How Much Is VA Travel Reimbursement (2026 Data)

How much is VA travel reimbursement in 2026? A veteran who drives to a VA appointment is paid 41.5 cents¹ a mile (25.8 cents² per kilometer), minus a deductible of $3¹ each way or $6¹ for a round trip, with the deductible capped at $18¹ a month.¹ The per-mile rate has not moved since November 17, 2008.³ Over the same years the program's yearly bill reached $2.42 billion⁴, and most of that money no longer goes to veterans behind the wheel: in FY2024, ambulances and wheelchair vans took 79.2%² of it.⁵

The sections below work through what a trip actually pays, who qualifies and who is exempt from the deductible, how the rate has lost value to inflation (it is worth 27.8 cents² in 2008 money), how it compares with the 76 cents⁶ a mile federal employees receive, where a program of more than two billion dollars a year spends its money, and how much of it is paid in error: 7.58%⁷ of the payments tested in the latest review were improper or could not be verified.⁷

How much is VA travel pay per mile?

VA pays 41.5 cents¹ for every mile of approved health-related travel, the same rate everywhere in the country. The distance is not what the odometer shows: VA takes the fastest or shortest route from the veteran's home to the closest VA or VA-authorized facility that can provide the care, door to door, calculated with Bing Maps.¹ A scheduled appointment is paid for the round trip; for an unscheduled visit, VA may pay only the return leg.¹ The rate is still $0.415⁴ a mile in FY2027 planning.⁴

The deductible: $3, $6 and $18

Before paying, VA subtracts a deductible of $3¹ for each one-way trip and $6¹ for a round trip, up to $18¹ in a calendar month. After six one-way trips in a month the deductible stops, and VA pays the full amount for every further trip that month.⁸ The deductible is charged in 2026 and is required by law.¹

Three kinds of travel never carry it: special-mode transport such as an ambulance or wheelchair van, travel to a scheduled compensation and pension (C&P) examination, and travel by someone who is not a veteran, such as an attendant.⁸ Veterans facing severe financial hardship can have it waived: those who receive a VA pension, those whose income in the prior year was not above the threshold in 38 U.S.C. 1722(a), and those whose income this year is projected to fall below it. A waiver lasts through the calendar year, or until the veteran's household income no longer qualifies.⁸

What a trip actually pays

The arithmetic is short. A 100-mile round trip earns $41.50² at the mileage rate; after the round-trip deductible the veteran receives $35.50². Three such trips in a month earn $124.50², and with the deductible capped for the month the payment is $106.50². A fourth trip in the same month carries no deductible at all, so four trips pay $148².²

At the other end of the scale, a round trip of about 14.5 miles² earns exactly the $6¹ deductible. A shorter round trip pays nothing on its own until the veteran has reached the monthly cap, after which every mile counts in full.²

What else VA covers

Mileage is only one of the costs VA reimburses. Tickets on a common carrier, such as a plane, train, bus, taxi or light rail, need approval in advance and are paid at actual cost, normally capped at what the same trip would pay in mileage; the cap does not apply when a car is not reasonably available or the carrier is medically necessary.⁸⁹ Tolls, parking and luggage fees are paid at actual cost with receipts. Meals and lodging are paid at actual cost, up to 50%¹ of the local rate for government employees, with receipts and approval in advance.¹ Special-mode transport is covered when it is medically indicated.¹⁰ After emergency transport, VA must be told within 72 hours⁹.⁹

Every claim has a deadline. It must be filed within 30 days⁹ of the appointment, one claim per appointment, and later claims are usually denied. Veterans can file online through the Beneficiary Travel Self-Service System (BTSSS), by mail or in person.⁹

So who actually receives the 41.5 cents¹? Not every veteran who drives to a clinic.⁸

Who qualifies for VA travel reimbursement

Eligibility is set out in 10⁸ categories.⁸ A veteran traveling for care of a service-connected condition qualifies at any disability rating. A veteran rated 30%⁸ or more service connected qualifies for travel for any condition. Travel to a scheduled C&P examination qualifies, as does travel by a veteran who receives a VA pension, whose income is at or below the maximum annual pension rate, or who cannot pay for the trip.⁸

Other people can qualify too. Family members, guardians and household members qualify when they travel for consultation, counseling, training or mental health services connected with a veteran's service-connected care, and a medically required attendant qualifies alongside the veteran.⁸

The categories matter for the deductible as much as for eligibility. The C&P examination is deductible-free, and so is every special-mode trip, while the pension and income categories overlap with the hardship waiver.⁸ The veterans who pay the deductible are therefore mainly those who qualify through a service-connected condition or rating, drive their own car and do not meet the hardship test.⁸

The 41.5 cents¹ has a history longer than most veterans' service.

A rate frozen since November 2008

The travel program dates from 1940.¹¹ From 1978 to 2008, three decades, VA paid 11 cents¹¹ a mile. In 1987 the deductible was set at $11¹¹ for trips of more than 100 miles¹¹, and in 1988 it became $3¹¹ one way with an $18¹¹ monthly limit.¹¹

In 2008 the rate rose twice. On February 1 it went to 28.5 cents¹², the rate federal employees then received when a government car was available, and the deductible rose to $7.77¹² one way, $15.54¹² round trip and $46.62¹² a month.¹² On November 17 the rate reached 41.5 cents³, 3.77² times the 11-cent rate of 1978-2008, and the higher deductible was frozen. On January 9, 2009, a new law put the deductible back at $3³ one way, $6³ round trip and $18³ a month.³ In 2010 the 41.5-cent rate was written into law, together with authority for VA to adjust it toward the federal-employee rate.¹¹

What 41.5 cents is worth now

A rate fixed in cents loses value every year that prices rise. Consumer prices rose 49.5%² from 2008 to 2025, so the 41.5 cents paid in 2025 buys what 27.8 cents² bought in 2008: 33.1%² of its purchasing power is gone.¹³ To match the 2008 rate in 2025 money, VA would have to pay 62.1 cents² a mile.² The measure is the all-items consumer price index, not a gauge of driving costs, and it uses the 2008 annual average even though the rate took effect in November of that year.¹³

The slide was gradual until 2020, when the rate was still worth 34.5 cents², and then quickened: 33.0 cents² in 2021, 30.5 cents² in 2022 and 29.3 cents² in 2023.¹³

The deductible eroded as well. The $3³ one-way deductible restored in January 2009 would be $4.50² in 2025 money, so it has lost 33.4%² of its real value, about as much as the rate's 33.1%².¹³ Rate and deductible shrank together, so the real value of the net payment for a trip has fallen by roughly a third.²

Federal employees driving on official business are paid a very different number.

How the VA rate compares with other federal mileage rates

From July 1, 2026, a federal employee who drives a personal car on official travel is paid 76 cents⁶ a mile. VA's 41.5 cents¹ is 54.6%² of that, a gap of $0.345² a mile.² An employee who drives their own car although a government car was available gets 23.5 cents⁶, and a motorcycle pays 74 cents⁶.⁶

The employee rate for a car has risen in most years since 2017, from 53.5 cents⁶ on January 1, 2017 to 72.5 cents⁶ on January 1, 2026, while VA's rate did not change.⁶

The tax code sets rates of its own, and they are not payments. The medical mileage rate is what a taxpayer may count as a deductible medical expense for driving to care, 23.5 cents¹⁴ a mile from July 1, 2026; the business rate is 76 cents¹⁴ and the charity rate 14 cents¹⁴.¹⁴ VA pays 1.77² times the medical deduction rate, but a deduction only lowers taxable income, while VA's payment is money in hand. The employee rate for drivers who had a government car available has equaled the medical deduction rate every January since 2017.⁶¹⁴

The purposes differ, and so do the numbers. VA must review its own rate each time the federal employee rate changes, and at least once a year, by investigating the actual cost of travel, but it is not bound to adopt the employee rate.⁸

Over a longer span, the business deduction rate climbed from 51 cents¹⁴ in the first half of 2011 to 76 cents¹⁴, while the medical rate moved between 16 cents¹⁴ and 24 cents¹⁴ and the charity rate stayed at 14 cents¹⁴ throughout.¹⁴

From one trip to the whole program.

How much VA spends on travel

VA obligated $916.8 million¹⁵ for beneficiary travel in FY2016 and $2.42 billion⁴ in FY2025, 2.64² times as much.¹⁵⁴ Growth was modest until FY2019, when spending reached $1,021.7 million¹⁶. FY2020 dipped to $890.0 million¹⁷, the only fall in the series, and FY2021 jumped 50.8%² to $1,342.2 million¹⁸.¹⁷¹⁸ Spending reached $1,863.0 million¹⁹ in FY2022 and $2,066.2 million⁵ in FY2024, and FY2025 was another 17.0%² higher.¹⁹⁵

The two ends of the series are measured slightly differently. FY2016 is the grand total of all beneficiary-travel obligations, and FY2025 is measured by object class, as the beneficiary-travel spending of VA's medical-care accounts; FY2017 to FY2024 are totals of the breakdown by type.¹⁵⁴ Comparable figures for FY2012 to FY2015 are not published.

VA's own outlook points the same way. On the narrower Medical Services line, travel spending was $2,030.0 million⁵ in FY2024 and $2,372.1 million⁴ in FY2025, 16.9%² more; the current estimate for FY2026 is $2,633.1 million⁴ and the FY2027 request $2,735.8 million⁴, 1.35² times the FY2024 figure.⁴ In FY2025 that line was funded with $1,975.2 million⁴ of discretionary and $396.9 million⁴ of mandatory money.⁴

The earlier surge, FY2006-FY2011

The steepest climb came earlier. Spending was $198.8 million¹¹ in FY2006 and an estimated $798.0 million¹¹ in FY2011, 4.01² times as much, over a period that spans the 2008 rate increases.¹¹ The number of veterans claiming rose from about 450,000¹¹ in FY2008 to about 586,000¹¹ in FY2009, 30%¹¹ more, and the average claimant filed 7.1¹¹ claims instead of 5.5¹¹; each mileage claim covers one round trip.¹¹

Budgets that miss

Travel spending has proved hard to budget. Actual obligations came in 84.6%² above the request in FY2022 and 22.6%² below it in FY2024; only FY2018 and FY2019 landed within 5.1%² of the plan.² The FY2018 request is the all-program grand total, which also covers travel funded under the Veterans Choice Act, so that comparison is not exactly like for like.¹⁵

Where the money goes: mileage vs special mode

Special mode means an ambulance, a wheelchair van or similar transport, paid when a veteran's condition requires it.¹ In FY2017 special mode and mileage cost almost the same, $454.8 million²⁰ and $455.9 million²⁰.²⁰ By FY2024 special mode had grown 3.60² times to $1,635.6 million⁵, while mileage had fallen 30.7%² to $316.2 million⁵.⁵ The turn came in FY2020 and FY2021: special mode almost doubled from $520.3 million¹⁷ to $1,006.0 million¹⁸, while mileage fell to $298.9 million¹⁷ and then $269.9 million¹⁸.¹⁷¹⁸

Mileage, the part paid to veterans who drive, has been almost flat since FY2022, between $315.0 million¹⁰ and $317.1 million¹⁹ a year.¹⁹¹⁰ With the rate unchanged, flat spending means the miles claimed have not grown either.

As a share of the program, mileage fell from 47.3%² in FY2017 to 15.3%² in FY2024, a drop of 32² percentage points, while special mode rose from 47.2%² to 79.2%².²

In FY2024 alone, the split looked like this: of every dollar, about 79.2² cents went to special mode.²

What VA plans next

VA's plans assume the pattern continues. From the FY2025 estimate to the FY2027 advance appropriation, planned mileage rises 0.7%² and planned special-mode spending 12.4%².⁵ Actual special-mode spending in FY2025 was about $1.88 billion²², out of total travel spending above $2.3 billion²².²²

A rule that would cap what VA pays for special-mode rides, using the Medicare ambulance fee schedule where there is no contract, has been adopted, but its start has been delayed to February 16, 2029.²³

With that much money moving, how much of it is paid correctly?

Improper payments and fraud

Each year VA tests a sample of the previous fiscal year's travel payments, so the FY2025 report covers payments made in FY2024.⁷ In that report, 7.58%⁷ of $2,053.35 million⁷ in outlays were improper or lacked the documentation to show they were proper, $155.67 million⁷ in all.⁷ The rate was 16.42%²⁴ in the FY2020 report and 13.93%²⁴ in the FY2021 report, then fell to 7.90%²⁴ and has stayed between 6.83%²⁴ and 8.1%² since.²⁴ Earlier it was worse: the rate peaked at 25.1%²² in FY2017, and estimated improper payments added up to about $1 billion²² over FY2018 to FY2024.²²

The rate improved while the dollars at risk did not shrink. In the latest report outlays grew 11.05%⁷ and the rate fell 0.51⁷ points, yet the improper-and-unknown amount rose by about $6 million⁷. Most errors came from a lack of administrative qualification and from claims with little or no documentation uploaded.⁷

Fraud proven in court is a small part of that total. Over FY2018 to FY2024, 10²² beneficiary-travel fraud cases were adjudicated. In 8 of the 10 cases, at least 892²² fraudulent claims and at least $219,000²² were involved, mostly from beneficiaries who reported false addresses; the other two involved conspiracy, bribery and contract fraud in special-mode transport. Fraud proven in court may reflect only a small part of the fraud that actually occurs.²² Online claims through BTSSS went nationwide in November 2020, and the system fell short of its implementation goals between February 2021 and July 2022.²⁵

Behind the budget lines are 18.3 million² veterans, spread very unevenly.²⁶

Where veterans live

No state split of travel spending exists, but the veterans the program serves are counted by state. Texas had 1,538,426²⁶ living veterans in FY2023, California 1,474,935²⁶ and Florida 1,412,962²⁶; no other state had even half as many as Florida.²⁶ Vermont, with 38,592²⁶, had the fewest of any state, and the District of Columbia counted 27,916²⁶.²⁶

Ranked, the ten largest veteran populations run from Texas down to Illinois, with 621,229²⁶.²⁶

The total is shrinking. There were 26,662,356²⁶ veterans in FY2000, 21,222,138²⁶ in FY2016 and 18,266,976²⁶ in FY2023, a fall of 31.5%² since 2000 and 13.9%² since FY2016.²⁶ The same model projects 17,587,687²⁷ veterans on September 30, 2025, 12%²⁷ of them women, and 8.62 million²⁷ veterans were enrolled in VA health care in April 2026.²⁷

The decline will continue but slow. A straight line through FY2000-FY2023 reaches about 9.3 million² in 2050, while the official projection model, which allows for deaths slowing as the Vietnam-era generation passes, expects about 11.6 million²⁸ veterans in 2050, a fall averaging about 1.7%² a year from FY2023.²⁸²

The population is also old: 45.5%² of veterans were 65 or older in FY2023, and 1,292,775²⁶ were 85 or older.²⁶

Fewer veterans and a bigger bill mean more spending per head: $43.20² per living veteran in FY2016 and $105.13² in FY2023, 2.43² times as much.² This divides the whole program by all living veterans, most of whom never file a travel claim, so it measures the program's size, not what a claimant receives.

What the numbers mean for a veteran's budget

For a veteran who drives to care, the monthly cap matters almost as much as the rate. The deductible stops at $18¹, so four 100-mile round trips in a month pay $148², while a single trip pays $35.50². Frequent travelers lose a smaller share of their mileage to the deductible.²

Short trips are where the deductible bites. A round trip under about 14.5 miles² pays nothing on its own, and inflation has cut the rate itself to 27.8 cents² in 2008 money. Veterans who receive a VA pension or pass the income test can have the deductible waived, and it never applies to a C&P examination.⁸

For the program, both the money and the unresolved rules sit in special mode. Ambulance and wheelchair-van rides took 79.2%² of spending in FY2024, and the rule that would cap their rates is not due to take effect until 2029.²³ Mileage, the part paid to veterans who drive, stays at about $316.2 million⁵ a year.

For every claimant, timing counts. A claim filed after 30 days⁹ is usually denied, and the errors found in payment testing are mostly about qualification and missing documents, so a complete claim filed on time avoids the most common problems.⁹⁷

Conclusions

1. A frozen rate is a quiet cut. The 41.5 cents paid since November 2008 is worth 27.8 cents in 2008 money and is 54.6% of the federal-employee rate. The $3 deductible restored in 2009 lost 33.4% of its value too, so the net payment for a trip has fallen by about a third in real terms.
2. The per-mile answer covers a shrinking slice of the program. Mileage spending fell 30.7% from FY2017 to FY2024 while special mode grew 3.60 times; by FY2024 mileage was only 15.3% of the bill.
3. Spending grows while veterans decline. Living veterans fell 13.9% from FY2016 to FY2023, but spending per veteran rose from $43.20 to $105.13, 2.43 times as much.
4. The program is hard to forecast. Actual spending missed the budget request by +84.6% in FY2022 and -22.6% in FY2024, and VA's own plans still show special mode rising 12.4% to FY2027 while mileage stays flat.
5. Accuracy improved, but the dollars at risk did not shrink. The improper-and-unknown rate fell from 16.42% to 7.58% across the FY2020 to FY2025 reports, yet the FY2025 report still found $155.67 million as outlays passed $2 billion.