Department of Veterans Affairs

The Department of Veterans Affairs, formerly the Veterans Administration, is the agency of the government directly responsible for managing benefits paid to veterans of the military services of the United States of America. The abbreviation "VA" still applies to this Department, as a hangover from the days before President George H. W. Bush transformed the old VA into a Cabinet-level Department headed by a Secretary, an officer ranking higher than an agency director.

The most visible part of the Department of Veterans Affairs is the Veterans Affairs Medical Center System. The VA maintains hospitals in every major city in the United States. Most, though not all, of these have affiliations with local medical schools, and thus most VA doctors are professors of medicine, or medical residents, with the assistance of medical-student clinical clerks and externs.

## See also[edit]

* Secretary of Veterans Affairs