If your veteran needs you every day — the meds, the safety, getting through the afternoon — VA may owe more than 100%. It's called Special Monthly Compensation. Most families have never heard of it.
You don't need to know what any of the VA letters mean. If you recognize your family on this list, that's enough to call.
Special Monthly Compensation is extra, tax-free VA pay for veterans who need another person's help to get through the day. It sits above the 100% rate. For a brain injury, the level is called SMC-T — one of the highest monthly rates VA pays.
Nobody at the hospital handles it, and most representatives never ask for it. So families do the work of a care facility — the meds, the supervision, the falls at 2 a.m. — and VA never pays for it, because nobody put it in front of them.
| Veteran with a spouse, 2026 | Per month |
|---|---|
| 100% rating | $4,158 |
| SMC-L (aid and attendance) | $5,120 |
| SMC-T (TBI, needs daily help at home) | $11,491 |
VA decides the level — the records have to show the need. Rates from va.gov, effective December 1, 2025.*
If you were denied an increase, SMC was probably never claimed — so this isn't a third try at the same thing. If you were denied SMC-T itself because the care came from you instead of a licensed professional, that rule is no longer law.† The help you give is the help the law means.
Book a free call about a past denialI'm Jerome Spearman, a registered nurse and VA-accredited claims agent. I've been a nurse since 2009 — military trauma, neurosurgery, orthopedics, the operating room. During Iraq and Afghanistan I cared for the wounded at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, where TBI casualties came first.
SMC-T claims are won in the medical record. I don't hand that record to an outside expert; I read it myself, the way VA's reviewers do, and I find what proves the level of care your veteran needs. SMC-T is the only kind of claim I handle.
I'm a one-person practice. When you call, you get me — on the first call and on every one after it.
Tell me about your veteran. If you have the rating decision handy, great. If not, I'll find it. I'll need to speak with your veteran too — we'll pick a time of day that works for them.
With your authorization I get the VA file, read it as a nurse, and map out exactly what proves SMC-T. Your statement about what you do each day to keep your veteran home is a key piece of that case.
My fee is 20% of back pay, paid by VA directly from the award — only if we win. If we don't win, you owe nothing.
Get the short checklist — Does your veteran qualify for SMC? — five yes/no questions you can answer tonight. Enter your email and it opens right away.
Free. No obligation. No paperwork to start. The first call can be just you — your veteran doesn't have to be on it. I'll call you back within one business day.