How VA disability ratings actually work

VA does not add your ratings. It uses combined-ratings math from 38 C.F.R. § 4.25, which treats your remaining "efficiency" as the base each additional rating subtracts from.

Quick illustration: a vet with a 30% rating has 70% efficiency remaining. A second 30% rating takes 30% of the 70 — so the new total is 30 + (30 × 0.70) = 51, which rounds to 50%. Not 60.

The order also matters: VA combines highest first, then descending. Add a third disability and the calculation chains.

The bilateral factor (38 C.F.R. § 4.26) gives a bump when ratings apply to both sides of the body — both knees, both arms, etc. After combining the bilateral disabilities, VA adds 10% of that subtotal and uses the result for the rest of the combined-rating math.

The reason this matters: stacking three 30s is rarely what gets you to 100. The path to 100 is usually one or two high-anchor ratings plus targeted secondaries. We plan the strategy around the math.