United States Department of Veterans Affairs
State Summary: New York
August 2009
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New York
and the
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

General Information

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) offers a wide variety of programs and services for the nation’s 23.4 million veterans.  In 2008, about 5.6 million people were treated in VA health care facilities, 3.8 million veterans and survivors received VA disability compensation or pensions, more than 540,000 used GI Bill education benefits and nearly 180,000 home loans were guaranteed by GI Bill home loan benefits.  Nearly 72,000 veterans took advantage of VA’s vocational rehabilitation and employment service in 2008.  Nationally, veterans held more than 1.3 million life insurance policies valued at $15.5 billion. More than 103,000 veterans and family members were buried in VA’s national cemeteries and more than 360,000 headstones and markers were provided for veterans’ graves worldwide.

 

General Information – New York

  • Number of veterans:  1,026,000
  • VA expenditures in New York:  $3.9 billion
    • Compensation and pensions:  $1.4 billion
    • Readjustment benefits:  $147 million
    • Medical and construction programs:  $2.2 billion
    • Insurance and indemnities:  $76 million
  • Number of veterans and survivors receiving disability compensation or pension payments in New York:  142,265
  • Number of New York veterans using GI Bill education benefits:  15,223
  • Number of home loans in New York backed by VA guarantees:  2,210
  • Value of New York home loans guaranteed by VA:  $357 million
  • Number of VA life insurance policies held by New York residents:  85,036
  • Value of VA life insurance policies held by New York residents:  $984 million 
  • Number of New York participants in vocational rehabilitation:  2,336
  • Number of veterans buried in New York’s VA national cemeteries:  9,945
  • Number of headstones and markers provided for graves of New York veterans and survivors:  23,088

Health Care

One of the most visible of all VA benefits is health care.  VA has 153 hospitals, 755 community-based outpatient clinics, 230 Vet Centers, 132 Community Living Centers, 48 residential rehabilitation treatment programs and 128 comprehensive home care programs.  To improve patients’ ability to access care, VA has changed from a hospital-based system to a primarily outpatient-focused system over the past decade.  Veterans will make more than 65 million outpatient visits to VA health care facilities this year.

 

Health Care - New York

Auburn

Bainbridge

Binghamton

Bronx

Brooklyn (2)

Carmel

Carthage

Catskill

Clifton Park

Cortland

Dunkirk

Elizabethtown

Elmira

Fonda

Glens Falls

Goshen

Harlem

Ithaca

Jamestown

Kingston

Lackawanna

Lockport

Malone

Massena

Monticello

New City

New York

Niagara Falls

Olean

Oswego

Patchogue

Pine Plains

Plainview

Plattsburgh

Port Jervis

Poughkeepsie

Rochester

Rome

Schenectady

Staten Island

Sunnyside

Troy

Warsaw

Wellsville

Westhampton

White Plains

Yonkers 


Post-Conflict Care

VA has launched special efforts to provide a "seamless transition" for those returning from service in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF).  Each VA medical facility and benefits regional office has a point of contact to coordinate activities locally to help meet the needs of these returning combat service members and veterans.  In addition, VA increased the staffing of benefits counselors at key military hospitals where severely wounded service members from Iraq and Afghanistan are frequently sent.  Once home, recent Iraq and Afghan veterans have ready access to VA health care, which is free of charge for five years following separation for any health problem possibly related to wartime service.  Some 425,000 veterans from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have sought VA health care since returning stateside, about 43 percent of the total number of men and women leaving military service.

 

Post-Conflict Care - New York

  • Number of veterans from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan seeking treatment, 2008:  15,050
    • Albany:  1,877
    • Bath:  464
    • Western New York (Buffalo and Batavia):  2,265
    • Canandaigua:  857
    • Syracuse:  3,049
    • Bronx:  1,259
    • New York Harbor (Brooklyn and Manhattan):  3,166
    • Hudson Valley (Castle Point and Montrose):  828
    • Northport:  1,285
  • Veterans Readjustment Counseling Centers (Vet Centers) Locations:

Albany

Babylon

Binghamton

Bronx

Brooklyn

Buffalo

Middletown

New York (Harlem)

New York (Manhattan)

Rochester

Staten Island

Syracuse

Watertown

White Plains

Woodhaven (Queens) 

 

Disabilities and Pensions

Not all military service-related issues end when people are discharged from active duty.  About 2.9 million veterans receive monthly VA disability compensation for medical conditions related to their service in uniform.  VA pensions go to about 316,000 wartime veterans with limited means.  Family members of about 528,000 veterans qualify for monthly VA payments as the survivors of disabled veterans or pension recipients.

 

Disabilities and Pensions - New York

  • Number of veterans receiving monthly disability compensation:  105,631
  • Number of VA pensions to veterans in New York:  14,423
  • Number of death compensation or pension payments made to survivors:  22,211
  • Number of disability compensation claims processed:  22,489

Memorial Affairs

Most men and women who served in the military are eligible for burial in a VA national cemetery, as are their spouses and dependent children.  VA manages the country’s network of national cemeteries with more than 2.9 million gravesites at 128 national cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico, as well as in 33 soldier’s lots and monument sites.  In 2008, more than 103,000 veterans and dependents were buried in VA's national cemeteries.  Additionally, VA provided more than 360,000 headstones and markers and 511,000 Presidential Memorial Certificates to the loved ones of deceased veterans.  VA-assisted state veterans cemeteries provided nearly 25,000 interments.

 

Memorial Affairs – New York

List of State Summaries