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By Amanda Greenwood
Associate News Editor
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Some veterans who file future disability claims for sleep apnea or tinnitus could receive lower compensation under new legislation passed by the House on Veterans Day.
The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act, or H.R. 9237, cleared the House by voice vote on November 11. The wide-ranging package would change veterans’ health care, compensation, and other Department of Veterans Affairs programs, but it hasn't yet become law and would still require Senate approval and the president’s signature.
Section 108 of the bill would direct the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to revise its disability-rating criteria for sleep apnea and tinnitus. If enacted in its current form, the revisions would apply to claims filed on or after October 1, 2026, including some filed before enactment.
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What Would Change for Sleep Apnea Claims?
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For sleep apnea, the legislation would create four ratings.
Veterans would receive a 0 percent rating when the condition is without symptoms, regardless of whether it is being treated, and a 10 percent rating when treatment provides incomplete relief.
A 50 percent rating would be available only when treatment is ineffective, or when another medical condition, in the opinion of a qualified medical provider, directly impedes or prevents a veteran from using an ordinarily effective treatment, provided that the sleep apnea has not caused end-organ damage.
A 100 percent rating would require end-organ damage.
Those criteria would represent a significant change from the current schedule. Under existing federal regulations, sleep apnea requiring a breathing-assistance device such as a continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, machine qualifies for a 50 percent rating. Persistent daytime hypersomnolence (ongoing excessive sleepiness during the day) qualifies for 30 percent, while chronic respiratory failure with carbon dioxide retention, cor pulmonale (a form of right-sided heart failure caused by lung disease), or the need for a tracheostomy can qualify for 100 percent.
As a result, requiring a CPAP machine would no longer, by itself, satisfy the criteria for a 50 percent rating if the bill became law. A veteran whose treatment successfully controls the condition could potentially receive a lower rating than under the existing schedule.
How Tinnitus Benefits Would Change
The bill would also restrict compensation for tinnitus, commonly described as ringing or other sounds in the ears. Current regulations allow recurrent tinnitus to receive a standalone 10 percent rating, whether it is perceived in one ear, both ears, or the head. That rating may generally be combined with a separate evaluation for hearing loss or another condition.
Under H.R. 9237, tinnitus could generally no longer receive a separate compensable rating. The bill would preserve a 10 percent rating only when tinnitus is diagnosed as being associated with service-connected hearing loss that would otherwise receive a noncompensable 0 percent rating.
The package would also expand benefits, including allowing eligible combat-injured military retirees to receive military retirement pay alongside VA disability compensation.
Supporters describe the rating changes as offsets for the package’s costs. The Veterans of Foreign Wars opposes the legislation, arguing that it would cut earned benefits.
What Would This Mean for Veterans?
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What the changes would mean financially would vary from veteran to veteran. When a veteran has multiple service-connected disabilities, the VA uses a combined rating rather than simply adding the individual disability percentages together. As a result, for claims subject to the revised criteria, a lower sleep-apnea rating or the absence of a separate tinnitus rating could affect a veteran’s overall disability rating and compensation.
For context, the VA’s 2026 compensation table lists monthly payments of $180.42 for a 10 percent rating and $1,132.90 for a 50 percent rating for a veteran without dependents. These are total monthly compensation amounts at those overall ratings, not payments added separately for each condition. Actual differences from compensation under current criteria would vary because combined ratings, dependents, and other individual circumstances affect payment amounts.
When Would the Changes Take Effect?
The immediate takeaway for veterans is that no existing payment will change merely because the House passed the bill. If enacted in its current form, the revised criteria would apply to claims filed on or after October 1, 2026, including some filed before enactment. The bill separately protects compensation already in effect on the day before enactment from being reduced because of these revisions.
Newsweek has contacted the VA for comment.
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Ben Kelly and Mike Hirst.
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