Confused on the math for service under 20 years

M

mmdecker21

PEB Forum Regular Member
Registered Member
Hi,
I will be at 17 years next month. IF they find me unfit for duty, i am confused on the medical retirement and va disability. IF I get medically retired , say 100% what would that be for amount. Then the Va says 100% also. i was told they take away and you can't get both.
Can anyhow explain it.
I am E6 with 18 by the time I get out should they rule in favor of that

Thank you in advance
 
mmdecker21 said:
Hi,
I will be at 17 years next month. IF they find me unfit for duty, i am confused on the medical retirement and va disability. IF I get medically retired , say 100% what would that be for amount. Then the Va says 100% also. i was told they take away and you can't get both.
Can anyhow explain it.
I am E6 with 18 by the time I get out should they rule in favor of that

Thank you in advance
Click to expand...
Anything you earn from a medical pension will be offset by VA compensation. So if your pension was $3,000 a month and your VA compensation was $3,750 your VA compensation would offset ALL of your pension and all you would get is your VA compensation and Tricare. Also, by law the max percentage for medical retirement is 75%. So anything 80% or higher = 75% DOD. The way you calculate the base amount is to take your highest 36 months of base pay and add it together. Then divide it by 36. That is your HIGH 3 for which you will multiple by your DOD% to get the amount of your medical retirement.

So to give you an estimate of a high 3 being of $4,351 which is E6 pay at 16 year mark. You take that amount and multiply it by 75%. That equals $3,263.25 which is lower than the VA compensation for 100% disabled. So pretty much in every scenario your are probably not getting any of your medical pension. Instead you will get VA compensation which is tax free and Tricare.
 
mmdecker21 said:
Hi,
I will be at 17 years next month. IF they find me unfit for duty, i am confused on the medical retirement and va disability. IF I get medically retired , say 100% what would that be for amount. Then the Va says 100% also. i was told they take away and you can't get both.
Can anyhow explain it.
I am E6 with 18 by the time I get out should they rule in favor of that

Thank you in advance
Click to expand...
Also, the 18 year rule isn't in place for Medical so don't think getting to 18 years will save you.
 
So essentially I would have only the one income. Va or whatever is higher?
So I basically get screwed if they medically retired me 100%
I would only get the VA in this example
 
mmdecker21 said:
So essentially I would have only the one income. Va or whatever is higher?
So I basically get screwed if they medically retired me 100%
I would only get the VA in this example
Click to expand...
In order to receive VA compensation you have to agree to have it offset your pension. If VA higher than pension you only get VA compensation. If pension higher than you get pension amount after VA waver amount. In your case if 100% VA you won't get anything from your pension. However, VA compensation is better since it is tax free.

An example where you both is lets say our pension was $4,000 and your VA compensation was $3,500. Then you would get $3,500 from the VA and $500 from your medical retirement pension.
 
mmdecker21 said:
So essentially I would have only the one income. Va or whatever is higher?
So I basically get screwed if they medically retired me 100%
I would only get the VA in this example
Click to expand...
Those who have a higher rate of high three, especially officers and senior NCOs, might have residual retired pay left over from the reduction/waiver. They get to keep the residual.

The reduction is not because of your 100% DoD; it is dollar for dollar in the amount of VA COMPENSATION.

Ron
edited to add: Comments in development when previous post appeared.
 
mmdecker21 said:
So I basically get screwed if they medically retired me 100%
Click to expand...
Not sure I would consider that being screwed….you get that VA compensation earlier than 20 years, plus anything left over from your DOD paycheck after VA compensation is deducted (if applicable), plus Tricare for life…. What do you feel is the screw job here?
 
Hello @mmdecker21

If eligible, CRSC can replace some of the waived/reduced retired pay.

See Collection of CRSC information LINK <—-

Ron
 
Hi all, new to the forum and this whole process.
I was hoping someone can validate that I am understanding this correctly re: medical retirement compensation.

I am active duty, 15 years, and undergoing MEB... if PEB determines unfit (single condition at, say, 50%). But I also have other service-connected issues not related to the unfitting condition.

What I am hoping to clarify is:
-Will the disability rating multiplier used to calculate the retirement pay be just the 50% from the unfitting condition? (Is that the DoD Rating?) Or will they fully evaluate/rate all conditions, then use that aggregated rating?

If I am understanding this thread correctly, then it is the former. They will use the DoD rating from the unfitting condition(s) that prompted the MEB.
BUT if total VA compensation is evaluated to, say, 80%, then there would be a point in the process where I elect to receive that 80% multiplier instead? thereby receiving VA compensation at 80% instead of Military medical pension at 50%?

Thanks in advance!
 
charlienc said:
Hi all, new to the forum and this whole process.
I was hoping someone can validate that I am understanding this correctly re: medical retirement compensation.

I am active duty, 15 years, and undergoing MEB... if PEB determines unfit (single condition at, say, 50%). But I also have other service-connected issues not related to the unfitting condition.

What I am hoping to clarify is:
-Will the disability rating multiplier used to calculate the retirement pay be just the 50% from the unfitting condition? (Is that the DoD Rating?) Or will they fully evaluate/rate all conditions, then use that aggregated rating?

If I am understanding this thread correctly, then it is the former. They will use the DoD rating from the unfitting condition(s) that prompted the MEB.
BUT if total VA compensation is evaluated to, say, 80%, then there would be a point in the process where I elect to receive that 80% multiplier instead? thereby receiving VA compensation at 80% instead of Military medical pension at 50%?

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Hello,

Your DoD disability retired pay will be the higher of :

—DoD rating x average high three base pay
OR
—the longevity multiplier (AD or AD equivalent) x 2.5% (2% if on blended retirement program) x average high three base pay.

Recommend accepting VA comp in any case. Why? Because the retiree keeps any residual retired pay in excess of the VA offset.

Guess: There are 500 or more examples of the computation on this site.

Good luck,
Ron

Edited to add: By agreeing to accept VA comp (highly recommended) you agree to waive retired pay dollar for dollar in the amount of VA comp.
 
RonG said:
Hello,

Your DoD disability retired pay will be the higher of :

—DoD rating x average high three base pay
OR
—the longevity multiplier (AD or AD equivalent) x 2.5% (2% if on blended retirement program) x average high three base pay.

Recommend accepting VA comp in any case. Why? Because the retiree keeps any residual retired pay in excess of the VA offset.

Guess: There are 500 or more examples of the computation on this site.

Good luck,
Ron
Click to expand...
Hi Ron,
Thanks for the quick reply. I have found a few more examples since posting.
This makes more sense now.

The one question I still have is whether the rating for the unfitting condition in the PEB is your final DoD rating, or whether there is a way to just have the DoD aggregate all conditions for a combined rating?

Thanks again.
 
Hello,

I had a regular, non disability retirement 31 years ago so I am not an expert on all things PEB/MEB.
Recommend @Provis and @chaplaincharlie

Your DoD rating is for only the disabilities that make you unfit for continued service.

Your VA rating is for ALL service-connected disabilities.

Ron
Trivia: born the year WWII ended
 
charlienc said:
Hi Ron,
Thanks for the quick reply. I have found a few more examples since posting.
This makes more sense now.

The one question I still have is whether the rating for the unfitting condition in the PEB is your final DoD rating, or whether there is a way to just have the DoD aggregate all conditions for a combined rating?

Thanks again.
Click to expand...
It the total of your unfitting conditions. If you have only 1 unfitting condition such as 30% for migraines from the VA then your DOD% would be 30%. If 2 conditions were unfitting then the combination of the 2 using VA math would equal your DOD%. For example, 30% for condition 1 and 30% for condition 2 would not equal 60% bur rather 50% for DOD using VA math. 30% of 100 = 30% rating with 70% left. 30% of 70% is 21%. 30% + 21% = 51% and is rounded down to 50%.

That's why most people have a total DOD% and a VA%. For most the VA rating is higher than the DOD rating since the VA uses every condition and combines them whereas the DOD% is for unfitting conditions and most only have one or 2 of them.
 
RonG said:
Hello,

Your DoD disability retired pay will be the higher of :

—DoD rating x average high three base pay
OR
—the longevity multiplier (AD or AD equivalent) x 2.5% (2% if on blended retirement program) x average high three base pay.

Recommend accepting VA comp in any case. Why? Because the retiree keeps any residual retired pay in excess of the VA offset.

Guess: There are 500 or more examples of the computation on this site.

Good luck,
Ron

Edited to add: By agreeing to accept VA comp (highly recommended) you agree to waive retired pay dollar for dollar in the amount of VA comp.
Click to expand...
Medical retirement typically occurs when a service member is found unfit for duty due to a service-related injury or medical condition. If you are medically retired, you may be entitled to receive a certain percentage of your base pay, which is determined by your years of service and the severity of your disability. The specific percentage is outlined in the Department of Defense's disability rating schedule.
 
runducoff said:
Medical retirement typically occurs when a service member is found unfit for duty due to a service-related injury or medical condition. If you are medically retired, you may be entitled to receive a certain percentage of your base pay, which is determined by your years of service and the severity of your disability. The specific percentage is outlined in the Department of Defense's disability rating schedule.
Click to expand...
Thank you for that information.

The post to which you are replying was created 7 months ago.


Regards,
Ron
 
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