Can The VA Take Away My Disability?

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) makes benefits payments to deserving vets who are determined to be eligible for benefits. These benefits payouts are dependent on the vet suffering a disability or an inability to work as a result of combat-related injuries or illnesses. As such, if a veteran who is receiving benefits recovers, overcomes a disability, or improves in his or her ability to work, the VA may reduce or terminate the disability benefits that the veteran in question receives.
This usually does not happen unless the vet is first asked to appear for a reexamination.

What Are VA Reexaminations?

Reexaminations generally take one of two forms. They can be simple medical examinations in which you make an appointment and come in for a checkup with your VA doctor. Reexaminations can also involve short periods of hospital observation (which may involve overnight stay at the hospital or medical facility) so that the VA can evaluate the severity of your disabilities or injuries.
Since the VA pays benefits to veterans because of disabilities they sustained during or as a result of combat, the VA is legally entitled to demand health examinations or hospitalization to determine the continued receipt of disability payments for the same.
At the time you are awarded disability compensation benefits, the VA decides whether or not your disability is such that you will require a future reexamination to determine whether or not your benefits need to be adjusted. The types of disabilities that are subject to reexamination are usually those that can be expected to improve over time. Disabilities that require future reexaminations usually have them scheduled between two and five years from the date of your benefits decision.

Reexamination Notices

If the VA wants to call you in for a reexamination, it will send you a notice that you need to present yourself for a reexamination for the purpose of reevaluating your disability rating. If you receive such a letter, it likely means that the VA has decided that, based on the medical evidence they have on you, that you are no longer entitled to the same level of benefits that you are currently receiving, and a reduction or removal of benefits is under consideration. You have two months from the date you receive the letter to submit evidence showing that a reduction is not warranted, and you have one month to ask for a hearing to present your case to the VA.
If the VA does not send you a notice and reduced your VA rating or terminated your benefits because you didn’t show up for an exam, you have the right to have your full benefit rate reinstated.

Evidence of Improved Condition

If there is ever new medical evidence that your disability has improved, even temporarily, the VA can demand a reexamination. For such cases, the VA can suspend or reduce your benefits for as long as you are in that improved state of health.
If your benefits are ever decreased, you can request an increase once again if your condition worsens.

When Not to Expect a Reexamination

There are a number of cases for which the VA generally does not ask vets to come in for a reexamination. If you belong to one of the categories below and received a notice of reexamination, it may be due to a clerical error. You should, however, call the number on the letter you received to confirm whether or not you need to attend the reexamination session.

• Veterans over the age of 55
• Those with static disabilities, such as the loss of a limb
• Those with a disability resulting from diseases that are permanent in nature
• Those who have already received the minimum rating for their disability
• Those who have a combined disability rating that is so high that even if one or two of these ratings were to be lowered, the combined disability rating would remain the same

If you have received a reexamination notice but are not sure how to proceed, speak with an attorney who works with and understands the VA. There is no need to worry, however, since attending reexamination sessions, filing for reinstatement of benefits, changes in benefits eligibility, and appealing cases are generally very easy and straightforward processes that thousands of vets undergo on an ongoing and as-needed basis.