Episode 6: TDIU vs 100% P&T

This episode clears up one of the most misunderstood topics in the VA system: TDIU vs 100% P&T.

A lot of veterans hear “100%” and assume it all works the same but it doesn’t.

TDIU is about your ability to work.
100% P&T is about how your conditions are rated.

That difference determines your income limits, your stability, and how the VA looks at your case.

Here’s what you need to understand:

• What TDIU actually means vs 100% P&T
• How working impacts your eligibility and income
• Why “paid at 100%” doesn’t mean the same thing
• How to know which path actually fits your situation

Too many veterans chase the wrong outcome because they don’t understand how these ratings actually work.

If you’ve been confused about 100%, this will clear it up.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Denied, delayed, underrated? That's the story for too many veterans, including me. Hey veterans and the families listening in, welcome. My name is Robert Pinero. I'm a Marine Combat Veteran and the founder of Veterans Educating Veterans. I've served two tours in Iraq, and like many veterans, I know how hard it is to get service connected and navigate the VA system. After service, I was frustrated, in pain, and told no more times than I can count, even by VA attorneys. So instead of giving up, I decided to learn the VA process myself. That's what Veterans Educating Veterans is built on. We educate and guide veterans through the VA compensation process, step by step, helping you understand how the system works so you can move forward with confidence, not confusion. I do this work alongside my wife Jillian and for our two daughters because our families live with the impact of service long after the uniform comes off. You deserve the benefits you've earned, not just for yourself, but for the family that stands beside you. Welcome to the War Room.

SPEAKER_00 1:17

The War Room by veterans educating veterans.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

Welcome back to the War Room. I'm Robert Pinero, and I'm here with my coaches, James.

SPEAKER_03 1:44

Hey guys, Cody. What's up, fellas?

SPEAKER_02 1:46

And Jesse.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Late as always.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Late as always.

SPEAKER_04 1:55

Not bad. Not bad at all.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

How's this beautiful Miami weather cody?

SPEAKER_04 2:00

Not bad. It's a little better. It's cloudy, which I'm very thankful for. As you can tell, I might burn easily.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

Yeah, you look a little red today.

SPEAKER_03 2:09

Good trip. No, no issues.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

How's it compared to Columbia, Jess?

SPEAKER_03 2:14

Um almost the same type of weather, just Miami's more humid.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

Definitely. Alright, um, so a lot of veterans hear T D I U and then 100% permanent in total and think they're basically the same thing. Um, they're not. And that difference matters. So one of the most confusing topics in the VA world is when they hear 100% and assume it all works the same. The label may sound similar, but the rules and strategies are different, right? We're proving 100% uh scheduler, which means 100% based upon your symptoms, and the other one is unemployability. So today we want to break down what each one of those means and why a veteran needs to understand the difference, right? So let's start by clearing up what TDIU actually is.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

So TDIU is total disability, individual unemployability. Um means that you aren't rated at 100%, but you're getting paid at 100% rating. Um and it's not permanent in total. So a lot of people see this and see, I'm at 100%. Can I still work? At 100% PNT currently, yes. There's no rules and regulations that have income restrictions. TDIU does. So you can work, but you have to be below the federal poverty line to keep it. If you make more than that, they will restrict it, they will take away your 100% pay rate. Um, so that's where it comes into play. The biggest thing is employment plays a factor with this rating.

SPEAKER_04 4:02

So on the other aspect to that, 100% PT or permanent in total means that the VA has determined that your condition is not expected to get better, essentially. Um, and there's a couple different ways that that can be uh uh received, I guess you could say. One overall rating at 100%, or you can get um a combined ratings that get you over to 100%. Um the difference is is there's no income restrictions. You can be gainfully employed while being a hundred percent permanent in total. Um it's just more stability. There there wouldn't be any upcoming uh uh exams for the most part, um, and you would just be considered permanent in total according to the VA, your symptoms should not be improving, or they would not consider them to be improving at any point.

SPEAKER_02 4:55

Yeah, and so a hundred percent TDIU, uh the best explanation and Barney style breakdown that I can do for those listening is um you, for example, get knee surgery and you are service connected for your knees. Um during your recovery time of your knees, um, you would be giving a TDIU 100% rating, meaning you'll be paid at 100%, but the whole purpose of it is that you can't be employed at that time due to your service connected disability, meaning they will pay you 100% till the doctor states to them when you would be fully recovered and be able to go back to work. So it's a temporary condition or temporary 100% that would be in place, um, which it wouldn't be a permanent status um for your knees at that point.

SPEAKER_03 6:01

See, but that's that's the detail, the details that the people don't uh veterans don't see is when it says paid at 100% and then just ignore seeing the details. You know, uh like like you guys said, you know, the restricted work, the um you know, you're likely to get exams, you know, it's not there's not there's no stability on that. You know, it's just temporary, it can be reduced, and um there'll be ex no no extra benefits, you know. Uh compared to 100% PNT, you have you know full access on benefits. It's a protection it's protected um stability that you'll have monthly. And you know, there's no limitation on work. You know, a lot of people vets get that confused on being 100% and not being able to work. It just depends, like James said, depending on on what your disability is. You know, you can't um do several some several jobs because it does limit you could because of your disability that you have.

SPEAKER_02 7:06

So TDIU is one path, but that's not the same actually as 100 through a rating schedule, meaning that you received a 100 and you meet the criteria of that 100%. So let's talk about what people mean when they say scheduler 100 and permanent and total.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

Right. So scheduler 100 just means that your rating adds up to 100%. Um, the 100% PNT or as permanent total is also it adds up to 100% under the VA math, but they've deemed that the condition um isn't going to improve. It's it's gotten to a point that you know this isn't this isn't going to get better, it's just progressively getting worse, as we show with the DBQs and the exams, and how you know you constantly is getting worse with the range of motion limitation and all that. So a lot of people see that and and and get confused. Um 100% permanent total is not something that you can apply for, like TDIU. TDIU, you apply for it, uh, or it gets applied to it as you had the surgery or in cancer if you're not at a rating at 100%. The biggest thing people don't realize is you can have TDIU applied if you have a 70 or 60% rating on one thing and apply for it because you can't hold gainful employment or fall under that poverty level, federal poverty level, which is like 15 or 16,000 this year. Um, if you can if you make less than that, that's what you can make under TDIU status. Um, or if you have multiple ratings and one of them is at least 40%, you can apply for TDIU and get it and get paid at the 100%, but your scheduler rating is not 100%, it only adds up to 60, 70, 80. Um, but this is how you can uh get that rating because to help help you as you are on avail or unable to work because of that.

SPEAKER_02 9:06

Cool. I I like just to step right back and kind of address the scheduler rating. So the the way you're able to get to know what your scheduler rating is is A, um, you need to call the VA, grab what's called a diagnostic code, and it's a four-digit code that you're able to type in to Google. Okay, you put VA code, whatever those four codes are, and you're able to pull up what the rating would be and where you're at. So that's that's kind of a a cheat, right? That you can actually see in there if you're actually rated wrong. Um, and it kind of goes into it more. If you don't understand it, of course, um, contact us. Um, but that's one way of kind of looking at what your scheduler is to see if you do rate a higher rating um from what is set on there. So those are the laws of the VA on that particular condition and what you should be at, or why you get that percentage and why you're there.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

So to help hit on uh Rob's key points here, um the TDIU is employment. Employment is very important and how much you can make. Um, again, federal uh low-income levels, you cannot make make over that threshold. If you do, they will take away your TDIU. Um there's certain special circumstances, um, which is called protected or sheltered work environment. Yes, I had to look that up. Um, or special accommodations due to your employment deployer. So if you're working from a family business, then you can have special accommodations. So there are certain circumstances, but most people don't fall under that criteria. And what's not allowed with a TDIU is a full-time gainful employment. That's the definition of total disabled individual unemployable. That's literally the opposite of it. So you're holding gainful employment, you're not going to qualify for it. Um, with this, you do have to apply. This is not just given to you, you have to apply through on the VA website saying, hey, I'm looking to apply for TDIU and go through to make sure that you meet the criteria. Um, the website will do all that. We um for public announcement, we do not do anything with that. Um, that is something separate that you would have to do on your own. That's not something that we do. We look at the scheduler rating to get you to see if you qualify for an increase on your overall ratings themselves.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

So let me explain something though. The scheduler rating, though, can sometimes not have 100%.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

Right. Right? The back doesn't have well, it does. It technically does. I I've seen it before, but some of them don't though. Exactly. But there's a certain condition that you have to have for the back in order to schedule 100. Right. But like for what I have, lumbar strain or whatever, it does not. So at the end of the day, you know, 100% for the back is not feasible because you can never get it on the scheduler. You can get it if you have surgery because you are no longer able to work, and it's due to your service connected disability.

SPEAKER_04 12:20

Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

Right. If they have nothing else that can get them that they, you know, they're maxed out on all their scheduler ratings, but because their disability is getting worse, progressively worse, and now they're crippled and can't work, then TDIU is a good route for them because their back is debilitating enough that it's um making them unavailable to work gainful employment. So that's why TDIU would be a good fit in that retrospect if you have nothing else service connected, but you did injure your back. Again, prime example, you know, just one example. Or it could be the hip or your knee, and now you have a walker and you used to be a bus driver and you can't sit and do drive the bus anymore because that leg does not work and it does not allow you to work. Um, that's where TDIU matters better with that label than 100% permanent total. So, yes, you'll get the hundred percent rating payment, but you you know, you have to, it's a TDIU um label assigned to it.

SPEAKER_02 13:23

So in reality, you could be a hundred percent TD IU for the rest of your life because there is no hundred percent scheduler.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Right.

SPEAKER_04 13:36

And the difference is you're gonna be re-evaluated, whereas PNT most likely you are not.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

Right.

SPEAKER_04 13:41

So you've got stability in PT.

SPEAKER_02 13:43

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

As far as the rating goes, but but you know, you just have to keep applying and going to for it.

SPEAKER_03 13:50

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

And the benefits, you don't get the benefits if you're you don't no right, so you don't get the PNT benefits that that come along with it. And we'll talk about that at some point for sure. I'm guessing.

SPEAKER_03 14:03

So is it better? Because uh, I mean, so is it better for some vets?

SPEAKER_04 14:07

Is it really well he's saying if that bet didn't have that option to get 10% PNT through his exactly what he has, right?

SPEAKER_01 14:15

So let's say now that let's say his his his scheduler, his DDCs is he benefits, whatever you want to look at, he has back and knee and they're maxed out, right? But because but they're progressively getting worse for him to the point that he's no like he can't work, he's with walkers, he can't hold gainful employment in his what his you know his skills are, his skill set is so he'll apply for TDIU because he cannot hold gainful employment and he's gotta make ends meet, he's under the poverty threshold for the year or the prior prior years. This is how he can help sustain himself in a livable environment.

SPEAKER_03 14:52

My question, how how can the vet um get get that 100% TDIU, but then he can't he can't get to 100% PNT, but he really can't work because he can't get the benefits because the the VA assigns specific ratings for specific body parts.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

Yeah. So I get a lot of people are like, well, I was medically discharged for my ankle and it's at 20%. I should be at 100 because I was medically discharged. No, the rules and regulations state the highest rating that ankle can hold is 20%. That's it. 20% is all you're getting. Yes, you may be medically discharged, but you still have to follow the rules and regulations that set forth. So since the scheduler rating or his list of disabilities, he can only qualify for a 60%, let's say, total rating. Everything is maxed out. But because he can't work because the disabilities are progressively getting worse, this is a way they can get to 100% by applying for TDIU. So that that you know, back condition is progressively worsened, but he's already maxed out. This is how he can get around to get to 100%.

SPEAKER_04 16:00

Even though the scheduler rating doesn't allow it, doesn't it? Because he's not able to work.

SPEAKER_03 16:05

It is always uh mental secondary. I mean, it does cause mental issues. There's the guys that love working, and and then once once they you know they like this, like I'm telling you, like this one vet, he he expressed how much he loved working, but he just couldn't work because his back is the only thing he's service connected to is his back. And he has ridiculosopy and everything else, and so a good fit for him could be T DIU. Right.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

So that could be a great fit for him.

SPEAKER_03 16:36

I mean meant mental secondary as well, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:39

If it if it yeah, if it affects him that way, absolutely. Some people it doesn't.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

All right. So the question is is not which one sounds better, but the question is which one actually matches the veteran's case, right? Uh this is where strategy matters because the better path depends on the veteran's real situation.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

Right. So as we were just discussing, some paths veterans fit um the unemployability path better, some fit the hundred percent P T, you know, um better or schedule a rater. We can't we don't have any say in PNT, that's definitely up to the rater themselves. Um it it's all based on you know what fits them in and and and uh what we can do and what they qualify for.

SPEAKER_04 17:26

And it's one issue is gonna be the some of the broad internet advice advice you see online saying, oh, you're a hundred percent PNT, you can no longer work anymore, or you have income restrictions, and it's just not true, and that's why you need to be knowledgeable in which path is gonna be better for you, whether that's TDIU and you have an option to do that and apply for it, or if you can get that scheduler rating and you qualify for it and go that route. You just got to be knowledgeable on which one works best for you. Like you said, you're a fingerprint, everyone's different, so just know which route you need to go.

SPEAKER_03 17:59

Right, and that's what the details matter more than the title. You know, it's it just what just has to just like James said, like it has to fit, and Rob said it has to fit the veteran, whatever fits the veteran in reality, what the situation is, and that gets me to the next thing is that T DIU and 100% permanent in total are not interchangeable.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

Um, it depends on who you are and what that is going to fit with you. But veterans need to understand um what each path means before chasing either one, right? So the better option depends on what truly fits the file and the veteran's life, right? The better option uh depends on the veteran's real situation and not what sounds better. Thank you for listening in. Uh like and subscribe. And if you have some topics that you want us to talk about, uh give us a give us a holler or comment on the nailed it.

SPEAKER_03 19:03

Comment on the leave us a comment.

SPEAKER_04 19:09

I know you say comment on the video, but then it's not all videos. All right.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

Leave us a comment. See you on the next one.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

The war room of veterans educating veterans.