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National Association of Department Service Officers - NADSO This is an internal page for Association Members and former members.

09/18/2026

More than half of the Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers have reported severe staffing shortages, the Office of Inspector General finds. 🔗Link to article in comments ⬇️

09/05/2026

Eligible Veterans can now submit and track “mileage-only” travel cl...

https://lnkd.in/p/g_WJiekjSaunders v. Wilkie settled that pain alone can be a disability. It didn't settle whether VA pa...
09/05/2026

https://lnkd.in/p/g_WJiekj

Saunders v. Wilkie settled that pain alone can be a disability. It didn't settle whether VA pays for it.
The Federal Circuit's 2018 decision held that pain meets the disability requirement under
38 U.S.C. § 1110 if it causes functional impairment. Not a diagnosis. What you can no longer do, not just that you hurt.
That's the half everyone cites. Here's the half that gets skipped: VA's rating schedule has no listing for chronic pain. Raters assign a rating by analogy under 38 CFR § 4.20, matching the pain to a comparable listed condition. Whatever code they pick drives the percentage. That choice is reviewable, and it's a common place a decision goes sideways, sometimes landing at 0 percent even after service connection is granted.
For veterans already service connected for a joint, 38 CFR § 4.59 sets a floor. An actually painful joint gets at least the minimum compensable rating, even when range of motion measures out fine on paper.

Saunders v. Wilkie settled that pain alone can be a disability. It didn't settle whether VA pays for it. The Federal Circuit's 2018 decision held that pain meets the disability requirement under 38 U.S.C. § 1110 if it causes functional impairment. Not a diagnosis. What you can no longer do, not jus...

Memorial: Dean Casey was remembered at our VA&R Commission meeting’s memorial observance on August 26, 2026
08/29/2026

Memorial: Dean Casey was remembered at our VA&R Commission meeting’s memorial observance on August 26, 2026

08/06/2026

Leishmaniasis is a parasitic infection that is transmitted by sand flies and caused by multiple leishmania species, with different species capable of causing cutaneous, visceral, or mucosal forms of the disease.

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