VA Announces Special Health Care Enrollment Period for Certain Combat Veterans

WASHINGTON (August 22, 2023) – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced that Veterans who deployed to a combat zone and left Active Duty between Sept.11, 2001, and Oct. 1, 2013, have until Sept. 30, 2023, to enroll directly in VA health care.

The special enrollment period, part of the PACT Act, offers Veterans who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and other combat zones an opportunity to enroll directly in VA health care without first applying for VA benefits. The deadline for enrollment is 11:59 p.m., Sept. 30.

VA encourages these Veterans to visit VA.gov/PACT or call 1-800-MYVA411 to learn more and enroll in VA health care before the deadline. Veterans who receive VA health care are proven to have better health outcomes than non-enrolled Veterans, according to VA.

In a little more than a year since the PACT Act has been in effect, more than 344,000 Veterans have enrolled in VA care and more than 4.2 million enrolled Veterans have been screened for toxic exposures.

To read more, see this recent VA press release announcing the special enrollment period for eligible Veterans.