Accelerate VASRD revision to cut disability awards for future claimants
Mandate says the next Administration should accelerate VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities reviews with OMB clearance to target significant cost savings by revising disability rating awards for future claimants while preserving awards fully or partially for existing claimants—criticizing growth of tenuously service-connected conditions and presumptions.
Mandate
Mandate Ch. 20 (Veterans Affairs) — VBA Budget: VASRD has assigned ratings to a growing number of conditions, some tenuously or wholly unrelated to service; next Administration should explore accelerating VASRD reviews with OMB clearance to target significant cost savings from revising disability rating awards for future claimants while preserving them fully or partially for existing claimants.
Undo plan
1) Halt VASRD cuts that strip future veterans of coverage for toxic-exposure and other service-related conditions without independent medical evidence review.
2) Require NAS/NAM or equivalent scientific panels before narrowing presumptions or rating tables.
3) Preserve PACT Act and Agent Orange frameworks against administrative rollback.
4) Codify grandfathering plus prospective fairness so similarly situated future claimants are not arbitrarily worse off.
5) Verify: publish rating-change impact analyses on claim grant rates by era/condition.