WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced that — three-quarters of the way through the fiscal year – it has granted benefits to 1.1 million Veterans and their survivors, an all-time record. In total, VA has awarded $137B in benefits, including $127 billion in compensation and pension benefits, to Veterans and survivors this year.
To reach this milestone, VA has processed more than 2 million claims in 2024 — another all-time record, on pace to surpass last year’s record by more than 27%. The grant rate for these claims is 64.6% and the average overall disability rating granted to Veterans this year to-date is 70%, equating to over $20,000 per year in disability compensation.
President Biden made supporting Veterans a key pillar in his Unity Agenda for the nation, noting that we have a sacred obligation to care for Veterans and make sure they get the benefits they have earned. VA has been able to deliver more care and more benefits to more Veterans than ever before largely thanks to the PACT Act, which was signed into law by President Biden in August 2022 and represents the largest expansion of Veteran care and benefits in generations. Of the claims granted so far in FY2024, 655,808 were PACT Act-related.
“Our goal is to make sure every Veteran and every survivor gets the benefits they’ve earned for their service to this country,” said VA Under Secretary for Benefits Joshua Jacobs. “These Veterans and survivors are now receiving monthly payments for the conditions that followed them home from war or took the lives of their loved ones — and there is nothing, nothing more important than that.”
Overall, VA is now delivering more care and more benefits to Veterans in a variety of ways:
More Veterans are using VA health care: VA is on pace to deliver approximately 127 million health care appointments in 2024, surpassing last year’s all-time record of 120 million appointments. This is partly a result of VA expanding access to VA care for these Veterans and decreasing wait times by offering more night clinics, weekend clinics, and appointment slots.