A few highlights from an October 29, 2024, VA press release which can be found in its entirety here.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced it delivered more care and more benefits to more Veterans than ever before in fiscal year 2024 — exceeding last year’s record totals.
These outcomes for the nation’s Veterans build on continued efforts by VA and the Biden-Harris Administration’s Unity Agenda to expand and improve care and benefits for those who served, much of which has been made possible by the PACT Act — the largest expansion of VA health care and benefits in generations.
Providing more world-class health care to Veterans: VA delivered more than 127.5 million health care appointments, representing a 6% increase over last year’s record. During this fiscal year, wait times decreased and VA health care outperformed non-VA care on independent reviews for patient satisfaction and care quality.
Delivering more earned benefits to more Veterans: VA delivered $187 billion in benefits (including $173 billion in compensation and pension benefits) to 6.7 million Veterans and survivors this year — all of which are all-time records. VA also processed 2,517,519 disability benefit claims, a 27% increase over last year’s all-time record.
Earning Veteran Trust: Veteran trust in VA reached 80.4% this year, an all-time record and an increase of 25% since 2016. Veteran trust in VA health care also reached 92%, another record.
Encouraging Veterans to apply for health care and benefits under the PACT Act: Thanks to the largest outreach campaign in VA history under the PACT Act, more than 796,000 Veterans have enrolled in VA health care since the PACT Act was signed into law — a nearly 37% increase over the previous equivalent period; VA has received 4,414,334 claims for disability compensation benefits over the past two fiscal years — a 29.8% increase over the two years prior; and 913,459 Veterans have upgraded their priority groups, making them eligible for care with fewer copays.
Supporting Veterans in crisis: VA provided no-cost emergency health care to more than 50,000 Veterans in acute suicidal crises. Additionally, the Veterans Crisis Line is supporting more Veterans than ever, receiving 1,123,591 million calls, texts, and chats — surpassing last year by 12%.
Moving forward, VA will continue to aggressively reach out to and engage Veterans to encourage them to come to VA for the care and benefits they have earned.
Brad Anderson and Melissa Crandall are the Lake County Veterans Service Officers and can be reached at 218.834.8326 or cvso@co.lake.mn.us
Karen Christianson is the Cook County Veterans Service Officer and can be reached at 218.387.3639, or karen.christianson@co.cook.mn.us
