VA Form Lets Veterans Count Medical Bills Against Income
Published Date: 10/28/2026
Notice
Summary
The VA is renewing its Medical Expense Report form, which helps veterans and their families lower their income count by reporting medical costs they paid out of pocket. This update affects about 60,000 people who use VA benefits based on income, and they’ll spend about 30 minutes filling it out once. Comments on this update are open until November 27, 2026, so now’s the time to speak up!
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 1 costs, 0 mixed.
Report Medical Costs to Lower Countable Income
You can use VA Form 21P-8416 to report unreimbursed medical expenses so they are deducted from your countable income for needs-based VA benefits. This applies to benefit programs such as VA Pension and Parents' Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC), and the form is used by Veteran Service Representatives to adjust eligibility and benefit rates for about 60,000 respondents.
One-Time Time Burden to Complete Form
If you use the form, you will spend about 30 minutes filling it out one time. The VA estimates 60,000 respondents and a total annual burden of 30,000 hours for this information collection.
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