Sponsors (8)
The bill improves medical consistency and preserves veterans' rights to compensation for treatment-related harms by using untreated baselines for ratings, but it may reduce benefits for veterans whose symptoms are controlled by medication and increase administrative burden and claim delays.
Veterans with service-connected conditions will receive disability ratings tied to the underlying severity of their condition (measured without the effects of medication), making ratings more consistent and medically accurate.
Veterans retain the right to seek compensation for additional disabilities caused by treatment or for aggravation of preexisting service-connected conditions.
Veterans whose symptoms are controlled by medication may receive lower disability ratings and therefore reduced monetary benefits because ratings are based on untreated baseline severity.
Veterans and the VA may face increased evidence requirements and more complex adjudication to establish untreated baselines, which could slow claims processing and raise administrative burden for claimants and the agency.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires VA to construct disability ratings by discounting beneficial effects of medication/treatment when a baseline without treatment can be established, while preserving compensation for treatment-related or aggravated conditions.
Amends the VA disability-rating statute to require that disability schedules be constructed so the beneficial effects of medication or treatment are discounted when medical evidence can establish how a veteran functioned without those effects. The change also explicitly preserves veterans’ ability to receive compensation for disabilities caused by medication or treatment, or for aggravation of preexisting conditions incurred in service.
Introduced March 19, 2026 by Richard Blumenthal · Last progress March 19, 2026