Is the VA Limiting Mental Health Care?
In February 2025, VA Secretary Doug Collins went on the record at VA.gov, stating, “We’re putting Veterans number one back at the VA,” and denied that VA healthcare would suffer due to reorganization and cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
However, it appears that this pledge may not apply to veteran mental healthcare services. Is this a “promises made, promises broken” scenario for some at the Department of Veterans Affairs? Some say yes, as we’ll examine below.
No VA Benefits Cuts?
According to the February 2025 VA Secretary blog, one “rumor” Collins addressed was that veterans’ benefits were being cut, with Collins going on the record to state, “They’re not.”
The VA Secretary’s blog claims “VA had redirected nearly $98 million toward Veterans’ care and services rather than reducing them.”
But don’t tell that to mental healthcare providers from five states who complained to The War Horse, an award-winning nonprofit news organization focused on the military.
Non-Profit Reporting Reveals Trouble at the VA
According to an August 2025 article by The War Horse, those providers claim “VA medical centers across the country” have placed certain limits “on one-on-one mental health therapy in recent years and transitioning veterans to lower levels of treatment.”
The article adds, “Mental health providers in the Northeast have even been disciplined for seeing too many patients for too long, according to documents reviewed by The War Horse.”
The Department of Veterans Affairs disputes these claims. According to reporting by The War Horse, when asked about the concerns of mental healthcare providers, “a VA spokesperson insisted the claims of widespread caps on individual mental health sessions are untrue.”
Is it Safe to Believe the VA Regarding Mental Healthcare?
The VA has a less-than-stellar record on several issues. They include the troubled rollout of the MHS GENESIS medical records system, overpayments on VA benefits to disabled veterans that the VA then tried to claw back after its own error, and more.
How much more?
USA Today published the results of an investigation in 2017 titled, “VA conceals shoddy care and health workers’ mistakes,” noting:
“USA TODAY reviewed hundreds of confidential VA records, including about 230 secret settlement deals never before seen by the public. The records from 2014 and 2015 offer a narrow window into a secretive, long-standing government practice that allows the VA to cut short employees’ challenges to discipline.”
Furthermore, “…(V)eterans’ hospitals signed secret settlement deals with dozens of doctors, nurses and health care workers that included promises to conceal serious mistakes — from inappropriate relationships and breakdowns in supervision to dangerous medical errors – even after forcing them out of the VA.”
Some will complain about the date of that reportage. Surely the Department of Veterans Affairs has improved since then?
Inspector General Reports About the VA in 2025
An August 2025 article by Rawls Law Group notes, “The VA Office of Inspector General’s 2025 staffing report paints a troubling picture of Veterans Affairs healthcare. Severe VA staffing shortages have skyrocketed, hitting every single one of the VA’s 139 medical centers. While VA officials wave off the Inspector General findings as unreliable, the reality for veterans tells a different story.”
Rawls Law Group goes a step further. “Here’s what many veterans don’t realize: VA staffing shortages can create legal liability under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). When inadequate staffing contributes to medical errors or delayed care, veterans can file FTCA claims against the VA for medical malpractice.”
In a separate case in 2025, the governor of the State of Virginia brought a lawsuit against the federal government. At issue? An allegation that the VA is ignoring a Supreme Court order regarding GI Bill benefits.
The Bottom Line
Some will feel a desire to push back against the information presented in this article. Some may not believe the problems at the Department of Veterans Affairs are as bad as what’s mentioned here.
With that in mind, skeptics should visit the federal government’s Office of the Inspector General official website, which features an extensive list of IG investigations into the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The facts in these federal documents are clear. Common complaints in these IG reports include a lack of oversight, which seems to be the least of the VA’s problems in some cases, and the core of the issue in others.
A lack of responsiveness and inadequate attention to the quality of care provided at VA facilities and by VA providers are also prominently featured in some of these official IG reports.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has, in 2025, published a number of press statements and VA Secretary Blogs that try to put a positive spin on the VA’s operations, but the burden of proof remains squarely upon the Department of Veterans Affairs to back up its press releases with facts, working programs, and veteran-focused policies. Simply stating there are no cuts to services or benefits isn’t enough.
About the author
Editor-in-Chief Joe Wallace is a 13-year veteran of the United States Air Force and a former reporter/editor for Air Force Television News and the Pentagon Channel. His freelance work includes contract work for Motorola, VALoans.com, and Credit Karma. He is co-founder of Dim Art House in Springfield, Illinois, and spends his non-writing time as an abstract painter, independent publisher, and occasional filmmaker.
