Latest news with #VA-provided
Newsweek
6 days ago
- Business
- Newsweek
VA Announces Expansion of Benefits
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced a temporary expansion of burial benefits for certain veterans and their families. Recipients will see a temporary expansion of burial benefits thanks to the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act, known as the Dole Act. The department has been contacted via email for comment. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins pictured in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Tuesday, June 24, 2025. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins pictured in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Tuesday, June 24, 2025. Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via AP Images Why It Matters The VA is the second-largest U.S. government department, employing about 470,000 people, a quarter of whom are veterans. Some 6.2 million veterans in the United States receive disability benefits from the VA. Veterans who received VA healthcare were not always eligible for a VA-covered burial, resulting in families having to cover the costs after their deaths. This benefit from the Dole Act will mean eligible veterans will have their full burial costs covered. This temporary expansion of burial benefits comes as the department reduces its headcount as part of the Trump administration's program to downsize the federal government - although by much less than originally planned. The VA had planned to reduce its workforce to 400,000, but after much criticism last week announced it would shed fewer than 30,000 jobs this year. Some 12,000 staff will leave their roles by the end of September, after 17,000 job cuts were made between January and June. The department says it has "multiple safeguards in place to ensure these staff reductions do not impact veteran care or benefits." What To Know "The new law specifies eligible Veterans are those who are discharged from VA-provided medical or nursing care to receive VA-provided hospice care at their home and who pass away between July 1, 2025, and Oct. 1, 2026," said the VA in a statement. "Previously, Veterans who died at home under VA hospice care after discharge from VA-provided medical or nursing care were not always eligible for a full VA burial allowance. The Dole Act addresses that gap." The Dole Act was signed into law in January 2025 by then-President Joe Biden. Following its passage, Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Republican Illinois Representative Mike Bost said: "The men and women who have served have earned access to a VA that puts them – not government bureaucracy – at the center of its operations. The Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act will do exactly that." The act includes several increases and changes to veterans' benefits, including changing the definition of "surviving spouse" to "someone who lived continuously with the veteran until their death and who has not remarried," and requiring the VA to create a plan for creating transitional housing grants for homeless veterans. Trump administration changes to the VA include barring transgender veterans from getting their fertility treatment covered by the VA, and increasing the VA budget by $83 billion through the recent budget. What People Are Saying VA Secretary Doug Collins said in a press release: "VA is working hard to fully implement the many provisions of the Dole Act. We're excited to offer this expanded benefit, which better supports Veterans who choose to spend their final days at home, surrounded by their loved ones." What Happens Next Families and caregivers are encouraged to contact their local VA office to determine eligibility and to apply for the expanded burial benefits. Additional details are available on the VA burial benefits website or by calling 800-827-1000.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
VA to Expand Online Memorial Website to Include Veterans Buried Overseas
The Department of Veterans Affairs has added more than 210,000 veterans to its online memorial project for U.S. veterans, including pages for Americans buried in cemeteries overseas. Ahead of Memorial Day, the VA announced it has expanded its Veterans Legacy Memorial website to include those interred at locations overseen by the American Battle Monuments Commission, the federal agency that manages U.S. military burial sites in Europe, the United Kingdom, Africa, Asia and elsewhere. "The brave Americans resting in American Battle Monuments Commission cemeteries and whose names are inscribed on ABMC memorials around the world sacrificed their lives to liberate allied countries and to protect our nation's interests," Acting Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs Ronald Walters said in a statement last week. "It's our honor to preserve their legacies." Read Next: Pentagon Will Use Health Screenings, Commanders to Ferret Out Trans Troops for Separations The VA launched the Veterans Legacy Memorial website in 2019 to highlight former service members buried at national cemeteries, giving loved ones the chance to tell their veterans' stories by adding service records, remembrances, photos, historical documents and more to their personal pages. The program later was expanded to include VA grant-funded cemeteries, those managed by the Department of Defense, U.S. Park Service cemeteries and private cemeteries where veterans have received a VA-provided grave marker since 1996. The project now includes more than 10 million pages, with more than 200,000 submissions made to veterans pages, according to the VA. Earlier this year, the VA announced that it will allow veterans to build their own VLM pages, uploading images, autobiographies, military achievements and life milestones -- anything they would want someone to know about them -- before they die. To use this VLM feature, known as "Your Life, Your Story," veterans must be eligible for burial in a national cemetery and have received pre-approval by the VA. They then will be able to log into a secure area of the site to create their pages; the content will go live once the veteran passes away and the VA approves their family's request for burial or other memorial benefit. VA officials have said the next goal for the VLM is to add the names of veterans who received VA-issued grave markers before 1996. The ABMC has managed overseas veteran graves since 1934, when President Franklin Roosevelt issued an executive order mandating that the agency oversee eight military cemeteries in Europe. It currently administers 26 American cemeteries overseas, caring for more than 124,000 graves and memorials dedicated to roughly 94,000 who are missing in action, lost or buried at sea. "We are proud to be a part of this partnership, which adds new resources to honor our nation's veterans from all wars and brings their stories to those who aren't able to visit our ABMC sites overseas," ABMC Acting Secretary Robert Dalessandro said in a news release last week. Related: This Memorial Day, VA Adds More than 300,000 Veterans to its Legacy Memorial Project Site
