United States Department of Veterans Affairs
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing lifelong healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers and outpatient clinics located throughout the country. Non-healthcare benefits include disability compensation, vocational rehabilitation, education assistance, home loans, and life insurance. The VA also provides burial and memorial benefits to eligible veterans and family members at 135 national cemeteries.
"Department of Veterans Affairs" redirects here. For other uses, see Veterans Affairs.Agency overview
March 15, 1989
- Veterans' Administration
Veteran Affairs Building
810 Vermont Avenue NW
Washington, D.C., U.S.
38°54′04″N 77°02′06″W / 38.90111°N 77.03500°W
412,892 (June 2020)
FY2022: $112.2 billion (appropriated)
FY2023: $301.4 billion (requested)
- Denis McDonough, Secretary
- Tanya J. Bradsher, Deputy Secretary
- Michael J. Missal[1], Inspector General
While veterans' benefits have been provided by the federal government since the American Revolutionary War, a veteran-specific federal agency was not established until 1930, as the Veterans' Administration. In 1982, its mission was expanded to include caring for civilians and people who were not veterans in case of a national emergency.[2] In 1989, the Veterans' Administration became a cabinet-level Department of Veterans Affairs. The president appoints the secretary of veterans affairs, who is also a cabinet member, to lead the agency.[3][4]
As of June 2020, the VA employed 412,892 people[5] at hundreds of Veterans Affairs medical facilities, clinics, benefits offices, and cemeteries. In Fiscal Year 2016 net program costs for the department were $273 billion, which includes the VBA Actuarial Cost of $106.5 billion for compensation benefits.[6][7] The long-term "actuarial accrued liability" (total estimated future payments for veterans and their family members) is $2.491 trillion for compensation benefits; $59.6 billion for education benefits; and $4.6 billion for burial benefits.[8]
Functions[edit]
The VA's primary function is to support veterans in their time after service by providing benefits and support.
Providing care for non-veteran civilian or military patients in case hospitals overflowed in a crisis was added as a role by Congress in 1982, and became known as the VA's "fourth mission" (besides the three missions of serving veterans through care, research, and training).[31][2] It can provide medical services (reimbursed from other federal agencies) to the general public for major disasters and emergencies declared by the President of the United States, and when the Secretary of Health and Human Services activates the National Disaster Medical System.[31][32] During disasters and health emergencies, requests for VA assistance are made by state governors to the Federal Emergency Management Agency or the Department of Health and Human Services, which then relay approved requests to the VA.[33][34] The VA is also allowed to provide paid medical care on an emergency basis to non-veterans.[35] On March 27, 2020, the VA made public its COVID-19 response plan within its medical facilities to protect veterans, their families, and staff.[36]
One initiative in the department is to prevent and end veterans' homelessness.[37] The VA works with the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness to address these issues. The USICH identified ending veterans' homelessness by 2015 as a primary goal in its proposal Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, released in 2010; amendments to the 2010 version made in 2015 include a preface written by U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez that cites a 33% reduction in veteran homelessness since the creation of the Opening Doors initiative.[38] The prominent role of the Department of Veterans Affairs and its joined up approach to veteran welfare are such that they have been deemed to distinguish the US response to veteran homelessness internationally.[39]
The General Services Administration (GSA) has delegated authority to the VA to procure medical supplies under the VA Federal Supply Schedules Program for both the VA itself and other government agencies.[40]
Freedom of Information Act processing performance[edit]
In a 2015 Center for Effective Government analysis of 15 federal agencies which receive the most Freedom of Information Act (United States) (FOIA) requests (using 2012 and 2013 data, the most recent years available), the VA earned a D by scoring 64 out of a possible 100 points, i.e. did not earn a satisfactory overall grade, for facilitating FOIA requests.[61]
