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Presumption and percentage are decided by two different books. 38 CFR 3.309(e) and the PACT Act settle exposure and cause; 38 CFR Part 4 settles the number — and for seven presumptive diseases it already prints 100. Figures are 2026 rates, veteran alone, effective December 1, 2025; higher with dependents. 100% alone is $3,938.58 a month, $47,262.96 a year.
Five of the seven carry a clock: the 100% is tied to active or recent treatment, with a re-examination built into the code. Two carry none.
1. ISCHEMIC HEART DISEASE — 38 CFR 4.104, DC 7005. The heart formula’s top step is 100% where a workload of 3.0 METs or less produces heart failure symptoms. Same section, DC 7017: a flat 100% for three months after hospital admission for coronary bypass surgery, $11,815.74.
2. RESPIRATORY CANCERS (lung, bronchus, larynx, trachea) — 38 CFR 4.97, DC 6819. Not a scale; the entry is 100. It continues past the end of surgery, radiation or chemotherapy, with a mandatory VA exam six months after treatment stops: $23,631.48. Then residuals.
3. PROSTATE CANCER, and BLADDER CANCER — 38 CFR 4.115b, DC 7528. A flat 100 through treatment, mandatory exam at six months, then residuals as voiding or renal dysfunction, whichever predominates. Incontinence is rated; so is loss of use of a creative organ, under SMC. Bladder cancer joined under the PACT Act.
4. SOFT TISSUE SARCOMA — 38 CFR 4.73, DC 5329. The entry is 100, through treatment, mandatory exam at six months, then residuals. Worth naming because sarcoma is often misfiled as an orthopedic problem and the presumptive line never drawn.
5. NON-HODGKIN’S LYMPHOMA — 38 CFR 4.117, DC 7715. 100% with active disease, in treatment, or in the indolent low-grade phase, and it holds for TWO YEARS after treatment stops: $94,525.92. Two more ride the same section — Hodgkin’s at DC 7709, and all chronic B-cell leukemias (hairy-cell, CLL) at DC 7703 — both six months. CLL is 0% while asymptomatic; active, the code says 100.
6. MULTIPLE MYELOMA — 38 CFR 4.117, DC 7712. Symptomatic myeloma is 100%, and the code says it continues FIVE YEARS after the diagnosis, not after treatment: $236,314.80, the longest window here. Same code, one caution: MGUS is presumptive under the PACT Act and rated 0%. On its own it pays nothing.
7. AL AMYLOIDOSIS — 38 CFR 4.117, DC 7717. The entire entry reads: AL amyloidosis (primary amyloidosis) — 100. No scale, no stage, no treatment phase, no six-month exam. VA may still schedule a routine future exam, as on any rating — but there is no criterion in 7717 to stop meeting. THE COUNT. Seven is the smaller number — the VA’s way it is ten, because prostate shares its code with bladder cancer and non-Hodgkin’s shares its section with Hodgkin’s and the leukemias. WHAT DOES NOT REACH 100. Parkinson’s is presumptive, but 38 CFR 4.124a DC 8004 carries a 30% minimum and no 100 — it goes high on residuals. Hypertension, presumptive under the PACT Act, tops out at 60% (4.104 DC 7101). MGUS is 0%.
Type 2 diabetes has a 100% step at 4.119 DC 7913, but only with stacked criteria. HOW THE 100 ENDS. A reduction is never silent: 38 CFR 3.105(e) requires a written proposal, 60 days to respond with evidence, and a hearing on request before it takes effect. The rating then moves to residuals. WHAT TO DO. Pull your rating decision, find the diagnostic code, and read it yourself on eCFR. If the code and your percentage disagree, take it to a free accredited VSO: your county, the DAV, the VFW, the American Legion.
SOURCES 38 CFR 3.309: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-38… VA Agent Orange conditions: https://www.va.gov/disability/eligibi…
38 CFR 4.104: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-38… 38 CFR 4.97: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-38… 38 CFR 4.115b: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-38…
38 CFR 4.117: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-38… VA compensation rates: https://www.va.gov/disability/compens…
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