VA registering vets exposed to toxic materials for benefits

The Department of Veterans Affairs Pacific Island Health Care System is slated to hold a workshop Saturday at the Oahu Veterans Center to provide information and resources pertaining to new benefits available to them under the Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022 — better known as the PACT Act.

Enacted in August, the law expands VA health care eligibility for veterans who may have been exposed to toxic burn pits in recent conflicts in places like Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. It also expands and extends eligibility for those who were exposed to toxic materials during the Cold War, Operation Desert Storm and other engagements. A bill introduced by the late U.S. Rep. Mark Takai, D-Hawaii, that aimed to help vets exposed to radioactive waste while cleaning up a nuclear testing site on Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands was included in the PACT Act.

“There have been many changes in eligibility criteria, and people who were not eligible in the past may be eligible now,” VAPIHCS Director Dr. Adam Robinson wrote in a newsletter for veterans. “Let’s work together as a community to make sure that no one misses their chance to get covered by VA.”

The law adds more than 20 new presumptive conditions related to burn pits and other toxic exposures and more presumptive exposure locations for Agent Orange and radiation. Burn pits were used in Iraq and Afghanistan to dispose of chemicals, tires, plastics, medical equipment and human waste on military bases. Estimates of affected troops run to 3.5 million. About 70% of disability claims involving exposure to the pits have been denied by the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to reporting by The Associated Press.

Also, the PACT Act requires the VA to provide a toxic-exposure screening to every veteran enrolled in VA health care.

In 2022, during a interview with the Honolulu Star-­Advertiser, Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough said, “This is the largest expansion of access to care and to benefits, at least since the Agent Orange Act and arguably ever. Concretely, what that means in Hawaii is there are at least 53,000 vets, we assess, (who) will have access to a greater amount of care and greater benefits as a result of the PACT Act.”

VAPIHCS, which is headquartered on Oahu, is responsible for overseeing VA operations for vets in Hawaii as well as those in U.S. Pacific island territories of American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas.

Pacific Islanders served in particularly high numbers during the post-9/11 wars. A study of 2003 recruiting data found Pacific Islanders joined the Army at a rate 249% higher than that of other ethnic groups.

VA benefits counselors will be on hand at the Saturday workshop, which is set for 9 a.m. to noon at the veterans center, 1298 Kukila St.