The United States has the most comprehensive system in the world in providing assistance to Veterans of military service. This benefits system traces its roots back to 1636, when the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony were at war with the Pequot Indians. The Pilgrims passed a law which stated that disabled soldiers would be supported by the colony.
The Continental Congress of 1776 encouraged enlistments during the Revolutionary War by providing pensions for soldiers who were disabled. Direct medical and hospital care given to Veterans in the early days of the Republic was provided by the individual States and communities.
After the Civil War, many State Veterans homes were established. Since domiciliary care was available at all State Veterans homes, incidental medical and hospital treatment was provided for all injuries and diseases, whether or not of service origin.
Congress established a new system of Veterans benefits when the United States entered World War I in 1917. Included were programs for disability compensation, insurance for servicepersons and Veterans, and vocational rehabilitation for the disabled.
The VA health care system has grown from 54 hospitals in 1930, to include 170 medical centers; more than 1,100 outpatient, community, and outreach clinics; over 100 nursing home care units; and over 40 domiciliary care facilities. VA health care facilities provide a broad spectrum of medical, surgical, and rehabilitative care, serving over 9 million enrolled Veterans each year. The responsibilities and benefits programs of the Veterans Administration grew enormously during the following decades.
World War II resulted in not only a vast increase in the Veteran population, but also in large number of new benefits enacted by the Congress for Veterans of the war. The World War II GI Bill, signed into law on June 22, 1944, is said to have had more impact on the American way of life than any law since the Homestead Act more than a century ago. Further educational assistance acts were passed for the benefit of Veterans of the Korean Conflict, the Vietnam Era, Persian Gulf War, and the All-Volunteer Force.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) was established as a Cabinet-level position on March 15, 1989. President Bush hailed the creation of the new Department saying, “There is only one place for the Veterans of America, in the Cabinet Room, at the table with the President of the United States of America.”
How the VA is structured
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is composed of three distinct Administrations, each of which is described below in excerpts from the VA Organizational Briefing Book, dated 2023.
- Veterans Health Administration
- Veterans Benefits Administration
- National Cemetery Administration
Veterans Health Administration
The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is among the largest providers of health professional training in the world; operates one of the largest and most effective research organizations in the United States; is a principal Federal asset for providing medical assistance in major disasters; and serves as the largest direct-care provider for homeless citizens in the United States. In 2023, VHA provided health care for approximately 9.2 million Veterans.
Today’s VHA provides care at almost 1,400 sites throughout the country, employs a staff of 371,000, and maintains affiliations with over 100 academic health systems. More than 70 percent of all physicians in the U.S. today have trained in VA facilities.
The VHA’s mission is to honor America’s Veterans by providing exceptional health care that improves their health and well-being. The Office of the Under Secretary for Health (USH) is responsible for the leadership and direction of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the Nation’s largest integrated health care system.
The four statutory missions of VHA are:
- to develop, maintain, and operate a national health care delivery system for eligible Veterans.
- to administer a program of education and training for health care personnel.
- to conduct health care research.
- to provide contingency support for Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) during times of war or national emergency.
Veterans Benefits Administration
The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) is responsible for administering the Department’s programs that provide financial and other forms of assistance to Veterans, their dependents, and survivors. Major benefits include Veterans’ compensation, Veterans’ pension, survivors’ benefits, rehabilitation and employment assistance, education assistance, home loan guarantees, and life insurance coverage.
Compensation and Pension Programs provide direct payments to Veterans, dependents, and survivors as a result of the Veteran’s service-connected disability or because of financial need.
Education Programs provide resources to Veterans, servicepersons, reservists, and certain Veterans’ dependents to:
- help with readjustment and restore educational opportunities lost because of service to the country
- extend benefits of higher education to qualified persons who may not otherwise be able to afford it
- aid in military recruitment and the retention of highly qualified personnel
- encourage membership in the Selected Reserve
- enhance the national workforce.
Details may be found at gibill.va.gov.
The Loan Guaranty Program provides assistance to Veterans, certain spouses, and service members to enable them to buy and retain homes. Assistance is provided through VA’s partial guaranty of loans made by private lenders in lieu of the substantial down payment and private mortgage insurance required in conventional mortgage transactions. This protection means that in most cases qualified Veterans can obtain a loan without making a down payment. Also, the Loan Guaranty Program offers the following:
The Insurance Programs were created to provide life insurance at a “standard” premium rate to members of the armed forces who are exposed to the extra hazards of military service. Veterans are eligible to maintain their VA life insurance following discharge. In general, a new program was created for each wartime period since World War I. There are four life insurance programs that still issue coverage as well as a program of traumatic injury coverage:
The Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) Program helps service members and Veterans with service-connected disabilities prepare for, find, and keep suitable jobs. For Veterans with service-connected disabilities so severe that they cannot immediately consider work, VR&E offers services to improve their ability to live as independently as possible. Vocational rehabilitation services include a vocational evaluation (i.e. assessment of interests, aptitudes, and abilities), vocational counseling and planning, employment services (i.e. job seeking skills and job placement assistance), training for suitable employment, supportive rehabilitation services, and independent living services.
Vocational and Educational Counseling – VR&E can also provide a wide range of vocational and educational counseling services to service members still on active duty, as well as Veterans and dependents who are eligible for one of VA’s educational benefit programs. These services are designed to help an individual choose a vocational direction and determine the course needed to achieve the chosen goal. Assistance may include interest and aptitude testing, occupational exploration, setting occupational goals, locating the right type of training program, and exploring educational or training facilities which might be utilized to achieve a vocational goal.
National Cemetery Administration
The National Cemetery Administration (NCA) operates 157 national cemeteries in the United States and Puerto Rico, together with oversight/management of 35 soldiers’ lots and monument sites.
For Veterans not buried in a VA national cemetery, VA provides headstones, markers, or medallions to commemorate their service. Nearly 5.3 million people — including 4 million Veterans from the Revolutionary War to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan — are honored with a burial in a VA national cemetery.
NCA’s mission is to honor our Nation’s Veterans with final resting places in national shrines and with lasting tributes that commemorate their service to our Nation. This mission is accomplished through three program areas:
- Providing for the interment of eligible service members, Veterans, reservists, National Guard members, and eligible family members in national cemeteries. NCA maintains national cemeteries as national shrines.
- Furnishing headstones and markers for the graves of Veterans throughout the United States and the world. NCA furnishes headstones and markers for the graves of Veterans in national, state, and private cemeteries at no cost to the Veteran.
- Administration of the State Cemetery Grants Program, which provides grants to states and tribal governments for establishing, expanding, and improving state Veterans’ cemeteries. Since 1980, VCGP has awarded 525 grants totaling $1.87 billion that 47 states, 14 tribal nations, and 3 territories (Guam, Saipan, and Puerto Rico) to establish, expand, improve, operate or maintain a total of 124 Veterans’ cemeteries.
