What Veterans Should Know About Ancillary Benefits

The Department of Veterans Affairs offers a wide range of benefits to veterans.

But did you know a wide variety of additional or “ancillary” benefits are also available to veterans? To qualify for some of these ancillary benefits, generally they must be due to a service-connected condition. And some of those conditions require a specific rating assigned to you by the Veterans Administration (VA) based on the severity of your service-connected condition.

Some of the federal benefits a veteran might be eligible for include, but are not limited to:

• Access to VA Health Care (there are also other ways to qualify for VA health care)
  
• Travel pay to VA medical facilities
  
• Service-connected veteran life insurance
  
• Veterans Employment and Readiness Services
  
• Federal job hiring preferences
  
• Access to military base commissary, exchange, and moral & welfare facilities
  
• Access to national parks
  

Some additional benefits veterans might be eligible for from the State of Illinois include:

• Various Illinois military license plates
  
• Hunting and fishing licenses (requires a service connection)
  
• Property tax exemptions (requires a service-connected disability rating of 30% or higher)
  
• Veterans preference for State of Illinois hiring
  
• Access to state parks for camping (requires a service connection)
  

There are also some benefits that spouses and dependent children of veterans might be eligible for. These include health care coverage and education benefits. Each program has its specific eligibility requirements.

The Grundy County Veterans Assistance Commission is available to answer questions regarding these and many other veterans benefits and programs.

For more information, call (815) 941-3152, or send an email to vac@grundycountyil.gov.

Grundy County Veterans Assistance Commission : 1320 Union Street : Morris, IL 60450 :

815.941.3152 : https://www.grundycountyil.gov/veterans-assistance/