{"id":7546,"date":"2024-05-29T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-29T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7546"},"modified":"2024-05-29T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T13:00:00","slug":"through-2027-veterans-no-longer-need-to-pay-copays-for-their-first-three-outpatient-mental-health-care-visits-of-each-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7546","title":{"rendered":"Through 2027, Veterans no longer need to pay copays for their first three outpatient mental health care visits of each year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"tni-source-date\"><strong>Originally published:<\/strong> 2024-05-29T13:00:00+00:00. Historical source article: benefits, rules, amounts and deadlines may have changed. Check the official source for current information.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WASHINGTON <\/strong>\u2014 Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that Veterans no longer need to pay copays for their first three outpatient mental health care and substance use disorder visits of each calendar year through 2027. This benefit expands Veterans\u2019 access to mental health services and lowers their out-of-pocket costs.<\/p>\n<p>This copayment exemption benefits dates back to June 27, 2023 and\u2014by law\u2014will end Dec. 29, 2027. To be eligible for this exemption, the outpatient visit must be with a qualified mental health professional at VA or provided through VA\u2019s network of community care providers. VA will automatically refund Veterans for any copays paid to VA on or after June 27, 2023 for these appointments, with no further action required by those Veterans. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>VA and the entire Biden-Harris administration are committed to providing all Veterans with the timely, world-class mental health care they deserve. VA is currently delivering mental health appointments to more Veterans, while <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/va-improves-access-to-care-reduces-wait-times-for-new-patient-appointments-in-primary-and-mental-health-care\/\">reducing mental health wait times<\/a> for new appointments. Additionally, Veteran trust in VA outpatient care is currently at 91.8% \u2014 an <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/trust-in-va-among-veteran-patients-rises-to-91-8\/\">all-time high<\/a> \u2014 and VA has recently outperformed non-VA care in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/studies-va-health-care-better-equal-non-va\/\">peer reviewed studies<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/va-outperform-non-va-facilities-cms-ratings\/\">hospital ratings<\/a>, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/va-outperform-non-va-facilities-cms-ratings\/\">patient satisfaction surveys<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want every Veteran, regardless of their financial status, to have access to the mental health care they deserve\u2014and that\u2019s what this copayment exemption is all about,\u201d <strong>said\u202fVA Secretary Denis McDonough.\u202f<\/strong>\u201cWe are constantly working to expand access to mental health care, and we won\u2019t rest until every Veteran has access to care whenever and wherever they need it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In addition to this copayment exemption, VA launched a <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/starting-jan-17-veterans-in-suicidal-crisis-can-go-to-any-va-or-non-va-health-care-facility-for-free-emergency-health-care\/\">new policy<\/a>\u00a0in 2023 allowing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.va.gov\/resources\/getting-emergency-care-at-non-va-facilities\/\" rel=\"noopener\">eligible Veterans and certain former service members<\/a> in acute suicidal crisis to go to any VA or non-VA emergency facility for no-cost emergency health care. Since then, more than 60,000 Veterans and former service members have used this benefit \u2014 providing them with lifesaving care and saving millions of dollars in health care costs. The policy increased access to no-cost emergent suicide care for up to 9 million individuals, because eligible individuals do not need to be enrolled in the VA system or go to a department facility to use this benefit.<\/p>\n<p>To maximize access to world-class mental health care, VA has been aggressively hiring mental health professionals nationwide. Over the last three fiscal years, VHA hired more than 9,000 mental health positions including psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, licensed professional mental health counselors, peer support specialists, mental health nurses and mental health physician assistants \u2014 including 2,000 hires during fiscal year 2024. Additionally, our retention rates for VHA employees \u2014 including mental health professionals \u2013 are at all-time record highs and outperform private sector benchmarks. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The copay exemption benefit is part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/118470\/provisions-of-comprehensive-cleland-dole-act\/\">Cleland-Dole Act of 2022<\/a>. For more information on mental health care at VA, visit our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.va.gov\/health-care\/health-needs-conditions\/mental-health\/\" rel=\"noopener\">mental health website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"tni-attribution\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/2027-veterans-no-copays-first-three-mental-health\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a>. Its Veterans is an independent publication and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that Veterans no longer need to pay copays for their first three outpatient mental health care and substance use disorder visits of each calendar year through 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":339,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-veterans-health-care","category-mental-health-recovery"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Through 2027, Veterans no longer need to pay copays for their first three outpatient mental health care visits of each year - Its Veterans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that Veterans no longer need to pay copays for their first three outpatient mental health care and substance use disorder visits of each calendar year through 2027.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7546\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Through 2027, Veterans no longer need to pay copays for their first three outpatient mental health care visits of each year - Its Veterans\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that Veterans no longer need to pay copays for their first three outpatient mental health care and substance use disorder visits of each calendar year through 2027.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7546\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Its Veterans\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-29T13:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7546#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7546\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4bf835f8c5375ef33978f3169f311668\"},\"headline\":\"Through 2027, Veterans no longer need to pay copays for their first three outpatient mental health care visits of each year\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-29T13:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7546\"},\"wordCount\":522,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7546#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/vet-456-322.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Health &amp; Care\",\"Mental Health &amp; Recovery\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7546\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7546\",\"name\":\"Through 2027, Veterans no longer need to pay copays for their first three outpatient mental health care visits of each year - Its Veterans\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7546#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7546#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/vet-456-322.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-29T13:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that Veterans no longer need to pay copays for their first three outpatient mental health care and substance use disorder visits of each calendar year through 2027.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7546#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7546\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7546#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/vet-456-322.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/vet-456-322.png\",\"width\":878,\"height\":655},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7546#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Through 2027, Veterans no longer need to pay copays for their first three outpatient mental health care visits of each year\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Its Veterans\",\"description\":\"Veterans news, benefits, health and community resources\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Its Veterans\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/its-veterans-six-service-branches-flag-header-v2-2026-09-18.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/its-veterans-six-service-branches-flag-header-v2-2026-09-18.jpg\",\"width\":2172,\"height\":724,\"caption\":\"Its Veterans\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4bf835f8c5375ef33978f3169f311668\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/10da73410d092638799e3fa777bd59a474d7c9d9c61105a38c73dd46c050c34f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/10da73410d092638799e3fa777bd59a474d7c9d9c61105a38c73dd46c050c34f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/10da73410d092638799e3fa777bd59a474d7c9d9c61105a38c73dd46c050c34f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Through 2027, Veterans no longer need to pay copays for their first three outpatient mental health care visits of each year - Its Veterans","description":"Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that Veterans no longer need to pay copays for their first three outpatient mental health care and substance use disorder visits of each calendar year through 2027.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7546","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Through 2027, Veterans no longer need to pay copays for their first three outpatient mental health care visits of each year - Its Veterans","og_description":"Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that Veterans no longer need to pay copays for their first three outpatient mental health care and substance use disorder visits of each calendar year through 2027.","og_url":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7546","og_site_name":"Its Veterans","article_published_time":"2024-05-29T13:00:00+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7546#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7546"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4bf835f8c5375ef33978f3169f311668"},"headline":"Through 2027, Veterans no longer need to pay copays for their first three outpatient mental health care visits of each year","datePublished":"2024-05-29T13:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7546"},"wordCount":522,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7546#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/vet-456-322.png","articleSection":["Health &amp; Care","Mental Health &amp; Recovery"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7546","url":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7546","name":"Through 2027, Veterans no longer need to pay copays for their first three outpatient mental health care visits of each year - Its Veterans","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7546#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7546#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/vet-456-322.png","datePublished":"2024-05-29T13:00:00+00:00","description":"Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that Veterans no longer need to pay copays for their first three outpatient mental health care and substance use disorder visits of each calendar year through 2027.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7546#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7546"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7546#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/vet-456-322.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/vet-456-322.png","width":878,"height":655},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7546#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Through 2027, Veterans no longer need to pay copays for their first three outpatient mental health care visits of each year"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/","name":"Its Veterans","description":"Veterans news, benefits, health and community resources","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/#organization","name":"Its Veterans","url":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/its-veterans-six-service-branches-flag-header-v2-2026-09-18.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/its-veterans-six-service-branches-flag-header-v2-2026-09-18.jpg","width":2172,"height":724,"caption":"Its Veterans"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4bf835f8c5375ef33978f3169f311668","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/10da73410d092638799e3fa777bd59a474d7c9d9c61105a38c73dd46c050c34f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/10da73410d092638799e3fa777bd59a474d7c9d9c61105a38c73dd46c050c34f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/10da73410d092638799e3fa777bd59a474d7c9d9c61105a38c73dd46c050c34f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/itsveterans.com"],"url":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}