Veterans are getting help filing claims for benefits and services they’ve earned at a series of local events nationwide.
The PACT Act Awareness Events began on March 1, and they will continue throughout the month at VA Medical Centers at more than 70 locations, including Alaska and Puerto Rico.
During these events, Veterans can participate in toxic exposure screenings, get assistance in filing disability claims, receive information on education and home loan benefits, and much more. VA also invited several partners to participate, including such valuable resources as Veterans Service Organizations and state-level Veterans Departments.
Local events, nationwide. Where to find us
Where are these locations? You can find the outreach calendar, here: www.va.gov/outreach-and-events/events.
Ensuring every Veteran gets the care and benefits they’ve earned
VA is committed to ensuring every Veteran is aware of the care and benefits they’ve earned by their service. Whether you’re new to VA or have been receiving care and benefits for years, you can receive toxic exposure screening, and take steps to file a claim for toxic exposure.
Although this effort is expected to draw many Veterans seeking assistance on recently passed legislation concerning toxic exposures (via the “PACT Act”), VA welcomes all Veterans and survivors seeking assistance for VA benefits and services.
VA delivers
VA is delivering more benefits, and quicker, to more Veterans than ever before.
As of March 4, VA has received more than 362,000 toxic exposure-related claims from Veterans since the legislation passed on Aug. 10, 2022. In the past six months, VA has completed nearly 158,000 PACT Act-related claims for all Veterans and survivors, to include terminally ill Veterans.
Outreach initiatives, such as the ones currently underway, will continue for the foreseeable future until every Veteran or survivor has had an opportunity to learn more about the health care and benefits they have earned.
For a complete listing, as well as other outreach events, see www.va.gov/outreach-and-events/events. For more information about the PACT Act, visit www.va.gov/PACT. For general questions about healthcare and benefits, go to www.va.gov.
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The local VA clinic gave me a number to call from the flyer they had and after numerous tries it turns out that the number was bogus. After a little research, I got the correct number. Well I notified the VA about registering, got a call about two weeks later and that’s it. Nothing more. Reading some comments I read that my VA Dr was to do the PACT ACT study. Nope. I went to my appointment yesterday I was asked again if I was interested in the PACT ACT, really? No question were asked about this. I was at the BALAD Iraq air base, Feb 2003- Apr 2004. I also did rear convoy security from Balad to Camp Doha Kuwait. Two days to get there two days to get back. And they wonder why we throw our hands up and quit trying.
When is the VA going to recognize the studies concerning dioxin exposure and epigenetic transgenerational inheritance. Exposure to dioxin has been shown to pass down detrimental effects to to generations of offspring.
Epigenetic transgenerational inheritance is an extremely difficult concept to grasp even by trained researchers. Nonetheless its affects have been proven to exist. Our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and so on have been damned with maladies for no other reason other than we ourselves were exposed to dioxin.
My granddaughter has effects that are described in the literature as the result of epigenetics, specifically exposure to dioxin. She will have to contend with these effects the rest of her life and most likely will pass it down to her offspring. It breaks my heart to think of what she and thousands upon thousands of potential innocent victims of dioxin, Agent Orange, or whatever one chooses to call it have in store for them.
How do Vietnam Veterans who were exposed to the Open burn Pits register for the Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit registry. I served in Vietnam during the initial build-up 1965 – 1966
We had to burn our human waste daily for 11 months. We lived in the remote compounds without sanitary conviences. In the 1st Infantry Division, 4th Calvary, Nathaniel Heyward in Pho Loi, South Vietnam.
Unbelievable that the VA would publish misinformation like you are doing. I think your mission should be: Failing our veterans everyway we can. Or..Deny until they die,,,
So sorry to hear my brothers plight! Submitted my claim in January 2020. Denied, denied, denied. Appealed and appealed. No comp for me.
Have to wonder how many of those 158,000 claims “processed” have been negative?
My claim is for Agent Orange exposure from 1967, with clear, identifiable symptoms. Comp denied.
Like you all, I cringe when I hear about the wonderful job the VBA is doing for our veterans.
When in Missouri?
I registered with the burn pit registry over 8 years ago. I received my exam in early 2019. They identified and abnormally low white count and traced it back a lab I had drawn 3 months after my return from the Middle East. I reported on my post deployment exam that I was exposed to cydex as well as other chemicals while deployed. I was informed that the abnormally low white count was “normal” for me. The idiot that told me that called herself a physician. There is no such thing as a “normal” abnormality. Now that that “normal” low white count has developed into MS I wonder how they will explain it away.
It is true they will never understand and doesn’t want face facts. They just want us to get tired of the uphill battle, the walls they put up, and the antiquated system they use. Get tired and give up, they win.
So keep battling the system because they aren’t VETERANS!!!
I am now a 100% disabled retired patriotic American.
40 years ago I was Retired from the Army with a diagnoses of a form of Muscular Dystrophy with a 30 percent disability. After many years of struggling medically with a host of medical conditions I struggled to keep a roof over my families head. always getting fired or laid off. Living in poverty with no resources I moved my family in with other family members. IN 1992 the MDA doctor sent me to U.C. Medical center where I was diagnoses with Radiation Syndrome. I returned to las Vegas with the new diagnosis and was treated again for MD even though I now had proof of the RADIATION. I was only assigned to PA’s or Nurses. In 2021 after my heart attack a Vascular Surgeon asked me if I knew I had RADIATION SYNDROME AND WAS i AWARE of the possible problems. I was reassigned to a Nurse Practitioner again. I spent almost 30 YEARS just trying to survive .Now with the PACT ACT coming about after all of these years and being called every name in the book including faker, con artist milinger just to name a few I am able to finally able to see a MD doctor who has agreed with me and. To bad I could not provide a better life for my family while the kid’s grew up. If the DOD took care of the veterans the way they should of my family could have a normal life growing up. Do the powers to be have to go out at night collecting cans to be able to feed their family.
SP/5 Paul R. Martin
USA RETIRED
Part of what is missing in a claim review process is a true
check list of a person VISTA record system for patterns
and anomalies. Software is such now days that you can
sift for specifics in favor of a certain trend that can auto-
populate in a form sheet.
There is so much in my Genesis / VISTA records over 29
years now that there should be plenty to service connect.
Instead, its visually screened by a VSO or Regional employee
that really dont put it all together. They skim it for basics
and then dont bar graph any medical trends over time. A
physician can, and they do – but not the VBA folks.
Written complaints, consecutive repeating words and labs,
and anomalies that suggest other trends. Thats how the
WRIISC found my TBI. Which isnt mentioned in my standard
medical records or Regional could find.
All said and done, its up to the veteran to be a CFR 38 specialist
rather than VSO’s or VBA employees. To fight a computer system
that is supposed to be on there side and they cant access to
dispute internally. Hell, the Genesis portal didnt even have my
DD 214 in it yesterday. They had to reinsert it. How lame after
29 years.
Because Im not chartered by Congress, 501-c3, wealthy, major
celebrity, and no PHD – then I dont deserve the courtesy to address
any of this with VA or Congress any more. What could I possibly
know because of all that. Never mind 26 years of experience and
serving on a VA federal advisory committee.
The people stopping me right now are not uncomfortable, struggling,
and living each day like this there last. There is no urgency for those
that cant relate. 30 plus years of illness and misery that to them is
not a issue because its not them. Apathy doesnt feel pain.
There is so much evil and mean spirited garbage going on like
never before. I found out yesterday some jerk on Facebook is using
my name and photo verbatim to cheat others. Not with any success
but so far above the law. thats what people like me have to live with.
Just like my website being blocked by Google. Gulflink.org
Its time to fix all the software and legal mumbo jumbo of claims
processing, and the PACT act loopholes. Its not rocket science.
It is to those trying to save there jobs and hide there mistakes.
VISTA is antiquated and filled with issues.
Would help to have a Toxic Exposure Pathology Center to plug
in real medical data into the Genesis Portal and VISTA.
I served on a VA healthcare and benefits advisory committee. Im a
problem solver, and I think im still proving that. Too bad VA has
so many people who cant do there jobs trying to keep me at bay.
This is smoke and mirrors.
Those of us that have been trying this route since August have repeatedly found this is a dead end.
I put this to the test today and pretty much saw that the term Toxic Exposures really means nothing on the VISTA and Genesis portal. At the Waco Regional Office we plugged into the Genesis portal and it wasn’t any help.
20 years I’ve been waiting to try and increase my rating. Nothing we did at Regional will do it based on PACT act aspects.
If I was with a terminal cancer, yes. But, so far every other avenue required if DOD released information from the Gulf War that isnt there. 33 years later it’s all still classified like the chemical weapons demolition next to my unit.
Based on what I learned today, best guess is 90% of claims submitted will fail due to lack of evidence. Both military records and possible tissue samples proving physical evidence.
We need a Toxic Exposure Pathology Center for physical tissue evidence, and for DOD to release the remaining GW records that have critical medical evidence in them. Over 1.7 million or more.
VA is grossly exagerating the PACT Act effectiveness and outreach. It’s designed to fail on substantive evidence and finally veterans have begun to speak up about it. It’s NOT working.
You can stop pretending I dont exist, I’m not going away. I’m right here saying the same thing month after month.
Sec of VA Denis McDonough is trying to fake us all out. Hoping it will be a year before we all figure out what I knew months ago. The rejection rates.
Just like the exam rates for Burn Pit Registry have been 9% for 8 years now. Then add those were mostly xrays and pft test.
What is your plan long term here, hope we don’t figure this out for several more years. I’m there now.
I know Genesis Portal and ILER as well as your best people now. They are beginning to ask my input. The trouble with the VISTA state transfer issues isn’t resolved.
I’m getting better at this every day interacting with VA, imagine if I had a success terminal of my own. Ide be writing SQL data patch codes.
Stop pretending we are all stupid out here, work with us, and let’s fix all this.