Last Updated: October 14, 2026 Reading Time: 10 min

A recurring argument on r/VeteransBenefits runs two ways: one side says that when you file, you open up your entire claim again in many cases, and the other calls that fear-mongering. Both miss what the regulations say. Filing a claim for a new condition does not automatically reopen your existing ratings, and an increase claim seeks a new evaluation only of the disability it names. A rating decision that has become final stands, and any reduction that would lower your current compensation payments has to go through its own proposal and clear the protections attached to that rating. A new claim may require an examination or medical opinion, and findings obtained can become evidence in the record. This post separates the two, then walks through the situations where veterans actually ask the question: permanent and total status, TDIU, the 5-, 10- and 20-year rules, and special monthly compensation claims.

Why a New-Condition Claim Does Not Reopen Prior Decisions

Under 38 C.F.R. § 3.105(a)(1), "final decisions will be accepted by VA as correct with respect to the evidentiary record and the law." A final decision can be revised for clear and unmistakable error, at your request or on VA's own initiative, and that revision can go either way. But filing a claim for a new condition or special monthly compensation is not a request to revise anything, and an increase claim seeks a new evaluation only of the claimed disability. The ratings you already hold stay in effect unless VA follows the reduction procedures.

If VA ever proposes an evaluation reduction that would reduce or discontinue the compensation payments you currently receive, it has to follow 38 C.F.R. § 3.105(e). It issues a proposed rating with the material facts and reasons. You have 60 days to submit evidence that the rating should continue. If you request a predetermination hearing within 30 days of the notice, "benefit payments shall be continued at the previously established level pending a final determination" under § 3.105(i)(1). The reduction, if it survives, takes effect on the last day of the month in which a 60-day period from the notice of the final action expires. Our rating reduction rights post covers that procedure and the inspector general's error findings in detail.

None of those steps is triggered by your filing. They are triggered by a proposal, and a proposal needs evidence.

Where the Evidence Comes From

This is the narrow sense in which the worry has a point. Under 38 C.F.R. § 3.327(a), VA keeps the authority to order a reexamination at any time when the evidence suggests a material change or an incorrect rating; the scheduling guidelines in the rest of that section do not limit it. A C&P exam ordered for your new claim produces medical evidence, and nothing in the regulations stops a rater from using evidence already in your file.

So the realistic risk is this: an exam for your new claim documents improvement in an old condition, and VA starts a § 3.105(e) proposal for that condition. That is the same risk a routine future exam carries. It is not a reopening, and the proposal still has to clear every protection that attaches to the rating.

File the claim you are entitled to, and prepare for the exam, because a weak exam is the risk and the filing itself is not.

The Protections, in Order of Strength

The 5-year rule

Under 38 C.F.R. § 3.344, a rating that has continued at the same level for 5 years or more receives stabilized-rating protections. For the episodic conditions the rule names, a one-examination reduction faces a whole-record exception; five years does not create an absolute two-exam requirement. The whole record must show "sustained improvement" that is "reasonably certain" to hold up "under the ordinary conditions of life," and an exam less full and complete than the one that authorized the rating cannot be the basis for reduction. The protection applies to ratings that have stabilized; a rating VA has already flagged as likely to improve is outside it. The 5 years are counted at the same level, not from service connection.

Total ratings

Under 38 C.F.R. § 3.343(a), a 100% schedular rating, permanent or not, cannot be reduced "without examination showing material improvement in physical or mental condition," in the absence of clear error and judged against ordinary working conditions. The rule does not cover total ratings granted purely for hospital, surgical or home treatment. Improvement attained only through prolonged rest or a regimen that precludes work does not count until it has been tested by a 3-to-6-month period of employment.

TDIU

A 100% rating based on individual unemployability can be reduced only where actual employability is established by clear and convincing evidence under § 3.343(c)(1). Vocational rehabilitation alone does not justify reduction, though specified evidence under § 3.343(c)(1) can establish capacity; participation or remuneration in therapeutic activities under 38 U.S.C. § 1718 is excluded as employability evidence. And under § 3.343(c)(2), taking a job does not end TDIU on day one: if you began substantially gainful work after January 1, 1985, VA cannot reduce solely for employment until you have held that work for 12 consecutive months.

The 10-year rule

Under 38 C.F.R. § 3.957, service connection in effect for 10 or more years cannot be severed except on a showing that the original grant was based on fraud or that your military records clearly show you did not have the required service or character of discharge. This protects the connection. Your percentage can still change under the rules above.

The 20-year rule

Under 38 C.F.R. § 3.951(b), a rating continuously at or above a given level for 20 years cannot be reduced below that level except on a showing that the rating was based on fraud. The 20 years run from the effective date of the evaluation to the effective date of the reduction. This applies to a P&T rating as much as any other.

One more: a change to VA's rating schedule is not itself grounds to reduce a rating in effect on the date of the change. Under § 3.951(a), only medical evidence of actual improvement can do that.

What Permanent and Total Actually Means

"Total" and "permanent" are separate findings. Under 38 C.F.R. § 3.340(a), total disability exists when an impairment makes it impossible for the average person to follow a substantially gainful occupation, and any disability the rating schedule rates at 100% is total. Under § 3.340(b), a total disability is permanent when the impairment is "reasonably certain to continue throughout the life of the disabled person," or when a long-standing totally incapacitating condition has a remote probability of permanent improvement under treatment. Age may be considered.

What P&T changes is scheduling. Under § 3.327(b)(2), VA does not schedule periodic future exams when a disability is established as static, when the veteran is over 55 except under unusual circumstances, when the rating is a prescribed scheduled minimum, when findings have held for 5 or more years, when the disease is permanent with no likelihood of improvement, or when a reduction would not change the combined evaluation. That is the "no future exams" notation on a P&T decision.

What P&T does not change is VA's residual authority. The exemption from scheduling exams does not repeal § 3.327(a), § 3.343(a) or the fraud exception in § 3.951(b). Before the protected 20-year floor applies, material-improvement rules can permit reduction of a P&T rating on an examination VA was entitled to request. At or above a continuously held 20-year floor, reduction below that level requires fraud. The regulations do not say that VA cannot touch a P&T rating.

P&T is also the gate for two dependent benefits. CHAMPVA eligibility for a spouse or child under 38 C.F.R. § 17.271(a)(1) turns on VA having adjudicated the veteran as permanently and totally disabled from service-connected disability. For the living, discharged veteran discussed here, a permanent total service-connected disability establishes the Dependents' Educational Assistance route under Chapter 35 (38 C.F.R. § 3.807(a)(2)); DEA also has qualifying death and serviceperson routes. For a living veteran, a non-permanent 100% rating does not establish either route. Our CHAMPVA vs FEHB post covers the first, and the state tuition waivers reference covers the state benefits keyed to the same finding.

What an SMC Claim Examines

Special monthly compensation claims are the ones P&T veterans most often hesitate over, so here is what each one asks.

SMC-K under 38 C.F.R. § 3.350(a) and 38 U.S.C. § 1114(k) is payable for each anatomical loss or loss of use of a listed organ or extremity, subject to a combined-rate ceiling. The claim asks one question: has a service-connected condition caused that loss? It does not re-rate the underlying condition.

SMC-S under § 3.350(i) requires a single service-connected disability rated 100%, plus either a separate additional service-connected disability rated at least 60% or permanent housebound status, as the regulation defines it. The claim examines the second disability or the housebound fact. It presupposes your existing total rating; it does not reopen it.

SMC-L under § 3.350(b) covers loss of use of both feet, one hand and one foot, blindness in both eyes with visual acuity of 5/200 or less (or the regulation's equivalent visual-field loss), being permanently bedridden, or needing regular aid and attendance. An aid-and-attendance claim is decided on the helplessness and loss-of-use criteria, and the exam ordered for it looks at those functions.

In every case the exam is evidence in your file like any other exam. The claim itself does not re-adjudicate the base ratings. Current SMC rates are on VA's compensation rate tables; the dollar figures printed in the statute are out of date and we do not reproduce them here.

The Decision Table

Your situation Can VA reduce? Protection that applies What filing a new, increase or SMC claim actually triggers
Rating under 5 years at its current level, not total Yes, on an exam showing improvement; the § 3.105(e) proposal procedure applies when the lower evaluation would reduce or discontinue compensation payments Procedure when payments would drop: proposal, 60-day evidence window, 30-day hearing request that keeps pay at the current level A possible exam for the claimed issue; if it documents improvement in this condition, a proposal may follow
Same level 5 or more years, not total Only if the whole record clearly shows sustained improvement likely to hold under ordinary conditions of life § 3.344, plus the § 3.105(e) procedure when payments would be reduced or discontinued Same as above; one new-claim exam is not enough on its own
100% schedular, not permanent Only with an exam showing material improvement under ordinary working conditions (absent clear error; not treatment-only total ratings) § 3.343(a), plus § 3.344 if 5 or more years Routine exams may already be scheduled 2 to 5 years out; any new-claim exam adds evidence
TDIU Only on clear and convincing evidence of actual employability; not solely for a job until 12 consecutive months of substantially gainful work § 3.343(c), plus § 3.105(e) when payments would be reduced or discontinued A new claim examines the new condition; whether a TDIU base can support SMC-S depends on case law this post does not cover
P&T Fraud, or material improvement on an exam VA is entitled to request, before the 20-year protected floor applies § 3.327(b)(2) exemption from scheduled exams; § 3.343(a); § 3.344; § 3.951(b) after 20 years Any exam is evidence in the file; P&T is not reopened, and CHAMPVA and DEA stay tied to the adjudicated status
Any level held continuously for 20 or more years No, except for fraud § 3.951(b) Nothing brings the rating below the 20-year floor absent fraud
Service connection in effect 10 or more years The connection cannot be severed except for fraud or no qualifying service; the percentage can still change § 3.957 for the connection; the rows above for the percentage A new claim does not threaten the connection
Filing SMC-K, S or L The SMC claim examines the SMC criteria, not the base ratings §§ 3.350(a), (i), (b) A possible exam of the SMC-relevant functions; SMC-S presupposes the existing total rating

The regulations govern what VA may do with exam findings. Nonservice-connected pension follows its own rule in § 3.327(c), under which VA re-examines veterans over 55 only under unusual circumstances, and that rule is not addressed here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does filing a new VA claim reopen my entire rating?

Not automatically. A new-condition claim does not reopen prior final decisions, and an increase claim seeks a new evaluation only of the disability it names. A rating decision that has become final stands unless it contains clear and unmistakable error, and a reduction that would lower your current compensation payments requires its own proposed rating with 60 days for evidence and a 30-day hearing request that keeps your pay at the current level. A new claim may require an exam, and findings on an old condition can start a proposal, which faces the same protections it always would.

Can VA reduce a permanent and total rating?

Yes: on an examination showing material improvement under ordinary working conditions before the 20-year protected floor applies, or for fraud, which is the only ground for going below the level held continuously for 20 years. P&T removes the scheduled future exam; it does not remove VA's authority to examine when the evidence warrants it.

What is the difference between the 5-year, 10-year and 20-year rules?

The 5-year rule means a rating at the same level receives § 3.344 protections; the whole record must show sustained improvement likely to hold up in ordinary life. The 10-year rule means service connection cannot be severed except for fraud or no qualifying service, though the percentage can still change. The 20-year rule means the rating cannot fall below the level held continuously for 20 years except for fraud.

Does an SMC claim put my 100% rating at risk?

An SMC-K, S or L claim examines the SMC criteria: loss of use, the 100%-plus-independent-60% or housebound test, or aid and attendance. SMC-S presupposes your existing total rating. The exam is evidence in your file like any exam, but the claim does not re-adjudicate the base rating.

What does P&T unlock that a plain 100% rating does not?

CHAMPVA for a spouse or child who is not eligible for TRICARE (eligible Medicare beneficiaries generally must carry Parts A and B, with CHAMPVA secondary, so Medicare entitlement does not by itself end eligibility), and Dependents' Educational Assistance under Chapter 35 for a spouse or child of a veteran discharged under other than dishonorable conditions, both of which, for a living, discharged veteran, turn on the adjudicated permanent total service-connected finding; DEA also has separate qualifying death and serviceperson routes under 38 C.F.R. § 3.807. Many state benefits key to the same finding.

I just started a new job. Will VA cut my TDIU?

Not solely for taking a job until you have held substantially gainful work for 12 consecutive months, and only on clear and convincing evidence of actual employability.

When does VA stop scheduling future exams?

When the condition is static, findings have held for 5 or more years, the disease is permanent, you are over 55 absent unusual circumstances, the rating is the schedule's minimum, or a reduction would not change your combined rating.

Sources: 38 C.F.R. § 3.105; 38 C.F.R. § 3.327; 38 C.F.R. § 3.340; 38 C.F.R. § 3.343; 38 C.F.R. § 3.344; 38 C.F.R. § 3.350; 38 C.F.R. § 3.807; 38 C.F.R. § 3.951; 38 C.F.R. § 3.957; 38 C.F.R. § 17.271; 38 U.S.C. § 1114.