Officials are working to get the word out to military veterans in western Massachusetts about new health coverage for exposure to toxins.
A law signed 10 months ago by President Joe Biden extends health coverage provided by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to former military members who during their service were exposed to smoke from burn pits, the defoliant Agent Orange, polluted water at Camp Lejeune, and other toxic sources.
It marks the largest expansion of veteran health care and benefits in generations, said Massachusetts Congressman Richard Neal.
“Sometimes in political life, people use hyperbolic terms to describe events,” he said “This is really groundbreaking and historic.”
Addressing a gathering of veterans at the VA clinic in Springfield, he said the PACT Act, which had bipartisan support in Congress, extended health coverage to more than 5 million veterans from the Vietnam-era, the Gulf War, and post 9-11.
“The PACT Act, as it implies, means that there was a pact we made with America’s veterans,” Neal said.
As a result of the law, 20 medical conditions are now presumed to be service-connected due to various toxic exposures. It requires the VA to provide a toxic exposure screening to every veteran enrolled in VA health care.
Making medical conditions “presumptive,” or automatically tied to military service, eliminates a lot of paperwork and red tape veterans faced when trying to claim benefits, said Gumersindo Gomez, executive director of the Bilingual Veterans Outreach Centers of Massachusetts.
“The impact it has had in my office is tremendous,” Gomez said.
Veterans are promptly receiving treatment, he said, as the new law authorized the highest level of new hiring in the history of the VA.
“I just got an individual awarded (benefits) in one week,” Gomez said.
Earl Godfrey, a service officer with the Disabled American Veterans Westover Chapter 11, said he also has helped veterans get benefits under the new law.
“So many of the veterans we work with now are old and quite frankly many of them are dying and it makes a difference to their surviving dependents as well,” Godfrey said.
Neal said he plans to hold more events in the First Congressional District to raise awareness about the PACT Act.
