[Music] hello from cck law I'm Ethan Mucklebower and I'm here with my colleague Brandon Piva today we're going to talk about special monthly compensation special monthly compensation or SMC is a type of VA compensation for especially serious medical situations that are caused by military service SMC pays at a higher rate than regular VA disability compensation so for example the standard amount for a veteran rated 100% with no dependence per month is about $3,800 but SMC can go as high as almost $1,000 per month there are several different types of SMC and today we're going to focus on smcr which is specifically for veterans who require aid and attendance so Brandon can you can you start by defining what VA means by Aid in attendance sure thing so Ana or Aid in attendance is a medical circumstance where a veteran requires regular care from another person in order to carry out the activities of daily living um specifically there are two levels of smcr there's SMC R1 and smc2 so very generally speaking SMC R1 is typically given if a veteran's Aid an attendance can be performed by a non-medical professional such as a family member or a spouse who is living with the veteran who needs the assistance with his or her activities of daily living conversely smc1 is a little bit different in that the care that's provided to the veteran who requires the aid in attendance must be performed by a licensed Medical Professional so SMC R1 is done typically by a veteran spouse or a family memb is providing the care whereas at SMC R2 it's the higher level of care that's actually needed by somebody who is licensed um as a medical professional yeah so you mentioned needing assistance to carry out activities of daily living can you give some examples of what types of activities of daily living and the types of assistance that would qualify Veterans for smcr absolutely so we'll talk about some typical activities of of daily living but one thing I do want to share off the top before running through the list of of what are ADLs or activities of daily living in order to qualify for SMC at the r level you don't necessarily need to require assistance in all of these areas in order to qualify for this benefit so these are just typically some examples you can expect when we're talking about ADLs or activities of daily living uh so activities of daily living very generally speaking are uh getting dressed if a vener needs assistance with getting dressed you know whether it's dressing or undressing putting on buttons taking sort of pants off and sort of things of of that nature bathing and maintaining his or her personal hygiene preparing meals and even eating those meals using the restroom adjusting a prosthetic or an orthopedic appliance that others would be able to manage typically alone like a knee brace back brace or sort of things like that other common situations that can lead to SMC at the r level or if a veteran's mental disability requires another person to protect them from hazard in their daily environment typically when we're talking about aid and attendance we tend to really focus on a lot of the physical acts of Performing activities of daily living but you can qualify at the smcr level for Aid in attendance even if you suffer from a psychiatric disability so for instance even if the veteran is veteran meaning that their medical condition is so severe that he or she required is was required to be in bed indefinitely and bedridden um this does not really apply to Temporary bed rest like recovering from uh a surgery typically we're referring to things like fall risk or or even medication Management in some of those circumstances yeah so for veterans who do require assistance with at least one of those activities how would someone go about filing a claim for smcr that's a great question and this is one of the parts of the VA process where or or one of the claims rather that's part of the VA process where there is a very specific form that one would need to fill out in order to qualify for this specific benefit so in this circumstance in order to apply for an attendance or SMC at the R1 or or at the r level rather you should fill out what's called a VA form 21-2680 so VA form 21-2680 this form is called Examination for housebound status or permanent need for regular aid and attendance now you will need to include evidence supporting your claim if you're applying for an attendance and trying to seek compensation at the r level an example of some of these pieces of supporting evidence can include a doctor's report that will specifically note that you need assistance for your activities of daily living like the examples that we had sort of just spoken about a few minutes ago it is also a good idea to include any lay statements from yourself or even family members or even your caregiver if you have one at that point in time specifically speaking to what do they do for you uh on a daily basis what are the sort of um issues or sort of shortcomings that you experience when it comes to trying to complete your ADLs this is really going to help VA kind show your how your illness your injury or your mental or physical disability affects your ability to really function and do things on your own we do want to make sure that veterans who are seeking this type of benefit we want to make sure that you're aware that VA May often and Al more often than not will request a compensation and pension exam or a CMP exam in order to confirm the need for Aiden attendance at this level so once you file the form and you submit some evidence to support your claim for Aiden attendance you may expect or you should expect rather to have some sort of examination be scheduled sometime within the near future in order for VA to sort of compare the evidence that you're providing with them with the physical examination as well yeah thanks Brandon so once a veteran goes through this whole process and they're approved for smcr R1 or R2 what can they expect in terms of monthly disability compensation sure thing that's a good question because just as Ethan had said during the opening of this video SMC at the r level or even any other levels of SMC can can pay a pretty good amount as far as the difference between what you're receiving your regular service connected disability pay for your combined disability compared to what you could be be sort of compensated at any of the SMC levels specifically for SMC at the R1 level a veteran with no dependence per month will receive $955 122 at the smc2 level you're receiving a little bit more monthly compensation in that SMC R2 monthly pays at $1,964 66 so just as Ethan had sort of giv G you the 100% kind of combined disability uh payment at the beginning of the video SMC at the R1 and R2 level are more than double the amount of monthly compensation yeah so you can see like Brandon said there is a lot at stake if you are eligible for these benefits so one question we get occasionally is about the enhanced pension program that VA offers which considers some of the same factors as SMC so what is the difference between an enhanced pension and SMC at the R rate and can you get both of those benefits that's a really good question in short you can't receive both benefits enhanced pension is needs based and that would really offset the service connected payment you're receiving for SMC at the r level you must choose either enhanced pension or smcr if you find that you're in a circumstance where you may qualify for both but do know that you can't get both and they would definitely offset one another it's sort of one of the ways that the VA will Pro you know try to prevent any sort of double dipping so to speak yeah so something else that comes up often from veterans uh VA also offers SMC at the T rate so could you tell me what the difference is between SMC at the r rate and smct so this is something that's really interesting and something that is still kind of fairly new uh that's that's still sort of out there speaking specifically about SMC at at the T level smct specific specifically is for veterans with traumatic brain injuries that are so severe that they require the need for aid and attendance so what really makes smct different from smcr whether it's SMC R1 or R2 is that it pays at the same level as SMC R2 so smct pays at the same level of SMC at the R2 level which is the the higher between R1 and R2 however smct it only has really some the requirements that you have to meet at the SMC R1 level in other words you don't need to be bedridden order in order to require a medical professional to qualify just regular care from another person because of your service connected tbii so to speak if you want more information we have some blog post and some information that's out there kind of explaining the differences between smcr and smct so definitely kind of take a look at that stuff as well yeah thanks Brandon that's super helpful so as you can probably tell SMC special monthly compensation is one of the more difficult and Technical types of VA benefits that they offer however it does pay out quite a bit of monthly compensation so if you're actually researching or thinking about filing an SMC claim if you go to cck-law.com and you can also find some information about smct in particular and some of the higher rates that they pay out you can also feel free to contact us at any time to request a free case evaluation to see what you may be eligible for so please feel free to like subscribe and comment with your questions about smcr or SMC in general thanks for listening and take care [Music]