United States Department of Veterans Affairs

About

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing lifelong healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers and outpatient clinics located throughout the country. Non-healthcare benefits include disability compensation, vocational rehabilitation, education assistance, home loans, and life insurance. The VA also provides burial and memorial benefits to eligible veterans and family members at 135 national cemeteries.

While veterans' benefits have been provided by the federal government since the American Revolutionary War, a veteran-specific federal agency was not established until 1930, as the Veterans' Administration. In 1982, its mission was expanded to include caring for civilians and people who were not veterans in case of a national emergency. In 1989, the Veterans' Administration became a cabinet-level Department of Veterans Affairs. The president appoints the secretary of veterans affairs, who is also a cabinet member, to lead the agency.