A month ago we wrote that the
rating schedule rewrite had a deadline. The deadline was September 30. It passed without final rules.

In January, the VA told Congress it expected to publish final regulations for the respiratory and auditory body systems by the end of fiscal year 2026. Those are the rules that would rewrite how sleep apnea and tinnitus get rated, the same criteria at the center of
the concurrent receipt fight. As of this week,
a VA spokesman told Newsweek that no changes are planned or imminent, that the department is still working through significant public comment, and that the 2022 proposal would need significant changes before it could be finalized. The House Veterans' Affairs Committee chairman now expects completion by the end of 2026 or early 2027 at the earliest.
What "missed" means here
Nothing punitive. A projection given to Congress isn't a legal deadline, and agencies blow through rulemaking timelines constantly. What the miss tells you is where the work stands: the proposal drew enough comment, and enough opposition, that the department isn't ready to finalize it in the form it was proposed. The line about needing significant changes is the useful one. It means the rule that eventually issues may look different from the 2022 draft veterans have been reading about for four years.
For the two conditions everyone watches: the proposed sleep apnea criteria would have shifted toward rating on how well treatment controls symptoms, which for a CPAP-managed veteran could mean a rating far below the current 50 percent. The proposed auditory changes would have reworked the standalone tinnitus rating. Neither is final. Neither has a date.
What this opens
The window we described three weeks ago is still open, and now it's open longer.
Claims decided under the current schedule are decided under the current schedule. If you have documented sleep apnea, tinnitus, or another condition in the respiratory or auditory systems and you haven't filed, the criteria in force when your decision issues are the criteria you get. A delay in the rewrite is more time to file under rules you understand.
Existing ratings still carry their protections. We've written about
what protects a rating you already hold, and nothing about a stalled rulemaking weakens those.
The mental disorders and neurological proposals are stalled too. They get less coverage and reach far more veterans. Anyone rated for PTSD, depression, anxiety, migraines, or a seizure disorder has a stake in criteria that also haven't been finalized.
What to watch
The Federal Register, not the news. When a final rule publishes, it comes with an effective date and, usually, language about how pending claims are handled. That's the document that changes anything. Until it appears, projections from the department or the committee are estimates, and the last one was wrong by at least a quarter.
And watch the legislative track separately. Congress could still act on rating criteria through the concurrent receipt package regardless of what the regulatory process does, and the two tracks don't wait for each other.
Where we come in
We're a veteran-led firm, and rating criteria fights happen under whatever schedule is in force on decision day. If you've been holding a sleep apnea or tinnitus claim waiting to see what happens, the answer for now is that nothing happened, and that's a reason to file rather than keep waiting.
Reach out and let's get it in under today's rules.
