I.

Introduction

Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), executive department of the United States government, created by Congress in 1988 and officially established in 1989. The department is administered by a secretary who is appointed by the president, with the approval of the Senate, and who is a member of the cabinet.

Veterans Affairs took over all the functions of the former Veterans Administration, which was an independent government agency established in 1930 to administer national benefits for veterans. The federal laws under which it operated were adjusted following each military conflict that took place after 1930.

II.

Service Categories

The VA provides a wide variety of services to veterans and their eligible dependents and to the dependent survivors of deceased veterans. These services fall into seven main categories: education, insurance, counseling, health care and rehabilitation, pensions, home loans, and burial benefits. Not all veterans, dependents, or survivors are eligible for all the benefits. Eligibility varies according to the war served in; whether disability is service-connected or not; the dependent’s relationship to the veteran; and, in the case of widowed survivors, the status of marriages subsequent to that with the veteran.

Organized into three areas—medicine, veterans benefits, and memorial affairs—the VA has regional offices throughout the United States and suboffices wherever the number of veterans in need of benefits is sufficient to justify a facility. VA hospitals and clinics are also located throughout the country.

III.

Benefits Available

The VA offers benefits for all veterans, although eligibility for specific programs can vary. Some benefits—for example, home loans, nonservice disability pensions, hospitalization, education, and insurance—are available to all veterans. Others accrue only as a result of service-connected death or disability. Some benefits go to widowed survivors, parents, and even adult offspring who became unable to care for themselves prior to the age of legal adult status. As a result, benefits may be paid for decades beyond the time when all the veterans of a particular war have died.

IV.

The GI Bill

The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, popularly referred to as the GI Bill of Rights, provided unemployment and education allowances and home, farm, and business loans for millions of veterans of World War II (1939-1945). Variations on the GI Bill program are available to today’s veterans.