Type 2 Diabetes VA Rating: Live DC 7913 Criteria

Agent Orange is a service-connection door for type 2 diabetes if the exposure presumption fits. It is not a DC 7913 percentage.

Service connection and evaluation are different jobs

VA.gov currently lists diabetes mellitus type 2 as an Agent Orange presumptive disease. Live 38 CFR 3.309(e) lists it too, as "Type 2 diabetes (also known as Type II diabetes mellitus or adult-onset diabetes)." That match is clean, unlike hypertension.

If you have qualifying herbicide service (Vietnam, Korea DMZ, Thailand, or another current VA.gov location and date window) and a current type 2 diagnosis, the nexus fight is the presumption. If you do not have that service, diabetes is an ordinary direct or secondary claim. The one-year chronic list in 3.309(a) includes "diabetes mellitus," which can matter if it manifested to a compensable degree within a year of separation. Most type 2 claims are not one-year claims.

None of that sets the percentage. The percentage is 7913.

Live DC 7913 percentages

Fetched from 38 CFR 4.119, DC 7913, eCFR issue date 2026-08-10.

7913 Diabetes mellitus

Live notes:

• Note (1): Evaluate compensable complications of diabetes separately unless they are part of the criteria used to support a 100-percent evaluation. Noncompensable complications are considered part of the diabetic process under DC 7913.
• Note (2): When diabetes mellitus has been conclusively diagnosed, do not request a glucose tolerance test solely for rating purposes.

Read the 20 and the 40 next to each other. Insulin plus restricted diet is 20. The 40 adds regulation of activities. Oral agent plus restricted diet is also 20. Diet only is 10. That is the whole lower half of the table. A lot of veterans are at 20 and being told they "should be 60" because they take insulin. The live 60 is insulin, diet, regulation of activities, plus a specific episode-and-visit pattern, plus noncompensable complications.

There is no 80. If a website walks you from 60 to 80 like a video-game quest, it is not reading this code.

What "regulation of activities" means in this code

The 100 percent row defines the parenthetical: avoidance of strenuous occupational and recreational activities. The 40 and 60 rows use the same phrase. It is not "I try to walk after dinner." It is a medical restriction on activities because of the diabetes.

Camacho v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 360 (2007), is the case raters and representatives still cite for this. The Court treated regulation of activities as a medical finding that the veteran must avoid strenuous activities, not as a self-imposed gym preference. I am citing the case as context, not as a promise. The live schedule text is the parenthetical on the 100 percent row.

If the treatment notes never say the veteran must avoid strenuous activity, the 40 percent row is a hard climb. A C&P examiner who checks "no regulation of activities" is not being cruel. They are reading the table.

Episodes and visits are counted, not vibed

The 60 and 100 rows are arithmetic.

60 wants:

• One or more daily insulin injections
• Restricted diet
• Regulation of activities
• Episodes of ketoacidosis or hypoglycemic reactions requiring one or two hospitalizations per year or twice-a-month visits to a diabetic care provider
• Plus complications that would not be compensable if separately evaluated

100 wants more insulin (more than one daily injection), the same diet and regulation language, heavier episode frequency (at least three hospitalizations a year or weekly provider visits), and either progressive loss of weight and strength or complications that would be compensable if separately evaluated.

"I had a low blood sugar once and ate a candy bar" is not a hospitalization. A routine primary-care visit for a refill is not a twice-a-month diabetic-care visit. If the 60 is the row you think you are in, the file needs dates.

Complications are separate ratings when they are compensable

Note (1) is the part of 7913 that actually changes combined math.

If diabetic peripheral neuropathy, retinopathy, nephropathy, or skin complications meet their own compensable criteria, they are usually rated under those codes, not stuffed into 7913. The exception is the 100 percent row, which can use compensable complications as part of its own criteria. You do not get to use the same complication both as the 100 percent fuel and as a standalone rating. That is 4.14, and Note (1) says it.

Noncompensable complications stay inside 7913. They can matter at the 60 percent row, which specifically asks for complications that would not be compensable if separately evaluated. They do not invent a new 7913 percentage by themselves.

This is why "diabetes plus feet plus eyes plus kidneys" is not a 7913 100 by slogan. It is a Note (1) analysis plus whatever those other codes actually pay.

Evidence that belongs in the file

• The diagnosis (type 2, not a random glucose note).
• Current treatment: diet only, oral agent, insulin, and how many daily injections.
• A clinician statement about regulation of activities, if that is the 40/60/100 theory.
• Hospitalization dates for ketoacidosis or hypoglycemia.
• Visit frequency to a diabetic care provider, with dates.
• Complication workups: monofilament testing, eye exams, eGFR, wounds. Rate those under their own codes when they are compensable.
• Herbicide service evidence if the AO door is the service-connection theory.

A pump photo is not a 40. The 40 is insulin, diet, and regulation of activities.

What the C&P actually measures

The diabetes mellitus exam is a treatment-and-complication exam. The examiner is supposed to record:

• How the diabetes is managed (diet, oral, insulin, injection frequency).
• Whether activity is medically regulated.
• Episodes of ketoacidosis or hypoglycemia, and what they required.
• How often the veteran sees a diabetic care provider.
• Weight and strength change.
• Eyes, nerves, kidneys, skin, and other complications, so those can be evaluated separately if compensable.

A1C is useful medical information. It is not a 7913 row. The schedule does not assign 40 percent for an A1C of any particular number.

No magic words. "Regulation of activities" is a medical restriction, not a phrase you drop into a statement to unlock a tier.

Agent Orange, without turning this into a location post

If the service-connection theory is herbicide exposure, use the current VA.gov location and date rules. Korea DMZ and Thailand are in the companion post. Do not treat "Vietnam-era" as a location. The disease is on both VA.gov and live 3.309(e). The percentage is still 7913.

Quick answers

Does insulin automatically mean 40 percent?

No. Insulin plus restricted diet is the 20 percent row, unless the oral-agent clause is the one that applies. The 40 adds regulation of activities.

Is there an 80 percent diabetes rating?

Not on live DC 7913. The live rows are 10, 20, 40, 60, and 100.

Do I need a glucose tolerance test for the rating?

Note (2) says that once diabetes is conclusively diagnosed, do not request a GTT solely for rating purposes.

Are neuropathy and eye problems part of the 20 percent?

Compensable complications are evaluated separately under Note (1), unless they are being used to support a 100 percent 7913 evaluation. Noncompensable complications stay with the diabetic process.

Is type 2 diabetes an Agent Orange presumptive?

Yes on current VA.gov, and yes on live 38 CFR 3.309(e). You still need qualifying exposure or another service-connection path, and you still need the 7913 facts for the percentage.

Can I jump from 20 to 60 by adding a complication?

Not as a recipe. The 60 has its own episode-and-visit requirements plus noncompensable complications. A compensable complication is usually a separate code, not a 7913 elevator.

Sources

• 38 CFR 4.119, DC 7913: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-38/part-4/section-4.119
• 38 CFR 3.309(e): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-38/part-3/section-3.309
• 38 CFR 4.14: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-38/part-4/section-4.14
• VA.gov Agent Orange list (includes diabetes mellitus type 2): https://www.va.gov/disability/eligibility/hazardous-materials-exposure/agent-orange/
• VA Public Health, diabetes mellitus type 2 and Agent Orange: https://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/conditions/diabetes.asp

Educational content only. Not legal or medical advice. Confirm against the veteran's actual notice and current eCFR / VA.gov. For claim-specific help, use a VA-accredited VSO, claims agent, or attorney.