PACT Act benefits expand

Healthcare for veterans suffering from toxin exposure related to their military service continues to expand for additional veterans provided by a law passed in 2022. The SFC Heath Robinson Honoring Our PACT Act has already helped more than 690,000 veterans receive benefits otherwise denied before the law was signed in August 2022. The law originally only covered veterans suffering from toxins inhaled around burn pits, football-field-sized open pits used to burn and discard chemicals, in the Middle East. Starting March 5, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs is opening care benefits to millions more veterans, including qualifiers who have not deployed. The VA website states "all veterans who were exposed to toxins and other hazards while serving our country — at home or abroad — will be eligible to enroll directly in VA healthcare without first applying for VA benefits." Eligibility will open up eight years prior to the original date and will include those who served in the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, Iraq, Afghanistan or any other combat zone after Sept. 11, 2001, were deployed in support of the Global War on Terror or were exposed to toxins or other hazards during their military service. Specific exposure to toxins and hazards include burn pits, sand and dust, particulates, oil well or sulfur fires, chemicals, radiation, warfare agents, depleted uranium, herbicides and other occupational hazards. A full list of military exposure categories is available on the VA's public health website. Ohioan Heath Robinson, the legislation's namesake, was 39 when he passed away in 2020 from lung cancer after being exposed to burn pits during a yearlong deployment in 2006. Robinson's wife, Danielle, their daughter Brielle and his mother-in-law Susan Zeier were instrumental in the passage of the PACT Act. "This law is the most comprehensive expansion of care and benefits for veterans who faced toxic exposure in our country's history," U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said. "If you were exposed to toxins while serving our country, you deserve the care you earned, and you shouldn't wait any longer." Brown has advocated for the PACT Act and has fought alongside Robinson's family to provide benefits to veterans and educate veterans across Ohio about the benefits they now have access to. Their work to grant Robinson's dying wish has allowed more than 1.4 million related claims to be filed and for thousands of veterans and their survivors to receive related benefits. Since its passage in 2022, the PACT Act continues to add presumptive cancers and illnesses to a list and provides survivor benefits, which can be found on the VA website.