<Tr> <Th> Website </Th> <Td> www.VA.gov </Td> </Tr> <P> The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a federal Cabinet - level agency that provides near - comprehensive healthcare services to eligible military veterans at VA medical centers and outpatient clinics located throughout the country; several non-healthcare benefits including disability compensation, vocational rehabilitation, education assistance, home loans, and life insurance; and provides burial and memorial benefits to eligible veterans and family members at 135 national cemeteries . </P> <P> While veterans benefits have been provided since the American Revolutionary War, an exclusively veteran - focused federal agency, the Veterans Administration, was not established until 1930, and became the cabinet - level Department of Veterans Affairs in 1989 . </P> <P> The VA employs 377,805 people at hundreds of Veterans Affairs medical facilities, clinics, benefits offices, and cemeteries . In Fiscal Year 2016 (1 Oct 2015 - 30 Sep 2016), net program costs for the department were $273 billion, which includes VBA Actuarial Cost of $106.5 billion for compensation benefits . The long - term actuarial accrued liability (total estimated future payments for veterans and their family members) is $2.491 trillion for compensation benefits; $59.6 billion for education benefits; and $4.6 billion for burial benefits . </P>

When was the department of veterans affairs created