If you’re one of the 4,063 Worcester veterans counted in the five-year Census estimates with no service-connected disability rating, and a VA decision that went the wrong way is to blame…
Or if you’re one of the 1,156 Worcester veterans who does have a VA rating, but yours stops far short of what living with the condition actually costs…
You’re the reason Hill & Ponton exists. We are a law firm specialized in disability law and we focus on appeals for veterans the VA denied or underrated.
Our VA-accredited disability lawyers know which errors kill a claim, which evidence decides a rating, and how to supply what a veteran’s file lacks to win. If you served your country and are now fighting for recognition and fair compensation, Hill & Ponton is ready to stand with you.
How We Serve Worcester Veterans
- Disability Compensation: We fight both for the monthly payment going forward and the back pay that has piled up since the claim should have been granted.
- VA Disability Appeals: Our involvement begins with the denial. We reopen the file, supply the medical proof and expert opinions it was missing, and argue it to a decision.
- Rating Increases: Percentages set years ago rarely describe a condition today. We document how far it has progressed and pursue the tier that matches.
- Special Monthly Compensation: Amputation, blindness or reliance on another person to get through the day can support Special Monthly Compensation, which goes over and above the standard disability rates.
- Individual Unemployability: Service-connected conditions that have ended a working life can bring TDIU and its 100% payment rate, whatever the combined percentage says. We assemble the work history and medical opinion behind it and craft a winning legal argument.
- DIC and Survivor Benefits: A death the VA should connect to service opens a claim for the spouse, children or dependent parents left behind. Our lawyers pursue DIC (Dependency and Indemnity Compensation), accrued benefits, and everything else the family is entitled to receive.
What Does a Rating Pay?
Each service-connected condition is rated a percentage between 0 and 100, in increments of 10, and multiple conditions have their ratings combined into the total that determines the monthly payment.
However, VA math shrinks each condition added after the first, which is why a combined rating so often disappoints (test your own figures with the VA disability calculator).
Current monthly amounts for a veteran with no dependents:
- 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
Additionally, Massachusetts offers its own veterans benefits, which include the state’s veteran annuity that pays $2,500 a year to a Massachusetts resident whom the VA compensates at the 100% rate (through either a standard rating or TDIU).
Work with us to get your Benefits
Claiming Toxic Exposure at Fort Devens or Other Contaminated Bases
Part of a contaminated former Army post lies inside Worcester County, and veterans who served at any of the sites below (or any other toxic military bases) may have an exposure claim worth filing.
- Fort Devens: The former post spreads across Ayer, Shirley, Lancaster and Harvard, the last two of them Worcester County towns, and the EPA has listed it on the National Priorities List since 1989. It has been assessed for arsenic in the groundwater, PFAS and several heavy metals.
- Fort Devens Sudbury Training Annex: The post’s outlying annex across Hudson, Stow, Maynard and Sudbury, where operational wastes reached the soil and groundwater and PFAS later surfaced at two former areas of contamination.
- Hanscom Air Force Base: Listed in 1994, with 22 possible contamination sources counted on Air Force land, running from old fire-training areas through discarded waste oils, solvents and degreasers to fuel handling. A PFAS investigation opened in 2022.
The Three Elements Behind Every Successful Claim
- A condition you have now – current records from a doctor, VA or private, naming the diagnosis.
- Something that happened in uniform – the injury, illness or exposure, established by service records or credible statements.
- The medical bridge between them – a qualified opinion putting service “at least as likely as not” behind the condition. This is the element that sinks the most claims.
Service connection depends on all three: if one of them is missing, the claim will usually be denied. Our VA disability attorneys can find the thin proof quickly and know the record or the expert to fix it.
Tell us about your case
When a Disability Lawyer Changes the Odds
The initial claim is one many Worcester veterans can handle alone. But if that initial claim is denied, everything shifts. The VA appeals process is confusing and time-consuming, with strict deadlines and evolving rules that are hard to keep up with.
Hill & Ponton disability lawyers track VA rulings and changes in the law that can help our clients. Reviewing your claim costs nothing, and a fee only ever comes out of a win. Tell us your story and we’ll point you in the right direction even if we don’t take the case.
VA Services for Worcester Veterans
- City of Worcester Veterans’ Services – The municipal office that provides financial aid, reimbursement of medical costs and referrals for housing, health care, employment and education. City Hall Room 101, 455 Main Street, Worcester, MA 01608. Phone: 508-799-1041
- Worcester VA Clinic – Worcester’s own VA outpatient clinic, handling primary and specialty care under VA Central Western Massachusetts. 403 Belmont Street, 1st Floor, Worcester, MA 01604. VA Central Western Massachusetts main line: 413-584-4040
- Plantation Street VA Clinic – Worcester’s second VA clinic. 377 Plantation Street, Biotech Building 4, Worcester, MA 01605. VA Central Western Massachusetts main line: 413-584-4040
- Edward P. Boland VA Medical Center – The parent medical center for the Worcester clinics, in Leeds. 421 North Main Street, Leeds, MA 01053. VA Central Western Massachusetts main line: 413-584-4040
- Worcester Vet Center – No-cost, private counseling on combat stress, military sexual trauma and coming home, held outside the VA medical record. 255 Park Avenue, Suite 900, Worcester, MA 01609. Phone: 508-753-7902
Support for Veterans Losing Their Housing
The Worcester City and County Continuum of Care counted 77 veterans among 2,864 people without stable housing in its 2025 Point-in-Time count, taken on 29 January. But many more could be at risk.
VA Central Western Massachusetts homeless veteran care answers veterans’ needs with HUD-VASH rental vouchers and case management, Grant and Per Diem transitional beds, Health Care for Homeless Veterans outreach, and treatment for addiction and mental health conditions.
At Hill & Ponton, we know that a great many housing crises are caused by a benefit the VA owed and never paid. We prioritize veterans dealing with housing insecurity or unemployment, and don’t charge anything for taking a case. Contact our disability lawyers today for a free evaluation of your VA claim.
Meet Our Expert Legal Team
VA disability lawyers and professionals championing veterans in Worcester, Massachusetts, and beyond.
Let Us Fight For Your Benefits
Need help appealing a VA decision? Contact our VA disability lawyers for a free evaluation of your claim.