Episode 12: Why Some Veterans Stay Stuck at 90%

This episode breaks down why so many veterans get stuck at 90% VA disability and what actually needs to happen to reach 100%. Many veterans think they are only one small step away, but VA math, underrated conditions, and poor claim strategy often keep them stuck for years.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why 90% is farther from 100% than most veterans realize
• How VA math actually works
•  Why small ratings often do not move the needle
•  Common mistakes veterans make when chasing 100%
•  Reviewing underrated conditions and worsening symptoms
•  Secondary conditions veterans often overlook
•   Why some disabilities are already maxed out
•  How strategy and guidance can help veterans move forward

This episode helps veterans better understand why they may be stuck at 90%, how VA math impacts their overall rating, and what strategic steps may help them move closer to the benefits they rightfully earned.

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_01 1:17

The war room by veterans educating veterans.

SPEAKER_02 1:32

Every claim is different, so don't take this as an individual guidance. Alright, welcome back to another War Room episode. Today I have with me Coach James, senior coach. Coach Cody.

SPEAKER_03 1:47

Not senior coach.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

And Coach. Alright, guys. How how you guys doing? Good.

SPEAKER_03 1:56

Hot, bro.

unknown 1:57

Hot.

SPEAKER_03 1:58

Hot.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

Miami's a little hot.

SPEAKER_03 2:00

Yeah, man. I'm doing good. I don't get hot.

SPEAKER_02 2:03

I think that's a lie. Yeah, there's a lie. Michigan, man.

SPEAKER_03 2:06

It's hot.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

It's very hot.

SPEAKER_03 2:08

You sweat in AC. Yeah. I don't want to talk about it.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

Alright, guys. So I'm I'm bringing today another hot topic. There's a lot of veterans stuck at 90%, right? How many times did we hear that? And the reason usually isn't just bad luck. So 90 feels close, but it's often not close as veterans think, right? I think we were just previously talking about that before we went live. Um, that there is a lot of percentage sometimes from 90 to 100, and veterans feel lost. So this is where a lot of frustration builds up, obviously. Um, and then random filings start to fall harder at this level, right? People start throwing things to the wall, seeing what sticks, seeing what's gonna get them over that hump from 90 to 100. So today we want to explain why veterans get stuck here and what actually moves the needle. So let's start off with the hard truth, right? 90 is not just one easy step away from 100.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

No, absolutely not. If anybody knows as messed with VA math, it's daunting. You know, it doesn't make sense, you know. 50 plus 50 does not give you 100. And that's where a lot of people get even more frustrated, especially the higher up you go, the more insignificant small ratings have on the impact of your overall rating. Um, especially once you hit 70. You know, you got to remember 70% starts at 65 to 74. That whole range is 70. And the higher you go, the harder that gets, especially for the 90. So 90% is 85 to 94%. You got to factor that in. Um, when you start adding in that high of a number, the impact of a 10% is a 1% overall difference.

SPEAKER_02 4:06

So can you elaborate that uh on that a little more? Because you know, they see a percentage come in their decision letter, and then you're talking about 65 to 74. What what what does that mean?

SPEAKER_00 4:19

Yeah, so VA math, the numbers are not just straightforward. Um, it's based on you know a hole. Um, so 40, what's you know, 40% if your back, 20% for your right knee, 20, 10 for your left knee. You know, the VA math, you know, looking at it, you're like, oh, I should be 80. But in reality, you're you know, you're at what 73%, if off the top of my head, um trying to do it.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

So there's a background number to then give you the front number that we see.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

Right.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

To simplify it, right?

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Yes, yeah, okay. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 4:54

Exactly. So the V8 doesn't show you what actual percentage you're at. Like I said, the the whether you're at 86 and you're showing at 90, or you're 87 showing at 90, and you think you just need 10%, that's not the actual case. So you could be at 87 and think you need 10, you get 10, and now you're at 88% and still at 90% overall. There's several calculators, one of ours uh at veteranseducating at veterans uh.com. Go to there. Um, you can fill it out and see where you're at, and then reach out to us. We can help you out with it and try to go through that with you. It's not an easy process to figure that whole thing out. So essentially, the having the right claim to put forward to get you over that hump instead of just throwing all these 10 10 percenters at the wall, you don't want to waste your time. You want to be able to get over the hump and actually increase your claim and and and get over the hump to 100 instead of just seeing what sticks and then figuring out, yes, I got it, but didn't get increased and being frustrated as to why.

SPEAKER_04 5:53

To piggyback on that, you know, veterans at 90% often get frustrated and and start guessing instead of slowing down and creating a um you know more of a strategy, more than just guessing on what to go for, what or what to what to increase that doesn't qualify you.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

So the first issue is that veterans don't understand VA math. Let's call that what it is, right? The second issue is often they misunderstand the strategy that they're going for, throwing stuff on the wall, as I said before, and trying to see if they get their hundred percent. And of course, even if something does come out or they do get service connected for something else, it's usually a 10%, which leads them to an 87%, for example, which once again they're still at 90 and they don't get to the 100. And they're frustrated. So now let's talk about what veterans should actually be reviewing and why they're stuck at 90.

SPEAKER_00 6:53

Yeah, first thing to review is what you're currently rated for. You know, where is there room to grow? What what may be underrated um to start with, and what you had to work with. Um, the next thing could be, you know, if those are maxed out or some um certain conditions, what secondary things can be piggybacked off of those uh current ratings? So those are the first two things to actually look at and see what you can you know can do. Um, the third, you know, those things that are you are currently rated for, what is underrated? You know, what has worsened? What you know, has your mental health gotten worse? You're at 30, now you maybe you qualify for 50 or even 70 um based on your symptoms when you originally got evaluated. You know, those evaluations may be 10 years old. Um, and and you live with this day to day, and you may see how that's progressively deteriorating. Um, or your or your feet, your ankles, your headaches, you know, any of those things that you may or may not have. Um, that's the first step, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 7:51

Yeah, you're gonna be want to be looking for those miss secondary claims that you you may have not seen the first time around, or your condition conditions have gotten worse over time, or um your mental health uh that's impacting the way of life, you you're able to service connect that maybe. Or maybe the fact is is you're where you should be at that point in time, which which is fine. Because then when your services or your when your uh service conditions do increase, then that's when you need to file for that increase. The thing is though, is that you want to do the one smart move when you're at 90 instead of throwing all this stuff at the wall to see what sticks, because then you're fighting an uphill battle and trying to go against denial letters and appeals and and stuff that's not going to stick. And if it does stick and you get one percent increase and it's not gonna change your overall rating, your frustration is gonna grow and it's just gonna lead to more more frustration at the end. Right.

SPEAKER_04 8:42

A lot of veterans are closer than what they think. Uh they but they still need the right path to follow, and uh like like um James said, secondary conditions or something that can probably be increased that you might not know of, but um you just gotta get the right path and just slow down and get the right evidence.

SPEAKER_02 9:05

So the real issue is not always that the veteran has no path. Um sometimes the issue is that nobody has looked at their file strategically, right? They're not asking the right questions. I think we've said this on one of our past episodes that um somebody that is experienced, somebody that um has the knowledge or has a common um item that's usually secondary to that condition can go over this with you, right? This is where we come into play. Um, we can look at the claim, we can um kind of look at it and tell you what other veterans have had with these conditions. And of course, like we've said before, our bodies are all connected, and we can look at that and we can tell you, hey, most commonly, this is what happens. Hey, this is what our doctor usually finds, right? And it's it's kind of the path that we would give them um that has been successful for us. Um, but let's talk about why uh veterans stay stuck here for so long. Um, James, can you help us out with that? Why why do veterans stay here for so long?

SPEAKER_00 10:13

Yeah, I think the biggest thing veterans are stuck there is the lack of knowledge um and the lack of guidance to see the path to get them there. You know, they just see numbers and say that well, this doesn't make sense. I'm at 150, but it says I'm at 80 percent. Yes, VA math it is very complicated. Um, it does not make sense, and that's why the calculator is out there to help us um for sure. Um, the next part is you know, looking at it, they may be maxed out and they can't reach it. And that's where we're there to say, okay, hey, looking at based on what you have, yes, you're at 90, but everything you have, you've already maxed out. So we have to find a different route. You keep trying to claim that your back is worse and your back is worse and your knee is worse, your knee is worse. That may be true, but you've reached a maximum rating allotted for that disability. You're not gonna go anywhere with it. And you run the risk of saying the wrong thing at this exam and maybe even lowering that rating, you know. So you gotta make sure that you're smart about what you're filing and what you're what you're providing to the VA. Because it it could go the opposite way, also. Okay, so with that, you know, then we take a look and say, hey, okay, well, like Rob said, there's there's secondary things that this is what our doctors see a lot, and the VA, you know, has great success with, like, because they are there's case studies, there's case laws, there these are you know, the symptoms you have are based off of this, and they just don't understand that. Oh, hey, yeah, I do have um numbness and tingling in my hands. I just thought it was because my shoulders hurt, but I'm service connected for my neck. I didn't understand that those were those go hand in hand. Um, so that's where people like us, companies like us, come into play that can help you see that big picture and overall everything.

SPEAKER_03 12:04

Oh, for sure. Yeah, knowing what you're currently service connected for is going to be huge in this. Um, knowing if there's a possibility of increasing it or not, if you're already maxed out, then you need to know that. And if there's not a route there, that's good to know. If there's secondaries to be connected to it, that's a great route to go, but you need to be able to know that, and that's something that we are very good at in knowing those possibilities. Um if we need to go the service connection route, is it in your STRs? We can take a look at those. There's just a a lot of different options and paths forward we can have for you. Um so it doesn't just end if you're maxed out at one. We there's there's other paths we can have for you.

SPEAKER_04 12:44

Yeah, and just stop guessing, you know. You just need to stop guessing and uh see the see the path more clearly on and get the right advice, you know, and that's what we do. We look at different paths that can make things that can put your mind at ease and uh give you that faith that there is another chance to um to reaching that ultimate goal.

SPEAKER_02 13:10

And I I don't want to sound like a broken record and keep you know referring to us, but the beauty about going to company like ours is that number one I've done a bunch of claims, you know. I've probably done more claims than the coaches sitting down here. But what the beauty about this whole thing is that James has done claims, Cody has done claims, Jesse has done claims, and we're all in the group chat. And trust me, if I don't know, I'm gonna put it out there to them. And maybe they've seen it. And that's the beauty. Um, and I'm not trying to sell us, but I'm trying to tell you that you need a team to to look at all of our experiences and putting all our experiences together, you know, and looking at this because this this sometimes doesn't just take, oh, I'm just gonna figure this out, and this is the answer. It's changing all the time, exactly, and that's that's the thing. It's it's changing all the time. They're not accepting some things, they are accepting these things, and the VA is always making changes because at the end of the day, they're gonna look at their bottom dollar, but our interest is you and getting what you rightfully and ethically uh deserve. So the jump from 90 to 100 usually takes planning and not guessing. First of all, I would like to thank everybody for for listening in. If you like what we're saying, please like, subscribe. And if you have any topics that you want us to talk about, leave us a comment. If not, we'll see you on the next one.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

The war room by veterans educating veterans.