Will the department of Veterans Affairs try to take away your service connected disability?

Answer 1

Not likely, especially with the current director at the helm; he served as a Troop Commander with 3/5 Armored Cavalry in I Corps during the Vietnam War.

Your disability can be reduced or taken away unless you have had it for 20 years.

§ 3.951 Preservation of disability ratings.

(a) A readjustment to the Schedule for Rating Disabilities shall not

be grounds for reduction of a disability rating in effect on the date

of the readjustment unless medical evidence establishes that the

disability to be evaluated has actually improved.

(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 1155)

(b) A disability which has been continuously rated at or above any

evaluation of disability for 20 or more years for compensation

purposes under laws administered by the Department of Veterans

Affairs will not be reduced to less than such evaluation except upon

a showing that such rating was based on fraud. Likewise, a rating of

permanent total disability for pension purposes which has been in

force for 20 or more years will not be reduced except upon a showing

that the rating was based on fraud. The 20-year period will be

computed from the effective date of the evaluation to the effective

date of reduction of evaluation.

(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 110)

[34 FR 11970, July 16, 1969, as amended at 57 FR 10426, Mar. 26, 1992]

§ 3.957 Service connection.

Service connection for any disability or death granted or continued under title 38 U.S.C., which has been in effect for 10 or more years will not be severed except upon a showing that the original grant was based on fraud or it is clearly shown from military records that the person concerned did not have the requisite service or character of discharge. The 10-year period will be computed from the effective date of the Department of Veterans Affairs finding of service connection to the effective date of the rating decision severing service connection, after compliance with §3.105(d). The protection afforded in this section extends to claims for dependency and indemnity compensation or death compensation.

(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 1159)

[33 FR 15286, Oct. 15, 1968]

38 CFR 3.951(b) protects disability compensation after 20 CONTINUOUS years.

38 CFR 3.597 protects a disability's status as a SERVICE CONNECTED disability after 10 years. This service connection protection in no way protects the

disability RATING. Your compensation can be reduced to $0.00 at any time, but the VA can never reverse themselves and say your disability is not service

connected after 10 years.

§3.327 Reexaminations.

(a) General. Reexaminations, including periods of hospital observation, will be requested whenever VA determines there is a need to verify either the continued existence or the current severity of a disability. Generally, reexaminations will be required if it is likely that a disability has improved, or if evidence indicates there has been a material change in a disability or that the current rating may be incorrect. Individuals for whom reexaminations have been authorized and scheduled are required to report for such reexaminations. Paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section provide general guidelines for requesting reexaminations, but shall not be construed as limiting VA's authority to request reexaminations, or periods of hospital observation, at any time in order to ensure that a disability is accurately rated. (Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501(a))

(b) Compensation cases:

(1) Scheduling reexaminations. Assignment of a prestabilization rating requires reexamination within the second 6 months period following separation from service. Following initial Department of Veterans Affairs examination, or any scheduled future or other examination, reexamination, if in order, will be scheduled within not less than 2 years nor more than 5 years within the judgment of the rating board, unless another time period is elsewhere specified.

(2) No periodic future examinations will be requested. In service-connected cases, no periodic reexamination will be scheduled:

(i) When the disability is established as static;

(ii) When the findings and symptoms are shown by examinations scheduled in paragraph (b)(2)(i) of this section or other examinations and hospital reports to have persisted without material improvement for a period of 5 years or more;

(iii) Where the disability from disease is permanent in character and of such nature that there is no likelihood of improvement;

(iv) In cases of veterans over 55 years of age, except under unusual circumstances;

(v) When the rating is a prescribed scheduled minimum rating; or

(vi) Where a combined disability evaluation would not be affected if the future examination should result in reduced evaluation for one or more conditions.

(c) Pension cases. In nonservice-connected cases in which the permanent total disability has been confirmed by reexamination or by the history of the case, or with obviously static disabilities, further reexaminations will not generally be requested. In other cases further examination will not be requested routinely and will be accomplished only if considered necessary based upon the particular facts of the individual case. In the cases of veterans over 55 years of age, reexamination will be requested only under unusual circumstances.

[26 FR 1585, Feb. 24, 1961, as amended at 30 FR 11855, Sept. 16, 1965; 36 FR 14467, Aug. 6, 1971; 55 FR 49521, Nov. 29, 1990; 60 FR 27409, May 24, 1995]

Cross reference:Failure to report for VA examination. See §3.655.

Supplement Highlights reference: 16(2)