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Source: USAspending.gov award data archive, VA (agency 036), FY2008–present · measure: net obligations · latest action 2026-09-04 · figures computed 2026-09-27 · data-quality register also uses SAM.gov and SBA extracts · data sources
VA pays for care veterans receive from community providers. Two public award records describe that spending — the network contracts with VA's third-party administrators, and VHA's county-level purchased-care records — and VA reports its Community Care outlays separately on PaymentAccuracy.gov. This page sets the three side by side. It is a reconciliation of public figures, not a finding that any payment was duplicated.
(1) and (2): net obligations by action-date fiscal year · (3): outlays · hollow point = partial year
In FY2014–FY2023, network-contract obligations and purchased-care records together exceed VA's reported Community Care outlays. If the two records describe entirely different care, VA obligated the sum; if one contains the other, the true figure is nearer the larger of the two. The shaded band marks that range. In FY2022 it runs from $21.9B to $43.3B, against $17.4B of reported outlays.
| Fiscal year | (1) Network contracts | (2) 64.029 purchased care | (1) + (2) | (3) Reported outlays | Possible overlap band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2011 | $9.5M | $4.2B | $4.2B | $4.2B | — |
| FY2012 | $9.3M | $4.3B | $4.3B | $4.3B | — |
| FY2013 | $64.0M | $4.6B | $4.7B | $4.4B | — |
| FY2014 | $92.0M | $5.5B | $5.6B | $3.4B | $5.5B – $5.6B |
| FY2015 | $222M | $6.6B | $6.8B | $3.9B | $6.6B – $6.8B |
| FY2016 | $1.6B | $6.8B | $8.5B | $4.7B | $6.8B – $8.5B |
| FY2017 | $4.3B | $6.5B | $10.8B | $5.6B | $6.5B – $10.8B |
| FY2018 | $2.9B | $7.0B | $9.9B | $8.0B | $7.0B – $9.9B |
| FY2019 | $3.1B | $9.1B | $12.2B | $7.8B | $9.1B – $12.2B |
| FY2020 | $10.8B | $11.5B | $22.3B | $9.5B | $11.5B – $22.3B |
| FY2021 | $15.6B | $18.4B | $34.0B | $14.2B | $18.4B – $34.0B |
| FY2022 | $21.9B | $21.4B | $43.3B | $17.4B | $21.9B – $43.3B |
| FY2023 | $24.2B | $9.5B (Oct–Feb) | $33.7B | $20.2B | $24.2B – $33.7B |
| FY2024 | $28.4B | not reported | $28.4B | $22.0B | — |
| FY2025 | $32.3B | not reported | $32.3B | $25.4B | — |
| FY2026 | $30.9B | not reported | $30.9B | — | — |
USAspending contract transactions to VA's community-care third-party administrators, identified by recipient UEI and product or service code (Q201, Q999, G007):
Other units of the same parents (pharmacy, OptumServe exams, OptumRx) are excluded. Obligations include the administrators' fees and funding placed on the contract ahead of claims, not only payments to providers.
USAspending assistance transactions under Assistance Listing 64.029 (Purchase Care Program): county-level summary records of care VHA bought for veterans, reported with the placeholder recipient “MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS”. VHA reported them from August 2010 to February 2023; FY2023 covers October–February only and later years are not reported, so the series stops rather than falling.
VHA's other cost-of-care listings (64.040–64.050, 64.012) describe care in VA's own facilities and are not included.
VA's Community Care program outlays as reported on PaymentAccuracy.gov (FY2025_Dataset.xlsx, program “VA Community Care”, outlays column). An independent measure published by VA and OMB for improper-payment reporting; its program scope can differ from both award records.
Obligations are not outlays. (1) and (2) are commitments recorded in the year of each action; (3) is money paid out in the year. Multi-year and advance funding can put obligations above outlays in any single year without any overlap.
The band is where to ask a question, not an answer: whether VHA's 64.029 county records and the network-contract obligations describe some of the same care can be confirmed only from VA's payment data. Sources: USAspending.gov award data archive (VA, agency 036), latest network-contract action 2026-09-23; PaymentAccuracy.gov. See also Trends for how VHA's care records shape the benefits series, and the data-quality register (US-6).