Compacts of Free Association: VA Is Pursuing Partial Implementation of Health Care Authorities in the Freely Associated States

Filed 1h ago · Via GAO · The Buffoon Desk

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Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Rodhullandemu · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Veterans in Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau — nations whose citizens can enlist in the U.S. military under compacts of free association — face long, uncompensated travel to reach VA care, often as far as Honolulu, according to a GAO review. Congress authorized VA in 2024 to provide hospital care, medical services and travel reimbursement to these veterans, but VA declined to use that authority in an April 2025 memo, saying it wanted to ensure ‘equity with all U.S. veterans.’

VA confirmed in June 2026 that it had ended its engagement with the Freely Associated States. A month later, officials told GAO they intended to resume talks, and by August they confirmed they were pursuing partial implementation, including telehealth, pharmaceutical delivery, reimbursements and travel benefits.

No timeline for any of this was provided to GAO or, presumably, to the veterans who have been paying their own way to Honolulu in the meantime.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

An agency says no in April, says it's done saying no in June, then in July starts saying maybe again, all without telling anybody why the answer moved. That is not a policy process, that is a weather vane with a letterhead. The veterans in question have been flying to Hawaii on their own dime the whole time this indecision was unfolding, which is the part nobody in the memo seems to have budgeted for.

Source: Read the original at GAO → Scored: Investigations · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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