Veterans who access their benefits and health care info online will begin using a new login method, starting now and extending over the next year.
Account security is the reason behind the changes, per the Executive Order on cybersecurity that was signed in 2021.
Whether you use VA.gov online or the mobile app to access your Login.gov or ID.me account, you'll need to log in and create a new account. It should only take a few minutes.
Make your first stop the instructions at www.va.gov/sign-in-changes. You'll see that the cut-off to keep using your current username and password will be in January 2025 for My HealtheVet and September 2025 for the DS Logon. At that point you'll be locked out until you create a new account, either via Login.gov or ID.me. (No, they won't delete your info; you just won't be able to get in.) Both of them will allow you to access all of your benefits and services.
You'll be able to check claim status, refill prescriptions, look at lab results, update contact info and much more.
Be prepared for being required to use two-factor authentication, also known as multifactor authentication. If you're like so many of us, you don't like being forced to do the extra steps to log in somewhere. But so much of what we do online now involves using two-factor authentication, with more switching to that method every day. Whether it's our bank or online accounts, we have to get used to it. Between ID theft, having personal information stolen, having money stolen through fraud (in one year, veterans had $350 million stolen through fraud) -- the thieves aren't going to stop.
Before you choose your new account, read the privacy policy for both Login.gov and ID.me. They're not the same.
And what if you don't want either of the offered account types? That's fine. You'll just need to contact and interact with the VA by mail, in person or on the phone.
(c) 2024 King Features Synd., Inc.
