What is the VA rating for Tuberculosis?

The eCFR header 'DISEASES OF THE LUNGS AND PLEURA-TUBERCULOSIS' splits into two subheadings by a single dividing line: entitlement on or before August 19, 1968 (the legacy system, DC 6701-6704/6721-6724, a closed population protected by Public Law 90-493), or initially evaluated after that date (the modern system, DC 6730-6732, which governs any current claim).

• A veteran filing a tuberculosis claim today is virtually always evaluated under the modern system (DC 6730-6732), not the legacy system.
• The legacy system's active codes (DC 6701-6704) are flat 100 percent, identical to the modern system's DC 6730 -- the real complexity in the legacy system is entirely on the inactive side (DC 6721-6724's graduated formula).
• Both regimes are part of the same eCFR section and citation bracket; neither is more or less authoritative, they simply apply to different entitlement dates.

Records to review: Tuberculosis DBQ; records establishing entitlement date.

DC 6721-6724 share one 'General Rating Formula for Inactive Pulmonary Tuberculosis': 100 percent for 2 years, 50 percent for the next 4 years (to year 6), 30 percent for the next 5 years (to year 11), then generally 0 percent -- except two permanent floors: 30 percent if lesions were ever far advanced while active, or 20 percent (with continued disability) if moderately advanced.

• This is a genuinely time-based formula -- the same lesion-severity label can rate differently over time as the graduated steps pass, which is structurally different from every other respiratory formula in this repository (all of which are pulmonary-function or symptom-based, not time-based).
• Note (1) states the 100 percent rating is not conditioned on precedent hospital treatment, but can be reduced to 50 percent for failure to submit to examination or follow prescribed treatment -- disclosed, not automated, since it is a procedural compliance rule, not a clinical finding.
• Note (2) states the graduated 50/30 percent ratings and the permanent 30/20 percent floors cannot be combined with other respiratory disabilities, and separately addresses thoracoplasty (rated as rib removal combined with collapsed lung) -- disclosed, not automated, matching the section 4.96(a)-style disclosure already used across this repository's respiratory hubs.

Records to review: Tuberculosis DBQ; records documenting date of inactivity and lesion severity history.

DC 6731's entire content is a redirect: 'Depending on the specific findings, rate residuals as interstitial lung disease, restrictive lung disease, or, when obstructive lung disease is the major residual, as chronic bronchitis (DC 6600).' All three targets are separate, already-live RatingScope hubs.

• RatingScope does not auto-compute a result from this redirect -- doing so would require each target hub's own distinct facts (pulmonary function values, diagnosis labels), which this hub does not collect.
• If your records document a specific residual condition following inactive tuberculosis, review the matching hub directly: Interstitial Lung Disease, Restrictive Lung Disease, or Trachea and Bronchi (for the chronic-bronchitis path specifically).
• DC 6731's own Note adds a mandatory examination requirement immediately following the DC 6730-to-inactive transition, with any evaluation change carried out under 38 CFR 3.105(e) -- a Part 3 procedural provision, disclosed only, outside this hub's scope.
• This is the same disclosure discipline already established for other cross-hub redirects in this repository (for example, Heart Conditions' DC 7004/DC 7008) -- never silently dispatched into another hub's own facts.

Records to review: Tuberculosis DBQ; mandatory VA examination records documenting the specific residual finding.

DC 6732's entire content is: 'Rate under §§ 4.88c or 4.89, whichever is appropriate.' This is the same closed, historical, pre-1968 TB-pension provision already documented elsewhere in this repository (for example, Larynx/Pharynx's DC 6515).

• Sections 4.88c and 4.89 govern a narrow, closed population of veterans whose non-pulmonary tuberculosis entitlement was established before August 19, 1968, tied to a repealed statute (Public Law 90-493).
• Sections 4.88c and 4.89 were sourced verbatim under RSCH-091 (2026-08-19), closing a gap re-disclosed six times across this repository since RSCH-039. There is still no live RatingScope hub computing a result from either section -- this remains disclosed as out of scope, not built, pending a separate future build pass for the confirmed dispatch instances (including this one).
• Unlike DC 6731's redirect, this one has no already-live target hub to link to -- it is disclosure-only context, not a navigable cross-link.
• Correction (2026-08-19): this topic previously cited 'Larynx/Pharynx's DC 6515 and DC 6521, and Liver's DC 7331' as already-documented instances of this same pattern elsewhere in the repository. DC 6521 is unrelated -- it is an independently-rated flat 50 percent pharynx-injury code with no §4.88c/89 dispatch of any kind, confirmed by a dedicated verbatim re-check (RSCH-053) in the Larynx/Pharynx hub itself. DC 7331 (Peritonitis, tuberculous) is genuinely real and does carry the same §4.88b/89 dispatch shape (confirmed under RSCH-091), but it was never actually built or disclosed anywhere in the Liver Conditions hub -- both citations were corrected here rather than left standing.

Records to review: Historical entitlement records.

DC 6730's Note lists five circumstances under which active pulmonary tuberculosis will be considered permanently and totally disabling for NON-SERVICE-CONNECTED PENSION purposes -- a distinct VA benefit from service-connected disability compensation, which is what this hub otherwise covers.

• Pension eligibility and compensation-rating percentage are two different benefit determinations under different authorities -- this Note does not change DC 6730's flat 100 percent compensation rating in any way.
• The five listed circumstances (TB involving other than the respiratory system; severe associated symptoms or extensive cavity formation; reactivated cases generally; advancement of lesions on successive exams or under treatment; lack of material improvement after 6 months hospitalization or lack of a diagnosis change after 12 months) are disclosed here as context only, never modeled as evaluator facts.

Records to review: Hospitalization and treatment records, for pension-eligibility purposes only.

38 CFR 4.96(a) states that ratings under diagnostic codes 6600 through 6817 and 6822 through 6847 will not be combined with each other; a single rating is assigned under whichever code reflects the predominant disability, with possible elevation to the next higher tier. This hub's DC 6701-6732 range falls within that 6600-6817 span. Section 4.96(a) also carries one further exception naming tuberculosis specifically: 'in cases protected by the provisions of Pub. L. 90-493, the graduated ratings of 50 and 30 percent for inactive tuberculosis will not be elevated.'

• The general non-combination rule is the same disclosure already established for Trachea and Bronchi, Restrictive Lung Disease, Mycotic Lung Disease, and Interstitial Lung Disease -- reused here since section 4.96(a) names DC 6701-6817 as part of the covered range.
• The Pub. L. 90-493 exception applies specifically to this hub's own legacy DC 6721-6724 formula's 50 percent and 30 percent graduated inactive-tuberculosis steps -- those two tiers are explicitly exempt from the elevation mechanism that otherwise applies across this whole respiratory range, per section 4.96(a)'s own text (verified verbatim against eCFR and Cornell LII, 2026-08-02).
• If a veteran has more than one respiratory diagnosis documented at once, the general rule determines which single code is used, not RatingScope.

Records to review: treatment records documenting each diagnosis; clinician assessment of predominant disability.