Washington, D.C. -- More than three million beneficiaries of Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) compensation and pension programs will receive an increase of 1.3 percent in monthly benefit payments to be mailed later this month.
The cost-of-living (COLA) adjustment affecting eligible beneficiaries on VA benefits rolls as of Dec. 1 was included in legislation signed by President Clinton on Veterans Day.
Monthly payments to some 2.3 million veterans receiving disability compensation will now range from $96 for a single veteran with a 10-percent disability rating to $1,989 for a single veteran with a 100-percent disability rating.
Veterans whose service-connected disabilities are rated 30 percent or higher may receive additional allowances for dependents, based on the number of dependents and extent of disability.
Another 357,000 veterans will receive an increase in their pensions -- an income supplement program for wartime veterans whose permanent and total disabilities are not service-connected.
The increase also applies to approximately 331,000 survivors of veterans who died of service-connected disabilities -- the parents, spouses and children who receive benefits under VA's dependency and indemnity compensation program. Approximately 195,000 surviving spouses of wartime veterans whose deaths were unrelated to service or a service-connected condition and whose incomes are below an established threshold will benefit from the increase in death pension benefits.
