VA benefits

VA health care priority groups

All eight priority groups ranked, what puts you in each one, and why Group 4 outranks Group 3 despite the larger number.

The eight VA health care priority groups, highest priority first. Group 1: 50 percent or more service-connected, TDIU, or Medal of Honor, and no copays. Group 2: 30 or 40 percent service-connected. Group 3: 10 or 20 percent, Purple Heart, discharged for a line-of-duty disability, former prisoners of war, or benefits under 38 USC 1151. Group 4: receiving Aid and Attendance or Housebound benefits, or catastrophically disabled, which outranks Group 3 despite the larger number. Group 5: rated at 0 percent, below both income thresholds, receiving VA pension, or Medicaid eligible. Group 6: specific service exposures including Agent Orange, Camp Lejeune, Gulf War, Project 112 SHAD, and post-9/11 combat veterans in their free-care window. Group 7: income below the geographic threshold but above the national one. Group 8: income above the geographic threshold. Groups are reassessed, and a new rating, a lower income reported on Form 10-10EZR, or a documented exposure can move you up.

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Source: VA health care priority groups — Military Transition Toolkit (https://www.militarytransitiontoolkit.com/diagrams/va-priority-groups-ladder)

Embed snippet

<figure>
  <img src="https://www.militarytransitiontoolkit.com/diagrams/va-priority-groups-ladder.png"
       alt="The eight VA health care priority groups, highest priority first. Group 1: 50 percent or more service-connected, TDIU, or Medal of Honor, and no copays. Group 2: 30 or 40 percent service-connected. Group 3: 10 or 20 percent, Purple Heart, discharged for a line-of-duty disability, former prisoners of war, or benefits under 38 USC 1151. Group 4: receiving Aid and Attendance or Housebound benefits, or catastrophically disabled, which outranks Group 3 despite the larger number. Group 5: rated at 0 percent, below both income thresholds, receiving VA pension, or Medicaid eligible. Group 6: specific service exposures including Agent Orange, Camp Lejeune, Gulf War, Project 112 SHAD, and post-9/11 combat veterans in their free-care window. Group 7: income below the geographic threshold but above the national one. Group 8: income above the geographic threshold. Groups are reassessed, and a new rating, a lower income reported on Form 10-10EZR, or a documented exposure can move you up."
       width="720" height="502">
  <figcaption>
    VA health care priority groups. Source:
    <a href="https://www.militarytransitiontoolkit.com/diagrams/va-priority-groups-ladder">Military Transition Toolkit</a>
  </figcaption>
</figure>

Where this comes from

This diagram is drawn from VA priority groups, explained for families, which cites the regulations and rate tables behind every figure shown here. If a rate changes, the guide and the diagram are updated together.

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