code's criteria, so it's documented here, not rated as a second condition. This guide prints no percentages. See how VA rates conditions at va.gov.

Where this is written down: 38 CFR § 4.114, DC 7336 (as revised at 89 FR 19735, effective May 19, 2024); 38 CFR § 4.14.

The steps

Step 1. File an Intent to File.

This is the same first step as every VA claim. It holds your start date for one year while you gather evidence. How to file an Intent to File, step by step.

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

Done when you have a confirmation saved.

Step 2. Get the diagnosis and the pattern on record.

How. Have a provider record whether the hemorrhoids are internal or external and whether internal ones are prolapsed or stay prolapsed. Keep a dated log of each clotting episode, and get each one seen and recorded when you can.

Where this is written down: 38 CFR § 4.114, DC 7336.

Done when you have a record of the type, any prolapse, and a dated count of thrombosis episodes in the past year.

Step 3. Document bleeding and anemia.

How. Record any persistent bleeding, and ask your provider for blood work if you haven't had it. Keep copies of results that show anemia, and any procedures or surgery.

If you have persistent bleeding with anemia from the hemorrhoids, then make sure both the bleeding and the lab results are in the record, because together they're one of the code's criteria. If you have anemia from some other cause, then ask a free accredited representative how it's handled.

Done when you've documented bleeding and any anemia, procedures, or surgery.

Step 4. Tie the condition to service.

How. Write down the in-service onset or what started it, and get service treatment records if any exist.

If it started in service, then claim direct service connection. If a service-connected condition or a medicine you take for one caused or worsened it, then claim it as secondary and name that condition.

Where this is written down: 38 CFR § 3.303; 38 CFR § 3.310.

Done when you've connected the hemorrhoids to service or to a service-connected condition.

Step 5. Get a medical opinion if the link isn't documented.

How. Ask a provider whether the hemorrhoids are at least as likely as not related to service, or caused or made worse by a service-connected condition. VA may also get an opinion at your C&P exam.

Done when you have any opinion your claim needs, or you know VA will get one.

Step 6. File the 21-526EZ and confirm it arrived.

How. Name hemorrhoids and attach your thrombosis log, bleeding records, and lab results. File online at VA.gov, or mail it to Department of Veterans Affairs, Claims Intake Center, PO Box 4444, Janesville, WI 53547-4444. About 10 days later, check VA.gov or call 1-800-827-1000 to confirm every document is in your file.

If hemorrhoids are already service connected and rated under the old criteria, then you can file for an increase on this same form, and VA rates it under the current criteria. A rewrite of the rating rules alone can't lower a rating you already have, but if the condition has actually improved, VA can propose to lower it, so file for an increase only when it has gotten worse. If service connection was denied before, then the 2024 change doesn't fix that. A Supplemental Claim on VA Form 20-0995 needs new and relevant evidence on the link to service. Talk it over with a free accredited representative.

Where this is written down: 38 CFR § 3.2501; 38 CFR § 3.951(a).

Done when the claim is filed with your evidence and you've confirmed VA has everything.

Step 7. Get ready for the exam VA schedules.

How. Bring your thrombosis log and lab results. Describe plainly how often clots happen, whether there's prolapse or bleeding, and how it affects sitting, work, and daily life.

Done when you've gone to the exam with your log and records.

Recap checklist

• Filed an Intent to File and saved the confirmation.
• Got the type, any prolapse, and a dated thrombosis count on record.
• Documented bleeding and any anemia with lab results.
• Connected the condition to service or a service-connected condition.
• Got a medical opinion where needed, or know VA will get one.
• Filed the 21-526EZ, picked increase or new claim correctly, and confirmed VA has everything.
• Went to the exam with my log and records.

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: A VA Disability Claims Manual for the Rest of Us, 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 A VA Disability Claims Manual for the Rest of Us. 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

---

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.