#Middlebury #Veterans #BurnPits
VETERANS POST
By Freddy Groves
The Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act, also known as the PACT Act, is intended to provide benefits and health care to veterans who were exposed to toxins and the subsequent illnesses from those toxins. We’re talking about burn pits and other airborne substances.
The list of presumptive illnesses will expand over the next several years to include brain cancer, gastrointestinal cancer of any type, glioblastoma, head cancer of any type, kidney cancer, lymphatic cancer of any type, lymphoma of any type, melanoma, neck cancer, pancreatic cancer, reproductive cancer of any type, respiratory (breathing-related) cancer of any type, asthma that was diagnosed after service, chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic rhinitis, chronic sinusitis, constrictive bronchiolitis or obliterative bronchiolitis, emphysema, granulomatous disease, interstitial lung disease (ILD), pleuritis and pulmonary fibrosis, and sarcoidosis.
“Presumptive” means that if you have those conditions, and if you served in the designated locations during the specific time periods, it’s understood that your service caused the illnesses. You don’t need to prove it.
The act adds additional locations for Agent Orange exposure for Vietnam-era veterans, including American Samoa, Cambodia, Guam, Laos, Thailand and Johnston Atoll, all during specific dates. Remember: Sometimes just being on a ship that called at those locations will qualify you.
If you were a post-9/11 combat veteran, your eligibility to enroll in Veterans Affairs health care is extended from five years to 10 years. And, in a big move, the act requires the VA to do a toxic exposure screening on each and every veteran using VA health care.
For more information about eligibility for care under the PACT Act, go to www.va.gov/resources/the-pact-act-and-your-va-benefits. You’ll find eligible locations listed there.
You can also call 800-698-2411 or file online at va.gov using VA Form 21-526EZ.
Even if you think you don’t qualify for PACT benefits, enroll anyway in VA health care. Get a record going so it’s there in the future should you need it.
© 2022 King Features Synd., Inc.
