Overall trust in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has reached an all-time high. In the first quarter of fiscal year 2026, 82% of Veterans who used VA services—including health care, benefits, burials and memorials—reported that they trust VA to fulfill the nation’s commitment to them.
Additionally, trust in VA outpatient health care is also rising, with 93.6% of Veterans reporting they trust VA for their health care needs.
“Veterans First isn’t a slogan, it’s a promise—and it starts with listening,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins. This sentiment reflects VA’s ongoing efforts to engage directly with Veterans about their experiences by gathering their feedback to improve services.
What Veterans are saying about their experience
The quarterly VA Trust survey measures the overall ease, effectiveness and emotional resonance experienced by Veterans. This quarter hit record highs:
- 77.3% of Veterans said it was easy to get the care or services they needed.
- 81.4% said they got the care or services they needed.
- 79.5% said they felt like a valued customer when interacting with VA.
Veterans’ feedback is essential for improving services across VA. Since May 2016, VA has sent nearly 124 million digital surveys and received more than 17.8 million responses—including over 6.1 million free‑text comments where Veterans describe their experiences in their own words. These comments provide valuable insights into Veterans’ experiences, helping VA understand what is working well and what needs more attention.
How VA served Veterans this quarter
The numbers reveal a significant impact:
- Over 4.8 million Veterans received VA health care, totaling more than 29 million clinical encounters including 19.2 million in-person appointments and 7.4 million telehealth or telephone appointments.
- 14.5 million calls were answered across VA contact centers. The Veterans Crisis Line received over 292,000 calls (Dial 988, then press 1) and 45,500 calls were made to the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans.
- Nearly 750,000 disability and pension claims, over 1 million education and supplemental claims, and about 170,900 home loan guarantees were processed.
Need support or want to explore VA benefits?
Visit VA.gov, download the VA Welcome Kit at VA.gov/welcome-kit, or call 1‑800‑MyVA411 (800‑698‑2411) at any time, day or night.
Your experience matters. If you’re a Veteran, your voice shapes the future of VA services. Keep sharing your feedback, stay connected with your VA benefits and help us continue building a system that puts Veterans first.
Topics in this story
More Stories
VA recently briefed Senators Joni Ernst and Kirsten Gillibrand on VA's efforts for improving care programs for domestic and sexual violence survivors.
This post includes links to job listings for the week of April 6, 2026. We will continue to post listings as we receive them for the locations listed.
Veteran Jasmine Paul credits DAV Patriot Boot Camp for her breakthrough in business. Applications are open for the next opportunity.
I believe there are some who are justified in their anger towards the VA, but I myself, am extremely grateful for the care I have received over the last 5 years. My local Health Care Team saved my life. I have on average, 8 VA Medical appointments per year, and I can’t think of one time when I ran into another vet in a waiting room or cafeteria that was unhappy with the care they were receiving.
Received care from South Texas. The Psy Pharm L. Petcock? Peacock? was late for a VCC appointment on 4/2/2026 830am, showing up non-apologetic, arrogant and unapproachable. She started off reading the note from social worker. Then, without hesitation push back to the patient to go back to the social worker and tell the patient to DIY to find out some other type of department as if the patient is fully mentally and physically capable which is really offensive to someone need help and under her care. When she triggered the sense of the patient by her indifference and arrogance, she told the patient she’d hang up and that exactly what she did.. she has nothing accomplished; mission failed. Her incapability to care, insensitive to trigger patient angry is toxic to her team. After her fail mission, there is at least 4 to 7 South Texas staff, Vet crisis hotline, patient advocate team, coordinators has to cover her failed mission. Patient is severely harmed.
This survey is from the first quarter of FY-’26, meaning October-December of 2025, before the current administration took office. I’m willing to bet if you conducted this survey again, the results would be drastically different.
The VA is helping me!!!
We do have the Greatest & most competent VA (Healthcare Professionals in the World) Bar None…Thank You VA