P&T Status: What Permanent and Total VA Disability Means – Military.com

P&T Status: What Permanent and Total VA Disability Means  Military.com

Permanent and total disability, commonly shortened to P&T means a future reexamination can result in a reduced rating. Without permanent-and-total status, a 100% disability rating can be reduced if the VA finds material improvement. Veterans who reach a 100% disability rating sometimes assume that number is the finish line. It isn't necessarily. A 100% rating can still be scheduled for a future reexamination, and a future reexamination can result in a reduced rating if the Department of Veterans Affairs finds material improvement. Permanent and total status, commonly shortened to P&T, is the separate designation that closes that door. P&T is actually two distinct determinations that VA makes together: Total disability exists when a veteran's impairment is severe enough to prevent the average person from following a substantially gainful occupation, under 38 CFR 3.340.

That threshold is met either through a schedular 100% combined rating or through Total Disability Individual Unemployability, which pays at the 100% rate for veterans who can't maintain substantially gainful employment even at a lower combined rating. Related: Combined Disability Ratings: The VA Math No One Explains Permanent is the separate finding, defined under the same regulation as impairment that is reasonably certain to continue throughout the veteran's life. VA specifically notes that diseases and injuries of long standing will be regarded as permanently and totally disabling