VA expands Outer Burial Receptacles benefit

VA is implementing a new authority to provide outer burial receptacles (OBRs) for graves with casketed burials in VA grant-funded cemeteries. Typically placed in a gravesite before a casket is lowered, OBRs reduce maintenance costs at cemeteries by preventing the ground over and around the casket from sinking and by preventing grave headstones from sinking or tilting. Further, OBRs assure the continuation of regular surface contours in cemeteries, advancing both aesthetic and public safety purposes.

Beginning on Nov. 9, 2024, VA will accept applications for payment of a monetary allowance for privately purchased OBRs and for OBRs provided by a grant-funded cemetery, when the OBR is placed at the time of interment. This allowance may be paid for burials that occurred on or after the effective date of the new authority which is Jan. 5, 2023.

In the case of a privately purchased OBR, the monetary allowance is payable to the individual who purchased the OBR. For OBRs provided by a grant funded cemetery, the monetary allowance is payable to the State or Tribal Organization when the OBR was provided at no cost to the decedent's family.

The allowance amount is updated each year based on the average cost of government purchased OBRs for use at VA national cemeteries, for placement at time of interment. For interments that occurred in calendar year 2023, VA will pay $400; for interments that occurred in calendar year 2024, VA will pay $411. The amount for calendar year 2025 will be posted in a notice to the public in the Federal Register, once the amount is determined.

This expansion of the OBR benefit to burials in VA grant-funded Veterans cemeteries was made possible by Section 2203 of Public Law 116-315, the Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe, M.D. Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020, which amended 38 U.S.C. 2306(e) to expand applicability of the OBR benefit to burials in VA grant-funded cemeteries.

Previously, VA was authorized to provide OBRs for casketed burials in VA national cemeteries, which meant Veterans and their families did not have to pay for an OBR when their loved ones were interred there. However, Veterans and their eligible family members who chose to be interred in a grant-funded Veterans cemetery sometimes would have to pay the cost of an OBR, as determined by each State or Tribal Organization. In some instances, the State or Tribal Organization paid for the OBR out of its own funds, so the allowance is a new benefit for them as well as for families. Since Congress expanded VA's authority to provide OBRs for casketed burials in grant-funded Veterans cemeteries, VA may help cover those costs as an expanded benefit to Veterans and their families, and to our State and Tribal partners.

Prior to the date of implementation noted above, NCA's Veterans Cemetery Grants Program will provide information directly to the state and tribal organizations regarding the process for claiming the monetary allowance and their role in verifying individual claims for the monetary allowance for privately purchased OBRs used at the grant funded Veterans cemetery. Individuals who would like more information on how to claim the monetary allowance for a privately purchased OBR should contact the grant funded Veterans cemetery where the interment took place but may also contact NCA's Finance Service at [email protected].

A list of VA grant-funded cemeteries with contact information is available on NCA's VA Grant Funded Cemeteries website. Please contact the cemetery directly for information about burials there. Information about VA burial and memorial benefits is available online, at VA national cemeteries or by calling toll-free at 1-800-827-1000. To make burial arrangements at any VA national cemetery at the time of need, call the National Cemetery Scheduling Office at 1-800-535-1117. VA also encourages Veterans to apply for Pre-Need Eligibility to establish eligibility for VA burial and memorial benefits in advance of need.