VA Benefits for Veterans with Cardiovascular Conditions

According to the American Heart Association, heart disease has been the leading cause of death in the United States since 1921. The Centers for Disease Control warns that in the United States, one person dies every 33 seconds from cardiovascular disease. If you are suffering from a heart condition, you are certainly not alone. However, VA disability benefits can help in several ways.

Unfortunately, many veterans with cardiovascular conditions have an uphill climb to secure benefits. The VA can conclude their disability is not service-related or issue an unfairly low disability rating. Working your way through the appeals process is often a stressful ordeal that is likely to aggravate what is already a debilitating condition. Fortunately, help is available for veterans fighting to access the benefits they deserve and appeal unfair denials. First, a look at heart disease.

Heart Disease and the VA

Heart disease is an umbrella term for numerous conditions afflicting the cardiovascular system. The two most common conditions the VA recognizes are:

• Coronary artery disease — CAD, also known as ischemic heart disease, is the most common type of heart disease. Due to a buildup of plaque, the arteries supplying blood to the heart muscle have hardened and become narrow. Symptoms of CAD include pain in the upper body, trouble breathing, profuse sweating, and indigestion.

• Hypertension — High blood pressure results when the heart struggles to pump blood through narrowed arteries. Hypertension can lead to heart attack and stroke, which can be fatal.

Other conditions that could earn a VA disability rating include:

• Angina — Chest pain that results from reduced blood flow to the heart.

• Aortic stenosis — A condition in which the aortic valve narrows, reducing blood flow from the heart to the rest of the body. Heart valve replacement surgery is frequently necessary.

• Arrhythmia — An irregular heartbeat that is often too rapid can raise the chance of stroke or heart failure. Patients with arrhythmia often receive pacemakers to regulate their heart rate. Severe irregular heart rhythms originating in the ventricles are called ventricular arrhythmias.

• Arteriosclerosis — Hardening and narrowing of the arteries.

• Cardiomyopathy — This condition refers to heart muscle diseases that undermine its ability to pump blood.

• Congestive heart failure — A condition where the heart cannot pump enough blood to oxygenate the body, causing a patient to suffer fatigue, shortness of breath, and a fluid buildup in the legs and lungs, making it more difficult for the heart to perform.

• Endocarditis — An infection of the heart’s inner lining.

• Heart murmur —Murmurs are sounds a doctor can detect with a stethoscope that vary from the standard sound of a heartbeat. Typically, they are whooshing or swishing sounds attributed to rapid, choppy blood flow through the heart. Though often harmless, murmurs can indicate a serious congenital or acquired heart defect. Symptoms of a troubling heart murmur include chest pain, persistent cough, dizziness, swollen liver, swollen neck veins, and fainting.

• Myocarditis — Inflammation of the heart muscle.

• Pericarditis — Inflammation of the pericardium, the thin tissue surrounding the heart.

• Valvular heart disease — Various conditions that impact heart valves.

To qualify for VA disability benefits, a veteran must demonstrate a service connection to the condition.

Establishing a Service Connection to Your Cardiovascular Illness

To receive VA disability benefits, you must establish that your condition is service related. The easiest route is to present evidence that you suffer from a condition with a presumptive service connection. Presumptions apply when a veteran served during a particular time in a particular place, where he would presumably have been exposed to toxins known to cause the condition the veteran is claiming.

Coronary artery disease is presumptively service related for veterans who served in Vietnam between January 9, 1962, and May 7, 1975, due to presumed exposure to Agent Orange. If you served at that time and place, the VA will assume you came in contact with the deadly herbicide, which caused your CAD. Unfortunately, though Agent Orange has been linked to a plethora of disabling illnesses, including numerous forms of cancer, the only cardiovascular illness to which it’s been definitively linked is coronary artery disease. Hypertension, for example, is a common complaint by service members of the same era, but it does not get a presumption.

If you suffer from a different heart condition or did not serve during the Agent Orange era, your path to disability benefits requires evidence of a direct service connection. You can demonstrate a direct service connection by satisfying three elements of the test:

• A diagnosis of a current heart condition
• An in-service event or illness
• A medical nexus between your diagnosed heart condition and the in-service event/illness

In other words, you need evidence that your current heart ailment originated during your service.

Finally, you might prove a secondary service connection. This occurs when a medical condition results from or is aggravated by an established service-related condition. For example, if you suffer from service-related post-traumatic stress disorder, your PTSD could easily have caused your heart issue. You might also present evidence that medications used to treat your service-related illness have caused your heart condition.

Obtaining a Disability Rating for Your Cardiovascular Illness

Once you have established a service connection, the VA will rate the degree of disability due to your condition. This rating, given as a percentage from 0 to 100, determines the level of benefit you will receive. VA examiners put claimants through a series of exercise tests, known as metabolic equivalent tests or METs, which measure how well your heart performs under physical activity and when in the activity, symptoms of your condition start to manifest. The higher the MET rating, the better your heart functions, and the lower your disability rating will be. The lower your METs, the higher your disability rating.

Generally, a claimant who is on heart medication will receive a 10 percent disability at least. To obtain a 100 percent rating, a claimant would have to show difficulty with minimal physical exertion, such as:

• Showering
• Dressing
• Walking
• Eating

A claimant might also be considered totally disabled if their condition prevents them from performing job-related tasks. This award, known as total disability based on individual unemployability (TDIU), is available to veterans whose service-connected heart conditions prevent them from gainful employment.

Veterans with a disability rating of 30 percent or higher might also be eligible for additional benefits for their families.

Temporary Total Disability for Certain Heart Conditions

A veteran might also suffer from a heart condition that is totally disabling in the short term, but from which substantial recovery is possible. In such cases, the VA provides a limited duration 100 percent disability rating. Potentially qualifying events include:

• Heart attack — 3 months
• Installation of a pacemaker — 2 months
• Implantable cardiac defibrillator — As long as the ICD is in place
• Heart valve replacement — 6 months
• Heart transplant — 1 year
• Coronary bypass — 3 months

After the scheduled period elapses, the VA assigns a new rating based on the veteran’s current health.

The VA disability benefits you receive can provide much-needed financial support for you and your family. Unfortunately, the VA often denies disability claims based on eligibility or shortchanges vets with low ratings. If you encounter difficulties with your claim, a knowledgeable and determined VA disability attorney can unlock access to the benefits you deserve.