VA Health Care Enrollment Guide: Who Qualifies and How to Apply

VA health care enrollment comes down to 3 questions. Did you serve on active duty? Was your discharge anything other than dishonorable? And did you serve long enough, or do you fall into 1 of the groups that skip the length-of-service rule?

If the answer to all 3 is yes, you can apply today. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the part of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that runs the hospitals and clinics, decides most applications in less than 1 week. You do not need a disability rating, a low income or combat service. Combat and toxic-exposure service do put you in a better priority group.

This guide covers who is eligible and how to apply. For what VA care includes and what it costs once you are in, read the companion guide to VA health care coverage and 2026 copays.

VA's eligibility page sets 2 baseline requirements. You may be eligible if both of these are true:

• You served on active duty and did not get a dishonorable discharge. Honorable, general and most other-than-honorable (OTH) discharges do not bar you outright (more on OTH discharges below). A dishonorable discharge does, and
• You met the minimum duty requirement. This applies if you enlisted after September 7, 1980, or entered active duty after October 16, 1981. It means 24 continuous months of service, or the full period for which you were called to active duty. Veterans who served before those dates have no minimum.

The 24-month rule does not apply if you were discharged for:

• a disability caused or made worse by your active-duty service,
• hardship, or
• an "early out."

Reserve and National Guard members: you may be eligible if you were called to active duty by a federal order and completed the full period of that order. Training-only status (weekend drills, annual training) does not count on its own.

If you served less than 24 months and no exception fits, apply anyway. VA checks your record against every category below.

"Enhanced eligibility" means VA places you in a higher priority group than income alone would give you. You may have enhanced eligibility if you meet the basic service and discharge rules and at least 1 of these is true:

• You receive VA disability compensation.
• You were discharged for a disability caused or worsened by your service.
• You are a combat veteran discharged on or after September 11, 2001.
• You receive a VA pension.
• You are a former prisoner of war (POW).
• You received a Purple Heart or the Medal of Honor.
• You get Medicaid benefits or are eligible for them.
• You were exposed to toxins or hazards, such as chemicals, pesticides, lead, asbestos, certain paints, nuclear weapons or X-rays.
• You served in the Gulf War between August 2, 1990, and November 11, 1998.
• You served at Camp Lejeune for at least 30 days between August 1, 1953, and December 31, 1987, or
• You served in Vietnam-era locations covered by Agent Orange rules (Vietnam, Thailand bases, Laos, Cambodia, Guam, American Samoa, Johnston Atoll) during the listed dates.

What the PACT Act changed

The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act of 2022, Public Law 117-168, became law on August 10, 2022. Starting March 5, 2024, VA expanded health care enrollment to every toxic-exposed veteran at once, years ahead of the law's original schedule.

Under the PACT Act you may be eligible to enroll now, without applying for disability benefits first, if you meet the basic rules and at least 1 of these is true:

• You served on or after September 11, 2001, in Afghanistan, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Uzbekistan or Yemen, or the airspace above them.
• You served on or after August 2, 1990, in Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia or the United Arab Emirates, or the airspace above them.
• You deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), Freedom's Sentinel, Iraqi Freedom (OIF), New Dawn (OND), Inherent Resolve or Resolute Support Mission, or
• You were exposed to toxins or other hazards during training or active duty.

Every enrolled veteran now gets a toxic exposure screening, with a follow-up at least once every 5 years.

The combat-veteran 10-year window

If you served in a theater of combat operations after November 11, 1998, and were discharged on or after October 1, 2013, VA places you in priority group 6 for 10 years from your discharge date. OEF, OIF and OND veterans get free care for any condition related to their Iraq or Afghanistan service during those 10 years. When the 10 years end, VA moves you to the highest group you are still eligible for.

VA sorts every enrollee into 1 of 8 priority groups under 38 CFR 17.36, in Title 38 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The group is based on service history, disability rating, income, Medicaid status and other benefits. Your group decides which copays you owe and, when VA budgets are tight, whether you can enroll at all.

Source: https://www.va.gov/health-care/eligibility/priority-groups/ and https://www.va.gov/health-care/copay-rates/, effective January 1, 2026.

3 rules cut across every group. Care for a service-connected condition is always free. A rating of 10% or higher means no outpatient or inpatient copays. And only group 1 is fully exempt from medication copays; groups 2 through 8 can owe them for drugs that treat non-service-connected conditions. The dollar amounts, and the 2026 medication cap, are in the coverage and copay guide.

Groups 7 and 8 are decided by a geographic means test. VA compares your prior-year gross household income to a national limit and to a limit adjusted for your county. Check the current figure for your ZIP code in VA's income limits lookup.

For a deeper walk-through of how VA assigns groups, see VA priority groups explained.

VA's how-to-apply page lists what the application asks for.

• Discharge papers. Your DD Form 214 or equivalent, plus your service history (branch, dates, deployments).
• Social Security numbers for you, your spouse and any qualified dependents.
• Insurance cards for every plan that covers you, including Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE and employer plans. VA bills private insurance for non-service-connected care, so this matters for your copays. See how VA health care works with other insurance.
• Last year's gross household income and your deductible health care and education expenses. VA only needs this if it must use income to decide your eligibility or copays. If you already fall into an enhanced group, you can skip the financial section.
• A VA.gov sign-in if you apply online. VA now accepts only ID.me and Login.gov accounts. Older My HealtheVet and DS Logon passwords no longer work.

Watch out: An insurance section left blank can cost you money. Listing your private insurance does not raise your costs. Payments VA collects from your private insurer can offset part or all of your VA copay.

The form is VA Form 10-10EZ, Instructions and Enrollment Application for Health Benefits. The same form works for all 4 routes.

1. Apply online. Go to VA.gov's health care application, sign in with ID.me or Login.gov, and complete the 10-10EZ. You can save and return to it.
2. Or apply by phone. Call 877-222-8387 (TTY: 711), Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET. A VA staff member fills the form in with you.
3. Or apply by mail. Print and sign the 10-10EZ and send it to: Health Eligibility Center, PO Box 5207, Janesville, WI 53547-5207.
4. Or apply in person. Bring a signed 10-10EZ to the enrollment office at your nearest VA medical center or clinic.
5. Get help if you want it. An accredited attorney, claims agent or Veterans Service Organization (VSO) representative can complete and submit the form for you at no charge.
6. Wait for the letter. VA says it decides most applications in less than 1 week and mails a decision letter.

Already enrolled and need to update income, insurance or dependents? Use VA Form 10-10EZR, the Health Benefits Update Form, not a new 10-10EZ. Extended care has its own application, VA Form 10-10EC. Our post on Form 10-10EZ, section by section walks through each field.

VA's after-you-apply page lays out the sequence:

1. Decision letter by mail. It states whether you were approved and which priority group VA assigned.
2. Welcome call. A VA staff member phones to welcome you and help set up your first appointment. If you asked for an appointment on the 10-10EZ, VA may schedule it before the call.
3. Veterans Health Benefits Handbook. VA mails a personalized handbook that explains your benefits and copay status.
4. VA health ID card. Request it online or in person at your VA medical center. You use it to check in.
5. First appointment and primary care team. See how to find and change your VA primary care provider and the prescription benefits guide for your first VA refill.

If a week passes with no letter or call, phone 877-222-8387 (TTY: 711) rather than filing again.

Bridge to your claim: VA treatment records become part of the file when a veteran later files for disability compensation. A record that documents a condition's history from service is the kind of evidence a first disability claim relies on. A rating of 10% or more moves you up the priority groups.

If VA denies your application, the letter says why. Common reasons are a service period under 24 months with no exception, income above the group 8 limit, or a discharge VA has not yet characterized. You can send new evidence (a corrected DD-214, a record of a qualifying deployment, updated income) with a new 10-10EZ. You can also get free help reading the letter from a VA-accredited representative.

If your discharge is other than honorable (OTH), bad conduct or dishonorable, VA says you may not be eligible, and gives 2 routes:

• Ask VA for a Character of Discharge review. You do this by applying for the benefit; VA then decides whether your service counts as "other than dishonorable" for VA purposes. VA has reported that over 3 years it granted access to benefits or care in more than 72% of these OTH decisions.
• Apply to your service branch for a discharge upgrade.

While a review is pending, some care is still open to you. Under Public Law 115-141 (2018), VA can give former service members with OTH discharges an initial mental health assessment and follow-on care for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, substance use and military sexual trauma. PTSD is treatable. Emergency care at a VA medical center does not depend on your discharge status or on being enrolled. If you are in crisis now, call the Veterans Crisis Line at 988 and press 1.

Former service members with more than 100 days of combat or contingency service, or who experienced military sexual trauma, are also covered by VA's free emergent suicide care policy, explained in the coverage guide.

VA enrollment is federal, but most states run health programs that stack on top of it. Common ones are state veterans homes for nursing and domiciliary care, veteran mental health lines, and Medicaid programs that fill gaps such as dental and long-term care. If you are over 65, read the Medicare coordination guide before deciding what to drop.