Can I collect both Social Security disability benefits and VA disability compensation?

If you developed multiple disabilities from your service, the VA has a complicated formula for combining them into a single rating. It's possible to get a 100 percent disability rating by having multiple conditions, even if none is totally disabling by itself. You also can have a 100 rating that's total but not permanent, if the VA expects your condition will eventually improve.

Benefits

With SSDI, the amount of your monthly benefit is based on your lifetime average earnings in covered work. There is no sliding scale based on the severity of your condition; again, in the eyes of the SSA, you are either disabled or you're not. The average SSDI benefit in October 2022 was $1,364 a month.

VA disability compensation is determined by the rating the agency assigns to your condition. In 2023 payments for a veteran with no spouse or children can range from $165.92 per month for a 10 percent disability to $3,621.95 for a 100 percent disability.

There is an important exception to the VA's usual method of using your disability rating to determine benefits. If you don't have a 100 percent rating but are unable to hold a steady job that supports you financially because of your service-related disability, you may qualify for the VA's Individual Unemployability benefit, which pays at the 100 percent rate.

How SSDI and VA compensation can work together

Fast-track applications

If you have a 100 percent P&T rating from the VA, Social Security will speed up processing of your SSDI claim. To get expedited handling, enter Veteran 100% P&T in the Remarks section of your online application and provide Social Security with the notification letter the VA sent you about your rating.

Regardless of your P&T rating, you may qualify for expedited processing under Social Security's Wounded Warrior program, which prioritizes claims for veterans who became disabled while on active duty on or after Oct. 1, 2001.

No 'offset'

Workers’ compensation and some other types of public disability benefits can trigger what the SSA calls an “offset” that reduces your Social Security payments. VA disability benefits don't affect your SSDI or vice versa; if you qualify for both programs, each will pay the full amount to which you are entitled.

Health care coverage

If you get SSDI and VA disability benefits, you can receive medical coverage through both.

SSDI recipients are eligible for Medicare, although in most cases there is a two-year waiting period for coverage to begin. Veterans are eligible for coverage under the military's Tricare program.

If you're getting both benefits, Medicare becomes your primary payer (meaning medical providers bill it first) and Tricare serves as a supplement, covering some cost-sharing, such as copayments and deductibles.

What about SSI?

Disabled veterans can also receive both VA benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), the other Social Security–run benefit program serving people with disabilities. As with SSDI, veterans may qualify for fast-track processing of SSI applications.

VA disability compensation, however, will reduce the size of your SSI payment. That's because income is a major factor in SSI eligibility, which is determined by financial need as well as disability.

In 2023, the maximum monthly SSI benefit for an individual is $914 a month. If you receive more than that in income from work or other sources, including VA benefits, you can lose your eligibility for SSI.

If you get less, you can continue to receive SSI but your benefit will be reduced. Social Security excludes the first $20 in income a month from the calculation, so if you get $500 a month in VA disability benefits, $480 will be subtracted from your SSI benefit.

Keep in mind

• Disabled veterans whose condition is not related to their service may be eligible for a different kind of VA benefit, a VA pension. Income is a factor in eligibility for a VA pension, so receiving SSDI or SSI can disqualify you from getting the pension or reduce its amount. For more information, call the VA benefits hotline at 800-827-1000 or contact your regional VA office.
• While eligibility for Social Security disability benefits is largely based on inability to do paid work, it's possible to receive them if you're still technically on active duty and receiving your pay — say, if you are in a military hospital or assigned to a therapy program.