The American Rescue Plan was signed into law on March 11th, 2021.  How will this affect our Veterans?

• $1 billion for debt forgiveness related to copayments or other cost sharing that Veterans paid for VA health care, and to reimburse Veterans who paid a copay or other cost sharing for care and prescriptions provided from April 6, 2020 through Sept. 30, 2021.

• $262 million to reduce the backlog of compensation and pension claims, which has grown from 76,000 in March 2020 to more than 212,000 in March 2021. The ARP funding will enable the Veterans Benefits Administration to reduce the claims backlog to around 100,000 by September 2022.

• $10 million to decrease the Board of Veterans’ Appeals hearing requests (currently 87,499) and intake (35,000 appeals) backlogs. These efforts help Veterans economically by resolving their VA appeals and, if granted, allowing them to begin receiving compensation and services.

• Assists communities disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, many of which are Veterans living in diverse communities across the country. Women and racial/ethnic minorities are becoming the fastest-growing populations of Veterans, and the COVID-19 pandemic and corresponding economic crisis have hit communities of color and women particularly hard.

Read more about the ARP