Ask a Service Officer: VA's 8 Priority Groups

Q. Am I eligible for enrollment in the VA’s health care Priority Groups?

A. VA set up eight Priority Groups to make sure that certain groups of veterans are able to be enrolled before others. Based on your specific eligibility status, you will be assigned a Priority Group, which range from 1 to 8 with 1 being the highest priority for enrollment.

  • Priority Group 1: Veterans with a 50 percent or higher service-connected rating and/or determined by VA to be unemployable.
  • Priority Group 2: Veterans with service-connected disabilities rated 30 percent or 40 percent.
  • Priority Group 3: POW, Purple Heart recipients and veterans who were discharged for disabilities incurred or aggravated in the line of duty, service-connected at 10 percent or 20 percent and receiving benefits under 38 US Code 1151 or vocational rehabilitation.
  • Priority Group 4: Veterans in receipt of compensation or pension at the housebound or aid and attendance rate, and/or veterans determined by VA to be catastrophically disabled.
  • Priority Group 5: Non-service-connected veterans and noncompensable service-connected veterans rated 0 percent and/or with net worth not greater than VA financial thresholds, and veterans receiving pension benefits or eligible for Medicaid.
  • Priority Group 6: Veterans who are 0 percent service-connected; exposed to ionizing radiation during atmospheric testing or during the occupation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; served in Vietnam between Jan. 9, 1962 to May 7, 1975; Persian Gulf War veterans who served between Aug. 2, 1990 to Nov. 11, 1998; served on active duty at Camp Lejeune for not fewer than 30 days beginning Aug. 1, 1953 to Dec. 31, 1987; served in a theater of combat operations after Nov. 11, 1998 as follows: Currently enrolled Veterans and new enrollees who were discharged from active duty on or after January 28, 2003, are eligible for the enhanced benefits for 5 years post discharge or Combat Veterans who were discharged between January 2009 and January 2011, and did not enroll in the VA health care during their 5 year period of eligibility have an additional one year to enroll and receive care.
  • Priority Group 7: Veterans with income below the geographically-adjusted income threshold for their resident location and agrees to pay copays.
  • Priority Group 8: Veterans with gross household incomes above the VA national income threshold and agrees to pay copays.

It is important to remember that although you may not be enrolled in a Priority Group, you may still be eligible for care should you experience a catastrophic health event.