The Department of Veterans Affairs says it has set an all-time record for delivering disability benefits to women veterans.
In a call with reporters on Wednesday, Under Secretary for Benefits Josh Jacobs said 702,557 women veterans are currently receiving disability compensation benefits from VA – an increase of 180,959 women veterans (or 26 percent) over 5 years ago.
“The average woman veteran who receives disability compensation benefits from VA has a 68 percent combined disability rating and they receive an average of nearly $27,000 in earned disability compensation benefits per year from VA,” he said.
Jacobs said the average grant rate for women veterans is 89.2 percent, meaning that 89 percent of women veterans who have applied for disability benefits with VA have received benefits for at least one condition.
“Despite only making up 16.5 percent of the veteran population, women veterans receive 27.5 percent of post 9/11 education benefits and 26.4 percent of Veteran Readiness and Employment benefits in 2023,” he said.
Jacobs said the historic statistics result from VA’s efforts to bring women veterans into the system and to build “a VA that meets women veterans where they are, rather than ask them to come to us.”
Women veterans are the fastest growing cohort at VA, and – in addition to delivering record levels of disability compensation benefits – VA is now serving more women veterans in its health care system than ever before, Jacobs said.
“There is still more work to do,” he continued. “We want every woman veteran to come to us for the benefits they have earned and deserve.”
Jacobs added that over the past two years, VA has also dramatically expanded health care for women veterans. Specifically, he said it has expanded breast cancer screenings and mammograms for veterans with potential toxic exposures; supported access to reproductive health services, including contraception, in vitro fertilization, abortion counseling and – in certain cases – abortion care for veterans and VA beneficiaries. VA has dramatically expanded one-on-one maternity care coordination for women veterans, he added.
Jacobs said VA is constantly working to expand both its outreach and services to better serve women veterans.
“That’s why we’re hosting nearly 140 events this year, specifically designed to support women veterans and it’s why we’re also in the midst of the largest outreach campaign in VA history to bring veterans to VA.”
VA has held 2,500 community outreach events over the past year and has hundreds more scheduled for this year. For the first time, VA is also directly emailing and texting veterans to encourage them to come to VA, Jacobs said.
VA also recently hosted its first first-ever Women Veterans Experience Action Center, a three-day event in which hundreds of women veterans were provided with one-on-one support to apply for their earned benefits.
Jacobs said the sharp uptick in women veteran benefits in recent years is largely due to the PACT Act, which empowered VA to expand health care and benefits to millions of veterans who were exposed to toxins and other hazards while serving the country.
“Women veterans have fought in every war since the American Revolution, but they have not
always been able to access the care and benefits they’ve earned and deserved. But now, at VA,
we’re making sure that those days are over,” said Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs Tanya
Bradsher, the first woman veteran deputy secretary of VA, in a statement.
Jacobs encouraged women veterans to visit here or call 1-800-MYVA411 to apply for their earned benefits today.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.
