The year in review: 2024.
What 2024 meant for VA disability benefits, in one page: every rule VA finalized or proposed, the court docket, revised forms, and the COLA story, totaled from the same primary sources that build the monthly archive.
Coverage note: court decision tracking begins April 24, 2024, so the 2024 court total covers that date onward rather than the full calendar year.
Method note: form counts reflect the official catalog's current revision dates, so a form revised in 2024 and revised again in a later year is counted under the later year.
The COLA story
For January through November 2024, VA compensation was paid at rates set by the 3.2 percent cost of living adjustment effective December 1, 2023.
On October 10, 2024, the 2025 COLA was announced at 2.5 percent, effective December 1, 2024. By law, VA disability compensation receives the same adjustment as Social Security benefits.
Percentages verified against the Social Security Administration's COLA announcements and recomputed from the underlying BLS CPI-W data as an integrity check.
Benefits-related final rules
The final rules from 2024 our review flagged as directly benefits-related. Each link goes to the official Federal Register document.
- March 5, 2024Processing Applications for Health Care, Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise To Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022, or the Honoring Our PACT Act of 2022
- March 20, 2024Schedule for Rating Disabilities: The Digestive System
- April 26, 2024Update and Clarify Regulatory Bars to Benefits Based on Character of Discharge
- June 17, 2024Processing Claims Under the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise To Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022, or the Honoring Our Pact Act of 2022
- August 22, 2024Processing Certain Claims for Payment for Transportation, Care, and Services
- September 25, 2024Expanded Burial Benefits
- October 10, 2024Outer Burial Receptacles
- October 25, 2024Fee Reasonableness Reviews; Effect of Loss of Accreditation on Direct Payment
Month by month
Each month of 2024 is its own permanent page with every rule, decision, and form linked to its primary source.
Referencing the 2024 record? Copy the citation below and link back to this page so your readers can verify the totals against the primary sources.
Sources
- SSA: Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) information
- SSA: CPI-W data used for the COLA
- VA: Current disability compensation rates
- BLS: Consumer Price Index (CPI-W series CWUR0000SA0)
- Federal Register: VA documents
- eCFR: Title 38 (current regulation text)
- CourtListener: U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
- VA: official form catalog