Sec. Collins highlights VA accomplishments, pledges additional improvements ahead of Veterans Day

WASHINGTON - VA Secretary Doug Collins released the following statement on Veterans Day 2026:

"America celebrated her 250th anniversary this year, a milestone that would not have been possible without the millions of American Veterans who fought to defend our great nation. Each Veterans Day, we honor the service and sacrifice of these heroes while redoubling our efforts to take care of them once they've hung up the uniform.

"Delivering the care and benefits Veterans have earned through their service is our job at the Department of Veterans affairs, and under President Trump, VA is doing that better, faster and more efficiently than ever before. We're not done, however, and we look forward to ushering in even more improvements in the near future."

Key VA accomplishments of the second Trump Administration:

• VA has opened 47 new healthcare clinics, expanding access for Veterans around the country.
• The backlog of Veterans waiting for VA benefits is down nearly 70% since Jan. 20, 2025.
• VA has cut the average disability claims processing time by 46% since Jan. 20, 2025.
• VA processed a record high 3.11 million compensation claims in FY2026, a 23.5% increase from FY2024. VA granted more than 60% of the claims filed, with the highest accuracy rate in three years (nearly 94%), and only about 3% of these decisions were appealed to the Board of Veterans' Appeals.
• VA has enrolled more than 330,000 new Veterans in VA healthcare in 2026.
• VA completed a record-high 82.7 million direct care appointments in FY2026, a 4.9% increase from FY2024.
• VA completed a record-high 68.1 million community care appointments in FY2026, a 26.7% increase from FY2024.
• VA invested nearly $5 billion in FY26 to modernize, repair and improve healthcare facilities, the largest non-recurring maintenance investment in VA's history.
• Since Jan. 20, 2025, VA has offered Veterans more than 3.5 million appointments outside of normal operating hours. These early-morning, evening, and weekend appointments are giving Veterans more timely and convenient options for care.
• VA put the deployment of VA's electronic health modernization effort back on track by successfully deploying it to five sites in Ohio and Kentucky, four sites in Michigan, three sites in Indiana, and one in Alaska .
• In FY2025 and FY2026, VA housed more than 95,000 homeless Veterans.