Gerald’s Law Protects Veteran Burial Benefits
by Loren Talbot
Over the past decade, home has become the most common and desired place for people in the United States to die. However, for Veterans, this can affect access to burial benefits. According to the Veterans Health Administration (VA), these benefits include a gravesite or urn burial in any VA national cemetery with available space, opening and closing of the grave, perpetual care, a headstone or marker, a flag, and Presidential Memorial Certificates at no cost to the family. In some cases this also includes burial allowances.
Those Veterans who make a choice to not die in a VA facility but to receive VA hospice care at home (or in other non-VA settings) were deemed to have died “outside” a qualifying facility, even when the VA remained responsible for their care.
My therapist told me at the end of our session that she felt compelled to say something to me. I said of course. There are only a few people in my life whose opinions and insights I respect, and she is one of them. She has seen me through the highest highs and through the lowest lows, riding the roller coaster of grief, guilt, and so much more. She said, “I am proud of you.”
In the large scheme of things that might not be an earth-shattering event. But coming from her, and knowing the challenges that I had gone through since my mom passed away unexpectedly in 2017, it meant the world to me. I never set out to be a caregiver. I never thought that my career would take an unexpected 180-degree turn with my mom’s passing and all the complications. I would have never imagined that one of the most precious gifts that I received from my mom was going to be the gift of life, but also the gift of being there for her in that final month.
My therapist knows how many regrets I felt over the years for all the things that I didn’t know about death, dying, and caregiving, and yet, by choice and by default, I ended up being Mom’s main caregiver for four long weeks in the hospital. Her passing is what motivated me upon returning back to the States to sign up for INELDA’s end-of-life doula training. I didn’t want to be caught off-guard ever again upon the inevitability of death in my surroundings, including my own. I became an end-of-life doula as a way to process grief, a word that until my mom’s passing didn’t mean much.
I spent years supporting homeless populations, hospice patients, and incarcerated populations, both as a way of understanding my own pain and the pain of the world, and also to make sure I didn’t shut down in the face of the immense emptiness I felt in my heart after Mom’s dying. There was a sense of fulfillment in helping and educating others in the way I wish I had been educated or been knowledgeable about death at large, my mom’s in particular. It has been eight years since her passing.
My grief has matured into an adult I can live with. An adult I respect for the humility that it requires to go through the uncharted territory of exploring our own and others’ impermanence. So when my therapist told me that she is proud of me, I soaked in each of those words. I accepted that I had come a long way. That loss has shaped who I am today. But most importantly, love has guided me all the way.
This has led to a lack of access to the benefits award to those who have served. Gerald’s Law hopes to remedy this gap. Enacted at the end of 2024 as a pilot, this legislation can ensure that Veterans and their families receive their full burial allowance.
Those Veterans who make a choice to not die in a VA facility but to receive VA hospice care at home (or in other non-VA settings) were deemed to have died “outside” a qualifying facility, even when the VA remained responsible for their care. This has led to a lack of access to the benefits award to those who have served. Gerald’s Law hopes to remedy this gap. Enacted at the end of 2024 as a pilot, this legislation can ensure that Veterans and their families receive their full burial allowance.
This pilot currently applies only to Veterans who die between the period of July 2025 and October 1, 2026. On January 22, 2026, Representatives Jack Bergman (R-MI) and Nikki Budzinski (D-IL) formally reintroduced Gerald’s Law as a standalone bill to permanently protect burial benefits for Veterans who receive VA-furnished hospice care outside of a VA facility. This bipartisan bill can ensure that veterans receiving VA-furnished hospice care—whether at home, in a nursing home, or in another non-VA setting—retain access to their full burial benefits.
Founder and CEO of In Their Honor and INELDA-trained doula Qwynn Galloway-Salazar, PhD, shares the importance of the passing of this legislation. “Gerald’s Law underscores the importance of ensuring that the Veteran community receives compassionate, culturally informed support throughout the end of life. This care should include honoring service, identity, and the often lifelong imprint of military experience. It reinforces that Veterans and their families carry unique layers of meaning, loss, and moral complexity that must be understood and held with dignity across health care, community, and caregiving spaces.”
INELDA staff sit on the Grassroots Ambassadors Committee of the National Alliance for Care at Home (the Alliance). The Alliance has played an active role in garnering support for this legislation and educating congressional offices on the resources required for Veteran patients who need serious illness and end-of-life care. In a press release from the organization, Congresswoman Budzinski shared: “For surviving families, VA’s burial allowance eases the burden of funeral and burial costs, allowing them to properly honor their loved one who gave so much in service to our country. It’s wrong for a Veteran to be denied this earned benefit just because they choose to pass away in the comfort of their own home.”
If you want to see this loophole closed, consider contacting your representatives through the Alliance Action Center.
Posted 2/22/2026