VA has announced that all the presumptive conditions included in the PACT Act are eligible for benefits, effective 10 August 2022 (the day the bill was signed into law): https://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=5815
There are no waiting periods for future effective dates. So please urge veterans to file their claims asap – especially those whose claims were previously denied.
While VA may reach out to veterans whose previous claims were denied, there is no indication VA will review and re-adjudicate those denials (as it did when three more presumptive conditions for Agent Orange/herbicide exposure were recognized in 2010).
Please encourage veterans to work with VA-accredited representatives to help ensure their claims are filed properly – and to help them avoid predatory claims companies that charge exorbitant fees (based on future VA benefit payments) for their services.
This link provides a full breakdown of the PACT Act and related VA benefits: https://www.va.gov/resources/the-pact-act-and-your-va-benefits/
Marty Callaghan is deputy director of benefits and claims services for The American Legion.
Author: caLegion Contributor
The above article may contain opinions which are the author's own and may not necessarily reflect an official stance taken by The American Legion Department of California. We do our best to vet any information posted to the website. Please email webteam@calegion.org with any changes and/or corrections to anything published here.