WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) says it delivered more than 127.5 million health care appointments in Fiscal Year 2024, a 6% increase over last year's record.
Additionally, the department awarded $173 billion in compensation and pension benefits to 6.7 million veterans and survivors this year — all of which are all-time records.
And, the VA also processed more than 2.5 million disability benefit claims, a 27% increase over last year's all-time record.
"By nearly every metric, VA is smashing records we had set last year. That means even more care, more benefits to more veterans," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough, speaking Tuesday before the National Press Club.
But McDonough admitted there are still big challenges for the department and its 451,000 employees.
There were 6,392 veterans' deaths by suicide in 2021 — a 1.8% increase from the year before.
And, last year's annual Department of Housing and Urban Development "Point in Time" survey showed that the number of homeless veterans jumped by more than 7.4% in 2023.
McDonough said more work is needed.
"Our mission at VA is far from over. There are huge challenges ahead, and as we look to the future, we're going to continue to do better for vets, and we're going to continue to be better for vets," he said.
The VA said it delivered more than 3.4 million health care appointments to Virginia veterans this year.
And according to a news release, the VA paid out $38 million in earned benefits to Virginia vets.