You have served your country honorably and, in so doing, have developed an illness or impairment. How likely is it that you will succeed in receiving VA disability benefits without needing an appeal? Recent statistics from the VA reveal the answer. According to these statistics, while your odds of your claim succeeding are better than not, there still remains a significant chance your VA disability benefits claim will be denied.
Your VA Disability Claims Odds of Success
In a year-end review of its own data, the VA announced that it was able to approve approximately 65 percent of VA disability claims it considered in 2023. What is more, the VA claimed it approved about 76 percent of claims for benefits submitted pursuant to the recently enacted PACT Act.
The Unfortunate Side of the Numbers
At first blush, the VA’s statistics sound impressive and encouraging. There is a greater-than-not chance that your claim will succeed. Your chances of success are even higher if you claim benefits under the PACT Act, which expanded eligibility for VA disability benefits.
However, these statistics should be read with the following in mind:
- First, there is more than a slight chance that your claim will be denied. Over three out of every ten claims considered by the VA in 2023 resulted in a denial and were not approved. Moreover, one out of every four claims submitted pursuant to the PACT Act are denied.
- Second, the VA’s statistics do not contain a breakdown of how many claims are approved at each stage. Instead, the VA’s statistic represents the percentage of all claims approved, regardless of how long it took the applicant to succeed or how many levels of appellate review they needed to pass through.
Conventional wisdom holds that the chance that your claim will succeed on the first try is closer to 40 percent, much lower than the 65 percent heralded by the VA.
An Evans VA Disability Lawyer’s Services Are Still Needed
The takeaway that Georgia veterans should have after reading the VA’s statistics is that succeeding with your VA disability claim is likely, but it could take some work. Having a skilled and knowledgeable VA disability appeals lawyer like attorney Ryan Coskrey can not only help you get approved for benefits, but also get approved faster and with fewer appeals.
Contact Coskrey Law Today
If you are a veteran in Evans, GA, or elsewhere and you have been denied VA disability benefits, do not give up! Neither should you waste time in appeal efforts that may go nowhere and only delay your receipt of benefits even further. A knowledgeable and skilled disability appeals lawyer can often identify the reasons why your claim was denied and chart a purposeful path forward that will end with your claim’s approval.
Contact Coskrey Law and enlist Ryan Coskrey’s help in pursuing your appeal rights immediately. You can reach us by email at coskrey@gmail.com, by phone at (706) 303-1802, or online using our contact form.