38 U.S.C. § 110 — Preservation of disability ratings

This section protects long-held VA disability ratings from being lowered. Total disability ratings. If the VA (through the Secretary) has given someone a rating of total disability, or permanent total disability, for compensation, pension, or insurance purposes, and that rating has stayed continuously in force for 20 years or more, the VA cannot reduce it afterward — unless it can show the rating was based on fraud. Other disability ratings. The same protection applies more broadly: if a disability has been continuously rated at or above a certain evaluation level for 20 years or more, for compensation purposes, the VA can't later rate it below that level — again, unless it can show the rating was based on fraud. How the 20 years is counted. The 20-year period is measured starting from whatever date the Secretary determines is when the rated status began, for rating purposes.