VA's billing-review reports left out about 985,000 patient encounters valued at about $1.9 billion that its own policy required staff to recheck, the VA inspector general said in an audit released Oct. 26. The office estimated VA could have collected up to $480 million from private insurers if the care was billable, but said it could not claim a firm dollar benefit. VA agreed to all three recommendations.

Veterans and family caregivers who appealed decisions in VA's main caregiver stipend program waited an average of 581 days for an answer in 2025, up from about 416 days in earlier years, the VA inspector general said Wednesday. VA has no time goal for those appeals and does not publish wait times, the audit found. A backlog of 703 reviews remained in July 2026.