VA welcomes Joshua Jacobs as Under Secretary for Benefits

WASHINGTON — Today, Joshua Jacobs was confirmed as VA’s Under Secretary for Benefits — marking the first time since 2014 that VA has a confirmed Under Secretary for Benefits, Under Secretary for Health, and Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs. In this role, Jacobs will lead the Veterans Benefits Administration in the delivery of earned benefits to Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors.

“Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors deserve world-class benefits for their service to our country, and there’s nobody better to lead VA in delivering those benefits than Josh Jacobs,” said VA Secretary Denis McDonough. “Josh is an excellent leader who has dedicated his career to advocating for Veterans — and under his leadership, I’m confident that VA will continue delivering more benefits, more quickly, to more Veterans than ever before.”   

In this role, Jacobs will help oversee the implementation of the PACT Act, the biggest expansion of Veteran health care and benefits in generations. Since President Biden signed the PACT Act into law Aug. 10, 2022, Veterans and their survivors have filed more than 500,000 PACT Act-related claims for toxic exposure benefits. To date, VA has awarded more than $1 billion in earned benefits to Veterans and survivors who filed PACT Act-related claims. 

VBA is currently delivering more benefits, more quickly, to more Veterans than ever before. In April, VBA processed its millionth disability compensation and pension claim during fiscal year 2023, putting VA on pace to process a record number of Veteran claims for the third year in a row. Thanks to aggressive hiring and modernization efforts, VA processed a record number of Veteran claims in 2021, exceeded that in 2022, and is on track to exceed it again in 2023. In total, VA has delivered more than $65 billion in earned compensation benefits to Veterans during fiscal year 2023.