VA Mandated to Release 5 Years of Annual Veteran Death Reports, Tracking Disability Status and Cause

The Justice for America’s Veterans and Survivors Act of 2025 is kicking off with a significant data collection mandate aimed squarely at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Essentially, this bill says the VA needs to stop guessing and start reporting exactly how and why our veterans are dying.

The New Data Deep Dive

Section 2 of the Act amends existing law (Title 38, United States Code) to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit a detailed annual report to the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees. This isn't just a simple tally; the report must contain specific, granular data about veterans who died during the reporting period. The goal is to generate a clear, evidence-based picture of veteran mortality.

The most critical part of this mandate is the requirement to track a few key data points for every deceased veteran. The VA must report the primary cause of death, any secondary cause, and the manner of death (e.g., natural, accidental). Crucially, the VA must also state whether the veteran had a service-connected disability rated as total. This is the policy gold, because it allows Congress and researchers to finally draw a direct line between total service-connected disabilities and specific mortality outcomes.

Why This Matters for Policy

Think of this as Congress getting a much-needed x-ray of veteran health. Right now, when advocates or policymakers talk about veteran mortality, they often rely on broad statistics. By requiring the VA to correlate specific causes of death with the highest level of disability status, the government gains the necessary data to identify systemic problems. For example, if the reports show a disproportionate number of veterans with total service-connected disabilities are dying from a particular condition, it provides undeniable evidence that the VA needs to dedicate more resources, research, or specialized care to that specific issue. This moves future policy decisions from guesswork to data-driven strategy.

The Five-Year Clock

Here’s the catch: this new reporting requirement is temporary. Section 2 explicitly states that this mandate will terminate five years after the Act is enacted. For the next half-decade, the VA has to compile this highly detailed data, but then the requirement goes away. While five years of clean, specific data is incredibly valuable for establishing baseline trends and identifying urgent needs, the termination clause means that the long-term, longitudinal tracking stops just as the data starts getting really interesting. The VA will face an increased administrative burden to collect and compile this data, but the payoff is better-informed policy that could genuinely improve outcomes for those who served. It's a heavy lift for the VA's data teams, but it’s a necessary one if we want to ensure the services provided actually align with the real health challenges veterans are facing today.