{"id":8648,"date":"2026-10-21T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=8648"},"modified":"2026-10-21T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T14:00:00","slug":"following-major-reforms-over-300k-new-veterans-enroll-in-va-healthcare-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=8648","title":{"rendered":"Following major reforms, over\u00a0300K new Veterans enroll in VA healthcare in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"tni-source-date\"><strong>Originally published:<\/strong> 2026-10-21T14:00:00+00:00. Historical source article: benefits, rules, amounts and deadlines may have changed. Check the official source for current information.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>WASHINGTON<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 More than 300,000 new Veterans have enrolled in VA healthcare so far in 2026, a testament to the landmark improvements VA has made during the second Trump Administration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under President Trump, VA is improving its outreach to Veterans who aren\u2019t enrolled in VA care and benefits, which can save Veterans and their families thousands of dollars each year.\u00a0This effort has already led to more than 1.8 million completed or scheduled medical appointments with Veterans who joined in 2026. That includes more than 420,000 mental health appointments and more than 16,000 emergency care visits.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cUnder the leadership of President Trump, VA is improving its service to Veterans at a record pace, and the more than 300,000 new Veterans who have enrolled in VA healthcare this year underscore the success of our reforms,\u201d said <strong>VA Secretary Doug Collins<\/strong>. \u201cFrom expanding access to care, to reducing backlogs and wait times, and rebuilding VA facilities, President Trump\u2019s VA is putting Veterans first in all that we do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/choose.va.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Veterans can learn more about VA here<\/a> or call VA 24\/7 at 800-698-2411.\u00a0or call VA 24\/7 at 800-698-2411.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under the second Trump Administration,\u00a0VA is putting Veterans first by relentlessly focusing on customer service and convenience. We\u2019re making VA benefits better, faster and easier to use than ever before:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>VA\u00a0has opened <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DeptVetAffairs\/status\/2106083666128785676\">43 new healthcare clinics<\/a> since January 2025,\u00a0expanding access for Veterans around the country.<\/li>\n<li>The backlog of Veterans waiting for VA benefits is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.benefits.va.gov\/reports\/mmwr_va_claims_backlog.asp\" rel=\"noopener\">down more than 70%<\/a>\u00a0since Jan. 20, 2025, after it increased 24% during the Biden Administration.<\/li>\n<li>VA\u2019s average disability claims processing time is down 46% since Jan. 20, 2025.<\/li>\n<li>VA completed a record high 82,083,918 direct care appointments in FY 2025, up 4.1% from FY 2024.<\/li>\n<li>VA completed a record high 59,989,662 community care appointments in FY 2025, up 12% from FY 2024.<\/li>\n<li>VA <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/144652\/\">approved nearly $5 billion in FY 2026<\/a> to modernize, repair and improve health care facilities, the largest non-recurring maintenance investment in VA\u2019s history.<\/li>\n<li>Since Jan. 20, 2025, VA has offered Veterans more than 3.4 million appointments outside of normal operating hours. These early-morning, evening, and weekend appointments are giving Veterans more timely and convenient options for care.<\/li>\n<li>VA <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/va-houses-largest-number-of-homeless-veterans-in-seven-years\/\">permanently housed 51,936 homeless Veterans<\/a>\u00a0across the country in FY25, the highest total in seven years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">###<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"tni-attribution\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/following-major-reforms-over-300k-new-veterans-enroll-in-va-healthcare-in-2026\/\" 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>More than 300,000 new Veterans have enrolled in VA healthcare in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-veterans-news","category-trump"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Following major reforms, over\u00a0300K new Veterans enroll in VA healthcare in 2026 - Its Veterans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"More than 300,000 new Veterans have enrolled in VA healthcare in 2026.\" \/>\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=8648\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Following major reforms, over\u00a0300K new Veterans enroll in VA healthcare in 2026 - 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