THE FOLLOWING IS A U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS RELEASE
WASHINGTON — October 29, 2024 Today, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced it delivered more care and more benefits to more Veterans than ever before in fiscal year 2024 — including to Veterans, their families, and their survivors in Illinois.
These outcomes for the nation’s Veterans build on continued efforts by VA and the entire Biden-Harris Administration 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.
VA encourages all Veterans, family members, caregivers, and survivors to learn more about VA and apply for their world-class health care and earned benefits today.
“Veterans deserve the very best from VA and our nation, and we will never settle for anything less,” said VA Secretary Denis McDonough. “We’re honored that more Veterans are getting their earned health care and benefits from VA than ever before, but make no mistake: there is still work to do. We will continue to work each and every day to earn the trust of those we serve — and ensure that all Veterans, their families, and their survivors get the care and benefits they so rightly deserve.”
Key outcomes for Illinois Veterans and their families, caregivers, and survivors from this fiscal year include:
- Providing more world-class health care to Veterans: VA delivered more than 3,635,000 health care appointments to Illinois Veterans this year, and 9,625 Illinois Veterans enrolled in VA health care.
- Delivering more earned benefits to more Veterans: 127,854 Illinois Veterans received compensation and 3,897 received pension benefits this year, representing an estimated $3,232,000,000 and $55,100,000 in earned benefits, respectively. Additionally, VA processed 55,543 disability benefit claims for Illinois Veterans, with an overall grant rate of 65.6%.
- Earning Veteran Trust: Nationwide, 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.
- Supporting Veterans in crisis: VA provided no-cost emergency health care this year to more than 1,340 Illinois Veterans in acute suicidal crises.
- Supporting a record number of survivors of Veterans: 2,551Illinois survivors received pension benefits this year, representing an estimated $28,990,000 in earned benefits. Additionally, 12,183 spouses and dependents in Illinois received Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, representing an estimated $246,300,000 in earned benefits.
- Supporting a record number of women Veterans: 14,597 women Veterans in Illinois received compensation, representing an estimated $387,000,000 in earned benefits. Additionally, 1,182 women Veterans in Illinois enrolled in VA health care. VA now has more women Veterans enrolled in its health care system than ever before.
- Giving Veterans final resting places in VA National Cemeteries: VA interred 3,624 Veterans in VA’s national cemeteries in Illinois this year.
Veterans. Key actions from this year include: expanding eligibility for VA health care to all toxic exposed Veterans years earlier than called for by the PACT Act; housing nearly 48,000 Veterans and awarding over $800 million in grants to help Veterans experiencing homelessness; expanding access to care across the nation through VA’s Access Sprints, adding night and weekend clinics, and increasing the number of Veterans scheduled into daily clinic schedules; decreasing new appointment wait times for primary and mental health care by 11% and 7%, respectively; removing copays for the first three outpatient mental health care and substance use disorder visits of each calendar year through 2027; expanding access to VA cancer care through establishing new cancer presumptive conditions, expanding access to genetic, lung, and colorectal cancer screening, and expanding the Close to Me cancer care program; expanding access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) for eligible unmarried Veterans and eligible Veterans in same-sex marriages; calling for the implementation of a targeted moratorium on foreclosures for Veterans with VA-guaranteed loans through 2024; expanding access to VA care and benefits for some former service members discharged under other than honorable conditions; launching tele-emergency care for Veterans nationwide; and launching VSAFE.gov, a new government-wide website and associated call center to protect Veterans from fraud and scams.
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.
