Veterans Services
The PACT Act and your VA benefits
The PACT Act is a new law that expands VA health care and benefits for Veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances. This law helps us provide generations of Veterans — and their survivors — with the care and benefits they’ve earned and deserve.
This link https://www.va.gov/resources/the-pact-act-and-your-va-benefits will help answer your questions about what the PACT Act means for you or your loved ones. You can also call the VA at 800-698-2411(TTY: 711). You can file a claim for PACT Act-related disability compensation or apply for VA health care now.
The PACT Act will bring these changes:
- Expands and extends eligibility for VA health care for Veterans with toxic exposures and Veterans of the Vietnam, Gulf War, and post-9/11 eras
- Adds more than 20 new presumptive conditions for burn pits and other toxic exposures
- Adds more presumptive-exposure locations for Agent Orange and radiation
- Requires VA to provide a toxic exposure screening to every Veteran enrolled in VA health care
- Helps us improve research, staff education, and treatment related to toxic exposures
If you’re a Veteran or survivor, you can file claims now to apply for PACT Act-related benefits.
From the VA:
If you’ve been on social media or checked your email inbox recently, you’ve no doubt received countless solicitations from law firms or agencies advertising their assistance with your VA claim in the wake of the PACT Act.
From our National Veterans Service experts, here are some important things to remember:
- File a claim for any PACT Act conditions.
- Contact a VFW Accredited Service Officer today to discuss the PACT Act and what it means for you.
- Hold off on committing to a Camp Lejeune lawsuit until VA publishes how the offset will affect your settlement and benefits.
- NEVER PAY for claims assistance. Presumptive claims are straightforward and can easily be handled by any VA-accredited claims representative.
- If you’ve been fighting for years, you may think a PACT Act claim will be complicated. Good news: Presumptive claims are some of the simplest claims because VA is conceding that your illness happened because you went somewhere bad.
Stay up-to-date with the PACT Act and what it means for your claim by visiting vfw.org/PACTActInfo.
The VFW and our network of more than 2,000 accredited claims representatives will be by your side as we navigate through the interpretation and implementation of the PACT Act together. We won’t rest until every veteran receives the care and compensation they deserve.
Respectfully,
Your VFW Membership Team
VA establishes presumptive service connection for rare respiratory cancers for certain Veterans
WASHINGTON — As part of President Biden’s Unity Agenda commitment to support the nation’s Veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs is adding nine rare respiratory cancers to the list of presumed service-connected disabilities due to military environmental exposures to fine particulate matter.
The following list of rare respiratory cancers have been added to VA’s regulations through an Interim Final Rule published in the Federal Register on April 26, 2022:
- Squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx.
- Squamous cell carcinoma of the trachea.
- Adenocarcinoma of the trachea.
- Salivary gland-type tumors of the trachea.
- Adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung.
- Large cell carcinoma of the lung.
- Salivary gland-type tumors of the lung.
- Sarcomatoid carcinoma of the lung.
- Typical and atypical carcinoid of the lung.
VA determined through a focused review of scientific and medical evidence there is biological plausibility between airborne hazards and carcinogenesis of the respiratory tract — and the unique circumstances of these rare cancers warrant a presumption of service connection.
The rarity and severity of these illnesses and the reality these conditions present, is a situation where it may not be possible to develop additional evidence, prompted VA to take this action.
“Last year we made promises to fundamentally change and improve how we establish and expedite presumptions — now we’re keeping them,” said VA Secretary Denis McDonough. “We are taking a new approach to presumptives that takes all available science into account, with one goal in mind — getting today’s Veterans — and Vets in the decades ahead — the benefits they deserve as fast as possible.”
VA will begin processing disability compensation claims for Veterans who served any amount of time in the Southwest Asia theater of operations beginning Aug. 2, 1990, to the present, or Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Syria or Djibouti beginning Sept. 19, 2001, to the present.
Any Veteran who has or had one of the listed cancers at any time during or after separation from military service may be eligible for disability compensation benefits. VA will contact impacted Veterans and survivors to inform them about their eligibility and will provide information on how to apply.
Veterans, survivors or dependents who had claims previously denied for any of these respiratory cancers are encouraged to file a supplemental claim for benefits. If you are a Veteran, survivor or dependent applying for the first time, file a new claim here.
To apply for benefits, Veterans and survivors may visit VA.gov or call toll-free at 800-827-1000.
View the interim final rule for Presumptive Service Connection for Rare Respiratory Cancers Due to Exposure to Fine Particulate Matter and leave comments.
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