If you are one of Wichita’s 14,443 veterans who do not have a service-connected disability rating and you think it’s because the VA turned down a claim it should have approved, Hill & Ponton lawyers can help you appeal that decision.
Or maybe you are one of the 5,068 Wichita veterans the Census counts as living with a rated disability, yet the percentage the VA assigned never matched the toll your condition takes day to day.
At Hill & Ponton, we stand with you. We are VA-accredited disability attorneys with over 30 years of experience and a unique focus on appeals for denied and short-changed veterans.
Don’t take our word for it, read the stories of the veterans we’ve helped. We’d be honored to assist you as well, and win the compensation you deserve.
Our Legal Services to Wichita Veterans
- Disability Compensation: We fight to secure the full monthly benefit a service-connected condition warrants, along with any retroactive back pay owed from the date your benefits should have started.
- VA Disability Appeals: If your claim was denied or rated too low, we step in and run the appeal from start to finish, reviewing the entire claims file, recovering records the VA overlooked, securing the medical opinions that were never gathered, then shaping the claim into what it should have been from the outset.
- Rating Increases: Disabilities tend to worsen over time. When yours has progressed since the VA last evaluated it, we document that change and pursue the higher rating, and the bigger monthly check, your current condition calls for.
- Special Monthly Compensation: If you have endured one of the most disabling injuries, such as an amputation, vision loss, or a housebound condition that demands daily aid, you may be entitled to compensation that exceeds the standard rating schedule through Special Monthly Compensation.
- Individual Unemployability: When your service-connected conditions make steady employment impossible, a combined rating under 100% can still be paid at the full 100% rate. We pull together the medical and vocational evidence a claim for TDIU relies on.
- DIC and Survivor Benefits: Should a service-connected illness prove fatal, a surviving spouse, child, or parent may qualify for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation and other support. We support families through every step of that claim with the compassion it calls for.
How VA Ratings Turn Into Monthly Pay
Every service-connected condition is rated in 10% increments, from 10% all the way to 100%, and that figure determines the size of your tax-free monthly payment. A higher rating means a larger check.
If you are service-connected for several conditions, the VA will not simply stack the percentages on top of one another. It feeds them through a combined-ratings formula instead, which is exactly why an accurate, well-supported filing carries so much weight.
To estimate what your particular mix of ratings should pay, run them through the VA disability calculator.
Here is what a single veteran with no dependents currently receives each month:
- 10%: $180.42
- 20%: $356.66
- 30%: $552.47
- 40%: $795.84
- 50%: $1,132.90
- 60%: $1,435.02
- 70%: $1,808.45
- 80%: $2,102.15
- 90%: $2,362.30
- 100%: $3,938.58
A spouse, children, or dependent parents will push these amounts higher, and the VA recalculates them each year to keep pace with the cost of living.
Beyond federal compensation, Wichita veterans may also be entitled to Kansas state benefits, which include certain tax exemptions that can lighten your financial load.
Work with us to get your Benefits
Winning Toxic Exposure Claims
Wichita has carried a heavy aviation and military presence for generations, and a few of those sites left contamination behind. Veterans who served at the military bases in the state (or elsewhere) and later came down with a serious illness could be eligible for compensation.
- Gilbert and Mosley site (central Wichita): A large plume of the industrial solvents PCE and TCE was discovered in the groundwater beneath downtown Wichita and is now managed under a city and state cleanup agreement. Veterans who lived or worked over this plume and developed an illness tied to solvent exposure may have a claim worth examining.
- McConnell Air Force Base (about four miles southeast of downtown Wichita): Decades of firefighting-foam use left the groundwater here heavily contaminated with the “forever chemicals” PFOS and PFOA. A 2021 Environmental Working Group analysis of Defense Department records logged a PFOS/PFOA reading of 471,000 parts per trillion at McConnell, one of the highest levels recorded at any military base in the country. Anyone stationed there who later developed a related illness should look closely at this exposure.
If your service took you through any of these places, or another base later tied to contamination, and you are now coping with a related illness, an earlier denial does not have to be the final answer. Over the years our attorneys have linked countless veterans’ diagnoses to the exposures responsible and won the benefits they deserved.
What Every Winning Claim Needs
The VA measures every claim against the same three-part standard. Let any one of the three run thin and the decision usually comes back denied.
- A current diagnosis – a licensed clinician, whether VA or private, must put in writing that you have the condition you are claiming now.
- An in-service cause – your file has to document an injury, illness, incident, or exposure in service that could plausibly have set off or aggravated the condition.
- A medical nexus – a qualified doctor must connect the two, affirming that your service is “at least as likely as not” the cause of the condition. This is the link where most claims collapse, and where solid medical proof makes the difference.
Our VA disability attorneys understand how the VA weighs evidence, where filing errors creep in, and how to present a claim so the rating finally reflects the life you are actually living.
Tell us about your case
When Does It Make Sense to Hire a VA Lawyer?
Many veterans file that first claim themselves, which is a great choice. But once the VA denies you, or returns a rating that has nothing to do with how hard your days actually are, it is worth bringing in experienced counsel to turn the decision around.
Our practice exists to steer veterans through a system that can feel intentionally confusing. When a claim gets stuck behind missing evidence or a ruling that makes no sense, we open the file, locate the breakdown, and reshape the case. That work has helped thousands of veterans across the country, and we are proud to do it for the Wichita community as well.
We track how VA disability law keeps shifting, from internal policy changes to rulings out of the appeals courts, and we put that knowledge to work chasing the higher ratings, unemployability awards, and special compensation you may have coming. When your rating is wrong, or the VA shuts you out completely, we are prepared to act.
Reviewing your case costs you nothing, and our fee is owed only if we win your claim. If a VA decision has you feeling left out, let us help you find the way in.
VA Resources in Wichita
- Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center – The anchor of the VA Wichita Health Care System, this full-service hospital offers primary, specialty, mental health, and emergency care, and shares its campus with a VA regional benefit office. 5500 East Kellogg Drive, Wichita, KS 67218. Phone: 316-685-2221
- Sedgwick County VA Clinic – A VA outpatient clinic focused on eye care and low-vision services, including ophthalmology and optometry. 949 South Glendale Street, Parklane Shopping Center, Wichita, KS 67218. Phone: 316-685-2221
- Wichita Vet Center – A community-based center providing confidential counseling for readjustment and PTSD, plus outreach that extends past routine medical care. 393 North McLean Boulevard, Wichita, KS 67203. Phone: 316-265-0889
- Wichita VA Regional Benefit Office – The VA benefits office for the region, where accredited service organizations and the Kansas Office of Veterans Services help veterans file and manage claims at no cost. 9111 East Douglas Avenue, Suite 200, Wichita, KS 67207. Kansas Office of Veterans Services: 1-800-513-7731
Assistance for Homeless Veterans
The 2024 Point-in-Time count for the Wichita and Sedgwick County area counted 43 veterans among the 691 people experiencing homelessness on a single January night. Veterans who have lost steady housing, or are sliding toward it, can draw on a mix of VA programs and local nonprofits aimed at lasting stability rather than a one-night bed.
VA Wichita Health Care runs the region’s homeless veteran services through the Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center, combining HUD-VASH vouchers with VA case management and adding Health Care for Homeless Veterans and Grant and Per Diem transitional beds. Veterans can also be steered toward mental health and substance use treatment and support returning to work.
Time and again we have watched a stalled or wrongly denied disability check sit at the heart of a household’s housing crisis. This is why, at Hill & Ponton, we make homeless and at-risk veterans a priority.
Has the VA delayed your benefits, turned you down, or handed you a rating that runs too low? Hill & Ponton can help you push back. There is nothing to pay up front, and we collect a fee only when your appeal succeeds. Get in touch and we will review your claim at no cost.