After five years, those receiving VA disability checks will finally get a 2% pay raise in the checks starting January of 2018.
The shocking things about this is that this is the largest cost of living increase since 2012.
Most recipients receive a COLA (Cost of Living Allowance) bump every year to stay in line with inflation. The VA increase is due to Hurricane Harvey causing gas prices to skyrocket.
Why the change?
The government uses the Consumer Price Index, or CPI, to measure the cost of all household goods every month. The Department of Labor measures these goods and puts together for CPI report. Because of the recent Hurricanes,
What to expect with this new change?
For those with the largest grade of disability checks, the increase will be as much as $310 a month.
The average military check for an E-7 those with 20 years of service should expect an increase of $46 a month.
An O-5 service with 20 years in service should expect an $88 a month increase.
Disabled veterans depending on the rating will go up by $3 for a 10% rating or $58 for a 100%.
Those benefiting from the Survivor Benefit Plan and Dependency and Indemnity Compensation will see an increase in their checks as well.
An estimated 70 million U.S. residents will be affected by this COLA jump.
How much will payments increase?
Congress is still discussing exactly how much of an increase current servicemen will be allotted in the coming year. It is proposed to be between a 2.1% and 2.3% increase.
The COLA was already expected to go up from increase in food prices, but thanks to both Irma and Harvey this number will jump even more.
Last year there was only a .3% increase in retired pay. Majority of this had to do with gasoline prices actually went down during the end of last year. In 2015, there was no increase, again, because of gasoline going down.
Hopefully active duty will be awarded a significant pay raise but until then, the VA increase is still set for January.
Still curious about how much your pay will increase? Check out the VA’s compensation chart.
