What You May Be Owed

Free calculator

Disability Compensation

Tax-free monthly payments for illnesses or injuries connected to military service - or conditions that service made worse.

Free tool: estimate your monthly disability payment

Interactive check

TDIU: Individual Unemployability

Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU) pays you the same as a 100% rating when service-connected conditions keep you from holding steady, gainful work - even if your combined rating is only 60% or 70%.

Free tool: check if you could be paid at the 100% rate

Free calculator

Special Monthly Compensation (SMC)

Special Monthly Compensation is higher-rate, tax-free money for severe service-connected losses - the loss or loss of use of a limb, blindness or deafness, the need for daily aid and attendance, or being housebound. The VA is supposed to grant it automatically, but often does not - so it is one of the biggest sources of money veterans are owed and never receive.

Free tool: see which SMC level fits and its monthly rate

Concurrent Receipt (CRDP & CRSC)

Concurrent receipt lets eligible military retirees collect their full retired pay and their VA disability compensation at the same time - instead of trading one for the other. There are two programs: CRDP (Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay) and CRSC (Combat-Related Special Compensation). Many retirees do not realize they qualify - especially for the tax-free CRSC.

Free calculator

Veterans Pension

A tax-free monthly payment for wartime veterans with limited or no income who are age 65 or older, or who have a qualifying disability.

Free tool: estimate your monthly pension

Free calculator

Aid & Attendance / Housebound

An increased monthly pension for those who need help with daily activities, live in a care facility, or are largely confined to home.

Free tool: estimate your Aid & Attendance benefit

Secondary Service Connection

A secondary service-connected condition is a health problem that grew out of a disability the VA already pays you for. Because the original condition is service-connected, the new one can be too - even though it did not begin in the military. For aging veterans whose conditions have branched and worsened over decades, this is one of the most common ways to raise a rating that is being left on the table.

Temporary 100% Ratings

A temporary 100% rating pays you at the full disability rate for a limited time while you recover from surgery or a long hospital stay tied to a service-connected condition - even if your everyday rating is far lower. It is money the VA owes for the weeks you are laid up, and it is very easy to miss because you have to point it out.

Annual Clothing Allowance

The annual clothing allowance is a small but real tax-free payment for veterans whose service-connected equipment or medication is hard on their clothes - a wheelchair that frays trouser legs, a rigid brace that wears through fabric, or a skin cream that stains and ruins garments. Many veterans who qualify have never heard of it.

Interactive check

VA Health Care

Health care benefits and online tools for veterans with service-connected disabilities or who meet other eligibility requirements.

Free tool: find your health-care priority group

Community Care (Care Outside VA)

Community Care lets you get VA-paid health care from a local provider outside the VA when the VA cannot see you close enough to home or quickly enough. It is built on clear drive-time and wait-time standards - so you are not stuck driving hours or waiting months for care you need.

VA Dental Care

Many veterans assume dental care comes with VA health care - it usually does not. Free VA dental is reserved for specific groups defined by law, but there is also a low-cost private dental insurance program (VADIP) open to nearly every enrolled veteran and to CHAMPVA family members.

Mental Health Care & Vet Centers

The VA provides mental health care for the wounds that do not show - PTSD, depression, grief, and the lasting effects of military sexual trauma. Alongside the medical system, Vet Centers offer free, confidential counseling in the community, with records kept separate from your VA file so you can speak freely.

Long-Term Care & Nursing Home Care

Long-term care is the help a veteran needs when everyday tasks - bathing, dressing, cooking, managing medicine - become too much to handle alone. The VA can provide or arrange it in your own home, in the community, or in a nursing home, and there are real ways to help pay for care the VA does not run directly.

Beneficiary Travel (Mileage Reimbursement)

Beneficiary travel pay reimburses eligible veterans for the cost of getting to and from VA health care - mileage, tolls, parking, and sometimes public transportation, meals, and lodging. For veterans on a fixed income making regular trips to the VA, it adds up to real money over a year.

Hearing Aids & Medical Devices

Enrolled veterans can receive hearing aids, eyeglasses, prosthetics, and home medical equipment at no cost - including free batteries, repairs, and replacements.

Free calculator

Housing Assistance

VA-backed home loans to buy, build, improve, or refinance a home - plus adapted-housing grants (SAH, SHA, and HISA) that pay for ramps, roll-in showers, and wider doorways so you can age safely in place.

Free tool: estimate your VA home-loan payment

Adaptive Housing Grants (SAH, SHA & HISA)

Adaptive housing grants pay to modify a home so a disabled veteran can live in it safely and independently - roll-in showers, widened doorways, ramps, and lowered counters. This is money you never repay, and it is a completely different benefit from the VA home loan. For an aging veteran who wants to stay in their own home instead of moving to a facility, it can be life-changing.

Automobile Allowance & Adaptive Equipment

The VA can help you get back on the road. If a service-connected disability makes it impossible to drive a normal vehicle, a one-time allowance helps pay for the car itself, and a separate grant pays for the equipment that makes it drivable - hand controls, lifts, and more. For many older veterans this is the difference between independence and being stuck at home.

Free calculator

Life Insurance

VA life insurance options and online tools to manage an existing policy - including guaranteed-acceptance coverage for veterans with service-connected conditions.

Free tool: estimate your monthly premium

Veterans' Mortgage Life Insurance (VMLI)

If a severely disabled veteran received a grant to buy or adapt a home, VMLI makes sure that home is never lost to a mortgage after the veteran dies. It is up to $200,000 of mortgage life insurance, paid straight to the lender, with no medical exam and premiums taken out of monthly VA compensation. The catch that costs families dearly: you must apply before age 70, and many never return the paperwork.

Free calculator

Veteran Readiness & Employment (VR&E, Chapter 31)

Veteran Readiness and Employment - once called Vocational Rehabilitation, or "Voc Rehab" - helps veterans whose service-connected disabilities get in the way of work. It can pay for schooling, training, or the tools to start a business, and for the most severely disabled it offers an Independent Living track focused on living more fully at home. It often covers more of your education costs than the GI Bill.

Free tool: estimate your monthly VR&E subsistence allowance

Free calculator

GI Bill Education Benefits (Post-9/11, Montgomery & Transfer to Family)

The GI Bill helps veterans and their families pay for college, trade school, certifications, apprenticeships, and more. The Post-9/11 GI Bill is the most-used version, covering tuition, housing, and books. Many older veterans still have unused entitlement they can use themselves for a second career - or transfer to a spouse or child.

Free tool: estimate your GI Bill tuition, housing & book benefits

Veterans' Preference in Federal Hiring

Veterans' preference is a legal advantage in hiring for federal government jobs. Depending on your service and disability, you receive 5 or 10 extra points on a rated exam - or top placement in the "best qualified" group - and disabled veterans get real protection against being passed over. It is one of the clearest paths for veterans into a stable second career.

Interactive check

PACT Act & Toxic Exposure

The 2022 PACT Act is the largest expansion of VA benefits in decades. It makes it far easier for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxins to get health care and disability compensation.

Free tool: screen your service for toxic exposure

Discharge Upgrades & Character-of-Discharge Review

A discharge that is not "Honorable" can block the VA benefits you earned - but it is not always the final word. Veterans can ask a military review board to upgrade the character of their discharge or correct the record, and the VA can separately decide that your service still qualifies you for benefits. Trauma-related conduct now gets special, sympathetic consideration.

Correcting Your Military Records (BCMR / DD Form 149)

Mistakes in a military record - a wrong discharge reason, a missing award, an unfair evaluation, a denied medical retirement, or a pay error - can cost real money and benefits for years. Each branch has a Board for Correction of Military Records that can fix these errors or injustices. It is a powerful, no-cost remedy that many veterans never know exists.

State & Local Veterans Benefits (Property Tax & More)

Federal VA benefits are only half the picture. Every state - and often your county and town - adds its own benefits for veterans, and for aging and disabled veterans the property-tax exemption alone can be worth thousands of dollars a year. Because these benefits are run locally and are rarely automatic, many veterans miss them simply because no one told them to apply.

VA Disability & Social Security (SSDI/SSI) Together

Two of the largest benefits an older or disabled veteran can hold are VA disability compensation and Social Security - and you are allowed to receive both. But they follow completely different rulebooks: one looks at your service-connected conditions, the other at your work history and your ability to work at all. Knowing how they fit together - and where SSI is different - can protect thousands of dollars a year.

Veteran ID Card & Commissary, Exchange & MWR Access

Your service earned you more than health care. Since 2020, veterans with any service-connected rating - plus Purple Heart recipients, former POWs, and Medal of Honor recipients - can shop tax-free at military commissaries and exchanges and use base recreation. The key that unlocks the door in person is the free Veteran Health Identification Card, and online shopping is open even more widely.

Spina Bifida & Birth-Defect Benefits for Children

This is one of the least-known and most important benefits an aging Vietnam- or Korea-era veteran can pass to their family. If a veteran was exposed to Agent Orange or other herbicides, a biological child born with spina bifida can receive a lifetime monthly allowance, full VA-funded health care, and vocational training - regardless of the veteran's discharge or how long they served. The benefit belongs to the child.

Housing Help for Homeless & At-Risk Veterans

No veteran should be without a safe place to live. The VA runs a connected set of programs - a 24/7 call center, permanent housing vouchers, rapid re-housing grants, and transitional housing - to move veterans off the street and keep at-risk veterans in their homes. Help is available whether the crisis is tonight or a few months away.

Presidential Memorial Certificate & Military Funeral Honors

Beyond a headstone and burial, the nation offers three lasting honors for a veteran: a Presidential Memorial Certificate signed by the President, military funeral honors with the folding and presentation of the flag and the playing of Taps, and a burial flag for the family to keep. These are free, they are earned, and a family that knows to ask will not miss them in the rush of grief.

Medicare & VA Health Care

Turning 65 does not cancel your VA health care - but it does force a real decision about Medicare. Because VA and Medicare do not coordinate the way private insurance does, the smart move for most veterans is to keep both. This page explains what Part B costs in 2026, why skipping it can trigger a lifelong penalty, and why your VA pharmacy already protects you on the drug side.