Intense pressure from Veterans organizations including the Disabled Veterans Association,VFW, American Legion, members of Congress and voters, has forced the VA to back away from a rule it was attempting to put in place that would have included the impact of treatments when calculating Vet’s disability rating. The move restores a previous court ruling requiring disability be evaluated without consideration of medication or other treatments.  Stars and Stripes reported Thursday, Feb 26 that the VA would, on Friday, publish in the Federal Register, a formal notice rescinding the “Interim Final Rule” they had attempted to put in place without review or comment on Feb 17

As reported by Stars and Stripes, “The rule was sharply criticized for linking a veteran’s disability rating to how well medication manages symptoms, instead of on the severity of a service-connected injury or illness, which had been the standard practice. Veterans and their advocates flooded a government website — regulations.gov — collecting feedback on the new rule, which received more than 20,000 comments in little over a week.The new rule was condemned for potentially lowering disability ratings for veterans who sought treatment and for sidestepping the standard rule-making process, which requires advance notification, review and public feedback.”  Stars and Stripes are sometimes behind a paywall but you may be able to read the full story here:  https://www.stripes.com/veterans/2026-02-26/va-rescinding-rule-disability-ratings-20883658.html