The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced that it has granted benefits to 1.1 million Veterans and their survivors, awarding $137 billion in benefits – including $127 billion in compensation and pension benefits – as of late July.

The VA processed more than 2 million claims in 2024 (another all-time record) to reach this milestone. The VA also reported that the grant rate for these claims is 64.6% and the average overall disability rating granted to Veterans this year to-date is 70%, equating to over $20,000 per year in disability compensation.

“Our goal is to make sure every Veteran and every survivor gets the benefits they’ve earned for their service to this country,” said VA Under Secretary for Benefits Joshua Jacobs. “These Veterans and survivors are now receiving monthly payments for the conditions that followed them home from war or took the lives of their loved ones – and there is nothing, nothing more important than that.”

The VA also stated it is now delivering more care and benefits to Veterans in these ways, as noted in the recent press release here:

• More Veterans are using VA health care.
  The VA is on pace to deliver approximately 127M health care appointments in 2024, surpassing last year’s record of 120M appointments.
• More Veterans are enrolling in VA health care.
  412,867 Veterans have enrolled in VA care over the last 365 days, an increase of 27% year over year — and the most since 2017.
• More Veterans are applying for VA benefits than ever before.
  Due to the largest outreach campaign in VA history, Veterans submitted 2,433,729 claims applications in 2023 – an all-time record and 39% more than in 2022.
• More Veterans report trusting VA.
  Veteran trust in VA has reached an all-time high of 80.4% – up from 55% when the survey began in 2016.
• When Veterans apply for benefits, they are more likely to have their claims granted.
  The VA goal is to work with Veterans to gather evidence to get a yes – whenever a Veteran applies for benefits. Due to this approach, the VA has been able to grant benefits for 64.6% of claims, including 75% of PACT Act related claims, a sharp increase from previous years.