VA health care covers a broad medical benefits package at no premium cost to enrolled veterans: primary and preventive care, hospital and surgical services, mental health treatment, prescription drugs, maternity and newborn care, prosthetics and mobility equipment, long-term care, and more. Enrollment carries no monthly premium and no deductible, and it satisfies the Affordable Care Act’s minimum essential coverage requirement.1VA.gov. About VA Health Benefits What you personally pay depends on the priority group the VA assigns you after enrollment, and a few categories of care sit outside the package entirely.
The Core Medical Benefits Package
Once you’re enrolled, the standard package includes routine physicals, immunizations, and health screenings; inpatient hospital services including surgery, intensive care, and organ transplants; outpatient specialty care; diagnostic testing such as blood work and imaging; and rehabilitation services including physical therapy, vision therapy, and traumatic brain injury treatment.1VA.gov. About VA Health Benefits
Prescription medications written or approved by a VA provider are covered. The VA also runs a mail-order pharmacy called Meds by Mail that ships non-urgent prescriptions to your home.2VA.gov. Prescription Medications Covered Through Meds by Mail Whether a specific drug is covered can be checked against the VA National Formulary through the Formulary Advisor tool.3VA.gov. VA National Formulary
Mental Health Care
Mental health is one of the widest benefit areas in the system. The VA treats PTSD, depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, substance use problems, and the effects of military sexual trauma. Options include individual and group therapy, medication management, peer support, residential rehabilitation programs, and telehealth.4VA.gov. VA Mental Health Services
You don’t have to be enrolled in VA health care to receive many of these services. Veterans who experienced military sexual trauma or who are at risk of self-harm can access care regardless of discharge status or enrollment.5USA.gov. Veterans Mental Health The Veterans Crisis Line runs 24 hours a day at 988, press 1; by text at 838255; or by online chat.4VA.gov. VA Mental Health Services
Hearing, Vision, and Dental
Any enrolled veteran can get hearing aids, whether or not the hearing loss is service-connected. Audiology is a direct-schedule service, so no primary care referral is required. Hearing aids, repairs, and replacement batteries are provided at no charge, though clinical visit copays may apply depending on your priority group.6VA.gov. VA Hearing Aids Fact Sheet
Vision care includes routine eye exams and preventive screening, including glaucoma testing, for all enrolled veterans. Eyeglasses are covered if you have a compensable service-connected disability, are a former prisoner of war, received a Purple Heart, or have vision problems caused by a medical condition or its treatment. Routine contact lenses aren’t covered, though medically necessary contacts can be approved. Elective refractive surgery like LASIK is not covered.7VA.gov. Vision Care8VA.gov. Veteran Eye Care Resources
Dental benefits are narrower. Full dental care is available only to veterans with a service-connected compensable dental condition, former prisoners of war, and veterans rated 100% disabled. Recently discharged veterans who served 90 or more days during the Gulf War era can get a one-time dental treatment, but only if they apply within 180 days of separation. Limited dental care may also be available when a dental problem is aggravating a service-connected medical condition, or when the veteran is in a VA vocational rehabilitation program. Veterans who don’t qualify for direct dental care can buy discounted coverage through the VA Dental Insurance Program if they’re enrolled in VA health care or CHAMPVA.9VA.gov. Dental Care
Prosthetics, Wheelchairs, and Mobility Equipment
Enrolled veterans with a documented medical need can receive prosthetic limbs, wheelchairs, walkers, orthotic braces, therapeutic footwear, and other durable medical equipment. Artificial limbs are provided whether or not the amputation is service-connected and whether or not the surgery was done at a VA facility. A veteran who requires constant wheelchair use may receive up to three chairs: one for daily use, a spare during repairs, and a third for sports or recreational rehabilitation.10VA.gov. About Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service
Related programs cover automobile adaptive equipment, clothing allowances for veterans who use prosthetic or orthotic devices, and home improvement grants for accessibility modifications.11VA.gov. Assistive Technology
Maternity, Newborn, and Fertility Care
Maternity coverage runs from the first positive pregnancy test through delivery and the postpartum period. It includes prenatal exams, labs, ultrasounds, genetic screening, specialty consultations, prescription medications, and labor and delivery. Newborn care is covered for the date of birth plus seven days. Supplies like breast pumps, nursing bras, maternity support belts, and lactation pads are provided at no cost, and every VA facility has a maternity care coordinator who follows up for a full year after delivery.12VA.gov. Maternity Care13VA.gov. VA Services for Pregnant Veterans
Basic fertility evaluations and treatments, including hormone therapy, surgical treatments for fertility-related conditions, and intrauterine insemination, are available to any veteran using VA health care, regardless of service connection or marital status. IVF and other assisted reproductive technologies require a service-connected disability that caused the infertility. When you qualify, IVF coverage includes up to six attempts to create embryos across up to three completed transfer cycles, plus cryopreservation and storage. Eligible veterans can also receive adoption reimbursement of up to $2,000 per adopted child, capped at $5,000 per year.14VA.gov. Fertility Services
Long-Term and Extended Care
Long-term care is available to enrolled veterans who have a clinical need and live where the service is offered. Home-based options include primary care delivered at home, homemaker and home health aide services, skilled home nursing, and remote health monitoring. For heavier support, the VA provides adult day health care, respite care for family caregivers, and nursing home placement through VA Community Living Centers, contracted community nursing homes, or state veterans homes. Hospice is available for terminal conditions.15VA.gov. Long-Term Care
Long-term care copays don’t start until the 22nd day of care in any 12-month period, and hospice is exempt from copays entirely.16VA.gov. VA Long-Term Care Services
Complementary Health and Telehealth
The medical benefits package includes eight complementary health approaches: acupuncture, biofeedback, clinical hypnosis, guided imagery, massage therapy, meditation, tai chi/qigong, and yoga. These are offered at VA facilities, through telehealth, or via community care referrals. Chiropractic care, approved for VA use since 2004, is classified as mainstream care rather than complementary. Ask for the Whole Health Point of Contact at your local facility.17VA.gov. Complementary and Integrative Health Overview
Telehealth is delivered through video visits, phone appointments, and in-home monitoring devices, with secure video sessions handled through the VA Video Connect app.18VA.gov. 91.7% of Veterans Who Use VA Telehealth Are Satisfied
What the VA Does Not Cover
Several categories sit outside the medical benefits package:
- Cosmetic surgery, unless the VA determines it is medically necessary to prevent or treat an illness, injury, or condition.
- Gender-affirming surgical interventions. The VA has never provided sex-reassignment surgery. As of March 2025, the VA also stopped writing new prescriptions for cross-sex hormone therapy and discontinued gender-affirming prosthetics, voice training, and support letters for outside surgeries. Veterans already receiving hormone therapy through the VA before March 17, 2025, can continue that treatment. Mental health care and preventive care remain available to veterans with gender dysphoria.19VA.gov. VA to Phase Out Treatment for Gender Dysphoria20NPR. Department of Veterans Affairs Gender Dysphoria Treatments
- Health club or spa memberships.
- Medications and devices not approved by the FDA, with exceptions for clinical trials or compassionate-use cases.
- Elective refractive eye surgery such as LASIK or PRK.
- Routine contact lenses, though medically necessary contacts may be covered.1VA.gov. About VA Health Benefits
What You’ll Pay: Priority Groups and Copays
After enrollment, the VA places every veteran into one of eight priority groups. Your group is based on disability rating, income, military service history, and special status like former POW, Purple Heart, or Medal of Honor. Veterans who qualify for more than one group are placed in the highest. The group controls how quickly you’re enrolled and how much you pay out of pocket.21VA.gov. Priority Groups
Veterans in the top groups pay little to nothing. Group 1, which includes veterans with a service-connected disability rating of 50% or higher, owes zero copays for any care or medications. Groups 7 and 8 are income-based and require veterans to accept copay obligations as a condition of enrolling.22VA.gov. Your Health Care Costs
No matter which group you’re in, you’re exempt from copays for care related to a service-connected disability, preventive services like immunizations and screenings, mental health and readjustment counseling, military sexual trauma counseling, and care tied to combat service for veterans who served in a theater of operations after November 11, 1998.23VA.gov. VA Health Care Copay Rates
Medication Copays
For veterans in priority groups 2 through 8, outpatient medication copays follow a tiered schedule. A 30-day supply of a preferred generic costs $5, a non-preferred generic or certain over-the-counter medications cost $8, and brand-name drugs cost $11. Those amounts scale for 60-day and 90-day supplies. Once you reach $700 in medication copays in a calendar year, you owe no further medication copays for the rest of that year.23VA.gov. VA Health Care Copay Rates
Care Outside the VA: Community Care and Emergencies
When the VA can’t provide a service in-house, or when drive times and appointment waits pass certain thresholds, enrolled veterans can be referred to approved non-VA providers under the community care program. The access standards are a 30-minute average drive time or 20-day wait for primary care and mental health, and a 60-minute drive time or 28-day wait for specialty care. You can also be referred to community care if the VA facility doesn’t offer the service, if you and your VA provider agree outside care is in your best medical interest, or if the VA facility can’t meet quality standards for what you need.24VA.gov. Eligibility for Community Care Outside VA
For emergency care at a non-VA hospital, the VA must be notified within 72 hours. The care must have been provided in an emergency department (urgent care clinics don’t qualify), and no VA or federal facility could have been available in time. Coverage generally ends once you can be safely transferred to a VA facility. If you paid out of pocket for unauthorized emergency care, you can file for reimbursement using VA Form 10-320, ideally within 90 days.25VA.gov. Getting Emergency Care at Non-VA Facilities26VA.gov. Reimbursement of Non-VA Prescriptions or Medical Expenses
Using VA Coverage With Other Insurance
Having private insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, or TRICARE has no effect on VA eligibility, and you can use VA benefits alongside any of them. The VA is required by law to bill private insurance for care related to non-service-connected conditions, but you’re never responsible for any balance the insurer leaves unpaid. Insurance payments can offset your VA copay obligations dollar for dollar. The VA does not bill Medicare or Medicaid directly, though it may bill Medicare supplemental plans and TRICARE.27VA.gov. VA Health Care and Other Insurance
The VA encourages veterans to keep outside coverage. Family members generally aren’t covered by VA health care, and enrolling in Medicare at age 65 avoids late-enrollment penalties that grow the longer you wait.27VA.gov. VA Health Care and Other Insurance
Coverage for Family Members
VA health care itself is generally veterans-only, but spouses, surviving spouses, and dependent children of certain veterans can be covered through CHAMPVA. To qualify, the veteran must be rated permanently and totally disabled from a service-connected condition, or must have died from a service-connected disability, and the applicant must not be eligible for TRICARE.28VA.gov. CHAMPVA Benefits
CHAMPVA covers inpatient and outpatient care, mental health, prescriptions, maternity, hospice, ambulance services, and medical equipment. Beneficiaries pay a $50 annual deductible per person (capped at $100 per household) and 25% of the allowable amount for covered services, up to a $3,000 annual out-of-pocket household maximum. CHAMPVA is a secondary payer when the beneficiary has other insurance, with a few exceptions like Medicaid where CHAMPVA pays first.29VA.gov. CHAMPVA Care
Family members who care for a seriously disabled veteran may qualify separately for support under the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers. That program serves veterans with a service-connected disability rating of 70% or higher who need at least six months of in-person personal care. Primary family caregivers receive a monthly stipend calculated from federal pay scales for the veteran’s geographic area, health insurance through CHAMPVA if they’re not otherwise covered, mental health counseling, at least 30 days of annual respite care, and financial and legal planning assistance.30VA.gov. Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers31VA.gov. Caregiver Support Benefits