How to Increase Your VA Disability Rating: The 5 Strategies That Actually Work
Most veterans are underrated. The VA processes 2.5 million claims per year with raters carrying 80-120 cases each. Conditions get missed. Secondaries go unclaimed. Bilateral factor gets overlooked. This is not a conspiracy. It is a volume problem in a system where the veteran bears the burden of surfacing their own evidence.
There are five legitimate strategies to increase your VA disability rating, and none of them require paying a consultant thousands of dollars. They require understanding how the rating schedule works.
Strategy 1: Claim Secondary Conditions
Secondary service connection is the single most effective way to increase your rating. Under 38 C.F.R. § 3.310, any condition caused by or aggravated by an already service-connected condition is ratable. You do not need to prove it happened in service. You only need to prove the connection to something already service-connected.
The most common high-value secondaries: PTSD generates sleep apnea (50% with CPAP), GERD (10-30%), migraines (30-50%), and erectile dysfunction (0% + SMC-K at $131/mo). A lumbar spine condition generates bilateral radiculopathy (10-60% per leg), hip conditions, and knee conditions. Diabetes generates peripheral neuropathy (10-40% per extremity), kidney disease, and vision problems. Each secondary is rated separately and adds to your combined rating through VA math.
Strategy 2: File a Claim for Increase
If your condition has worsened since it was last rated, you can file a claim for increase on VA.gov. The VA will schedule a new C&P exam and compare your current functional impairment to the rating criteria. If you now meet the criteria for a higher rating, they increase it.
The key to a successful increase is documentation. Before you file, make sure your VA treatment records from the past year show the worsening. Increased frequency of appointments, new medications, new symptoms, worsened ROM measurements, functional limitations you did not have before. The C&P examiner will review your recent records. If they show stable symptoms, the increase will be denied. If they show a clear pattern of worsening, the examiner documents what they find and the rater applies the criteria.
Under 38 C.F.R. § 3.400(o)(2), the effective date for an increase can go back up to one year before the claim if the evidence shows the increase was factually ascertainable within that period. This means if your records from 8 months ago show you met the higher criteria, your increase can be backdated 8 months.
Strategy 3: Apply the Bilateral Factor
The bilateral factor is the most overlooked provision in the VASRD. When you have service-connected conditions affecting paired extremities (both knees, both ankles, both arms, both legs), 38 C.F.R. § 4.26 adds 10% to the combined value of those bilateral ratings before it enters the standard VA math formula. This is free money that many veterans never know exists.
Example: bilateral knee conditions at 10% each combine to 19% under VA math. The bilateral factor adds 10% of 19%, which is 1.9, rounding to 2. The bilateral value becomes 21%. That 2% difference can be the margin that rounds your combined rating up to the next 10% threshold, which could mean hundreds of dollars per month.
If you have a condition in one extremity, consider whether the opposite extremity has been affected by compensatory use. If your service-connected right knee condition caused you to overload your left knee, the left knee is secondary under 38 C.F.R. § 3.310, and both knees trigger the bilateral factor.
Strategy 4: TDIU (Total Disability Based on Individual Unemployability)
TDIU pays at the 100% rate ($3,938.58/month in 2026) even if your combined schedular rating is less than 100%. Under 38 C.F.R. § 4.16(a), you qualify if you have one service-connected condition rated at 60% or higher, or a combined rating of 70% with at least one condition at 40%. Under 38 C.F.R. § 4.16(b), extraschedular TDIU is available at any rating level if you cannot work due to service-connected conditions.
The standard is whether you can secure and follow substantially gainful employment. This is not the same as being completely unable to work. It means your service-connected conditions prevent you from earning above the poverty threshold in a competitive work environment. Marginal employment (sheltered workshop, family business, protected environment) does not count against you.
Strategy 5: Special Monthly Compensation (SMC)
SMC provides additional compensation above standard rates. The most common and most overlooked is SMC-K for loss of use of a creative organ. If you have erectile dysfunction secondary to PTSD medications, spinal conditions, or diabetes, you qualify for SMC-K at approximately $131.44/month on top of your regular compensation. You can receive multiple simultaneous SMC-K awards for different qualifying losses.
SMC-S (housebound) applies when you have one condition rated at 100% and a separate condition rated at 60% or higher. SMC-L (aid and attendance) applies when you need regular assistance with daily living activities. The VA has a duty to infer SMC entitlement whenever the evidence supports it, per Akles v. Derwinski (1991), but in practice veterans often need to raise it explicitly.
The Filing Order Matters
File your Intent to File (VA Form 21-0966) first to lock in your effective date. Then gather your evidence. Then file. The order in which you file multiple claims matters for VA math. Filing your highest-value conditions first and your secondaries second is generally optimal because each subsequent condition is applied to a smaller remaining percentage. But all claims filed on the same date are processed together, so submitting everything at once is usually the best approach.
Do not file blindly. Before you file a claim for increase, verify that your records support the next rating threshold. Before you file a secondary, verify the medical nexus is documented. A denied claim with a bad C&P exam is harder to overcome than a well-prepared initial filing.