United States disability benefits are not only issued by the Social Security Administration. In this sense, the VA can also send financial help so that American veterans with a disability can enjoy a benefit. This financial help is really helpful for this sometimes disadvantaged group.
The COLA announcement last Oct. 12 brought up some questions related to these benefits. Veterans with a disability who enjoy VA wanted to know if the COLA would affect them directly. And the answer is yes, of course, veterans can also get the annual COLA increase.
This brings the checks for veterans with a disability to a higher figure starting next year 2024. Thanks to this COLA, we will be able to get a check with extra money that we can use for whatever we need. Even so, the COLA is mainly intended to combat inflation and the huge increase in prices that we have seen in recent years.
One thing to keep in mind when calculating the COLA for VA Disability is that each veteran has a different benefit. The range of disability and other factors determine what monthly check each American gets. So getting the extra will also depend on your own check you currently collect.
HOW MUCH WILL VETERANS’ DISABILITY BENEFITS INCREASE BECAUSE OF THE COLA?
The COLA announced by the United States Government is 3.2%. And that figure is the figure that applies to all checks that correspond to a benefit of some kind. Therefore, Social Security payments increase that percentage, as do checks from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Regardless of the type of check we have, as there are many within VA Disability, we will get the 3.2% increase. This increase will be welcome in order to have a better standard of living and not lose purchasing power at any time.
Within the benefits that we find in the VA we can observe that if the disability is 10% the check is $171.23. On the other hand, the check for beneficiaries with 20% is $338.49. These two groups are non-dependent beneficiaries.
If we move to the dependent group, the benefit changes a little. On the one hand, it depends on whether the veteran lives alone or with a partner. On the other hand, having children also influences the total amount. In general, these benefits depend on these factors and the percentage of disability the veteran has.
Well, the amount we currently collect does not matter in determining the check we will begin to receive as of January 2024. Each check will increase by 3.2% over the current amount.
Also, on the VA Disability’s own official website, we will see the updated table of benefits as of December 1st, as announced by the organization itself.
WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO GET THE COLA INCREASE?
Any benefit recipient in the United States will see the COLA increase starting next year. This is repeated every year and you do not need to do anything to start getting the extra monthly money.
Therefore, the process is totally automatic and whether it is our Social Security or VA Disability benefit we will see this increase directly in the check we will start collecting starting in January.
In short, you won’t have to take a single step to get the monthly increase in this check. Every Social Security and VA Disability beneficiary will get their 3.2% increase in order to combat inflation.
While it is true that some Americans have stated that the increase is too little, especially considering the 8.7% increase in 2023, the increase may be enough to keep from losing purchasing power.