VA Extends Caregiver Benefits: The Department of Veterans Affairs has finally given long-needed peace to thousands of families who take care of veterans with very serious injuries. For many of these families, the last few years felt confusing and painful because they had no idea if they would be pushed out of the caregiver program. Now the VA has said they can stay in the program longer, and families say it feels like a huge weight has been lifted.
VA Extends Caregiver Benefits till 2028
On Thursday the VA said it will let what it calls “legacy participants” stay in the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers until September 30, 2028. This update covers caregivers who joined the program before October 1, 2020, and also those who applied before that date but got accepted after.
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The program gives caregivers health care and monthly financial help so they can focus on veterans who need full-time support. It started for post-2001 veteran families, then expanded to include veterans from every war era.
But when the VA changed the rules during the expansion, many families started to panic. The new rules were strict and could have pushed out almost everyone. The VA later realized these changes might remove close to 90% of families in the program, so the agency stopped the plan and tried to fix it.
VA Secretary Doug Collins thanked these families for sticking through it. He said, “Legacy caregivers have helped shape VA’s Caregiver Support Program for many years. This decision underscores VA’s commitment to veterans and caregivers across the nation and will help provide consistency and stability to nearly 15,000 legacy participants for years to come.”
Years of Fear Finally Come to an End
For a long time the caregivers did not know if they would lose everything. Many waited year after year for the VA to say something clear. In May, VA officials hinted that an extension would probably happen, but families still felt unsure until now. Steve Schwab, head of the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, explained earlier this year that families had been living with “fear and anxiety” as an October 2025 deadline came closer.
The long fight started because the program grew so fast after Congress widened it in 2018. The VA made tighter rules to control spending. But these rules focused too much on whether a veteran could do basic tasks, like dressing or eating. They did not think enough about safety or situations where a veteran needs someone watching them all the time. Caregiver groups said the rules did not match real life at all.
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Seven major veterans organizations sent a letter on September 3 to Secretary Collins. They asked the VA to make a clear promise so families would stop worrying. They wrote, “This uncertainty is generating significant anxiety among Legacy participants, and it is limiting our ability as stakeholder organizations to provide them with reassurance or guidance.”
