The Department of Veterans Affairs has announced a new team and office to ensure that it delivers on its promise to provide world-class care and benefits to all veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors — regardless of their age, race, ethnicity, gender, religion, disability, or sexual identity.
The Agency Equity Team, known as the I*DEA (inclusion, diversity, equity, and access) Council, will be responsible for helping VA improve outcomes for historically underserved veterans.
“At VA, it’s our mission to serve all veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors as well as they’ve served our country,” said VA Secretary Denis McDonough in a June 23 statement. “This new Agency Equity Team will help us deliver on that promise, making sure that we provide every veteran with the world-class care and benefits they deserve — no matter their age, race, ethnicity, gender, religion, disability, or sexual identity. The team’s first order of business will be identifying any disparities in VA health care and benefits and eliminating them.”
A lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Connecticut on Nov. 28, 2022, alleges that VA was more likely to reject disability benefits claims made by black veterans than white veterans from 2001 to 2020.
The efforts are part of executing President Joe Biden’s executive orders signed in February on advancing racial equity and support for underserved communities throughout the federal government.
The I*DEA Council will also identify and eliminate any disparities in VA health care and benefits, create and implement a VA Equity Action Plan and listen to and learn from historically underserved veteran communities, according to the release.
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It will also work to eliminate disparities and barriers in recruiting, hiring, developing, promoting and retaining employees, including those from historically underserved communities and will report directly to VA’s Deputy Secretary.
The council will be made up of senior leaders from across VA, including leaders from the Veterans Health Administration, the Veterans Benefits Administration, the National Cemetery Administration, the Center for Women Veterans, the Center for Minority Veterans, and other parts of VA.
VA also announced that it has created a new Equity Assurance Office within the Veterans Benefits Administration. It will work with the I*DEA Council to eliminate any disparities in the delivery of earned benefits to veterans, including disability benefits, housing benefits, GI Bill benefits and more. It will be led by Laurine Carson and will report directly to the Office of the Under Secretary for Benefits.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.
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