For years, Veterans have returned home with invisible scars—illnesses and conditions caused by exposure to toxic substances. The passage of the PACT Act (Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics) marked a transformative step in addressing care gaps Veterans were facing after returning home from combat. The PACT Act ensures that Veterans receive the comprehensive, tailored care they have earned. Since August 2022, 5.6 million Veterans have been screened for toxic exposures, and more than 740,000 Veterans have enrolled in VA health care.
Navy Veteran receives benefits through PACT Act
Navy Veteran Ron Haskell is one of them. He started receiving his care at VA through the PACT Act in December 2023. Haskell previously received care through a non-VA provider, but when his provider started charging a monthly concierge subscription fee for care, he began exploring his options with VA. “For the first time, I had the chance to ‘choose VA’ for my health care,” he said. “I am one of the 3.5 million Veterans eligible for VA care through the PACT Act. VA helped me enroll in a military environmental exposure registry and started my screening.”
Haskell emphasized that VA providers are uniquely positioned to help Veterans receive care related to military exposures and can uncover links to conditions that may be missed by care providers outside of VA. Haskell is pictured above with his wife.
VA clinicians understand military exposure
Some health care systems may not be equipped to recognize the toxic exposures Veterans faced during service, leading to misdiagnosis or inadequate treatment. Providers at VA are trained in exposure-informed care and have the field knowledge to link your service to certain conditions, while also recognizing symptoms that may indicate a larger issue. Additionally, VA providers have state-of-the-art tools to help them spot and diagnose conditions related to toxic exposure. One such tool is an app that allows your provider to receive information about your military-related exposures. If you may have been exposed to a range of chemical, physical and environmental hazards during service, providers can use this tool to have an informed discussion with you about your individual exposure-related concerns and potential impacts on your health. VA providers can also access information on exposure-related programs like research registries.
PACT Act accelerates research
Veterans who participate in the PACT Act and enroll in its exposure registries help contribute to research into the long-term health effects of environmental exposures. Over time, the knowledge gained through this research will be used to fuel advancements in treatments, inform policies related to establishing presumptive conditions, ensure more precise predictive medicine, and deliver targeted proactive and preventative care.
If you believe you are at risk of toxic exposure, consider participating in one of the Environmental Health Registries listed below. The data these registries collect helps VA to understand how environmental exposures can impact your health and the wellbeing of fellow Veterans. You may be eligible to participate in one or more of the following six Environmental Health Registries, which can give VA the data tools it needs to improve nationwide health care and benefits options into the future.
Agent Orange Registry
- Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry
- Gulf War Registry (includes Operations Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn)
- Ionizing Radiation Registry
- Depleted Uranium Follow-Up Program
- Toxic Embedded Fragment Surveillance Center
Contact your local VA Environmental Health Coordinator about getting a registry evaluation. Please note that adding your information to these registries does not create a disability compensation claim; please see the enrollment information below to see if you are eligible for benefits.
Get enrolled today
“Don’t be afraid to ask for help,” Haskell advised. “Lean on your community and be an ambassador for yourself—it’s about getting the care you’ve earned. No one knows what we’ve been through like other Veterans, and together, we can make sure you get what you deserve.”
If you are a Veteran (or a survivor of a Veteran) who has exposure-related health concerns from your time in service, the PACT Act provides avenues for you to access the care and benefits options you deserve. Visit www.va.gov/PACT or schedule an appointment with your VA provider to see if you are eligible for PACT Act benefits and services.
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The Help with Employment, Agency, Risk, Transitions and Housing (HEARTH) project helped ease this Veteran’s path back to civilian life.
VA and the American College of Preventive Medicine have created online certification programs regarding environmental exposures.
Without the advent of the Pact Act, I would still be trying to get service connection for hypertension, allergic rhinitis &chronic sinusitis! As a Vietnam &Gulf War 1 Vet, it took me over 30years to get to this point. My advise to you folks out there is to do your homework, line your ducks up and get a good veterans service officer. Most of you know already, the VA claims process at best is difficult to navigate. Read up on the CFRs,M21 manual, etc. Good luck, Bob Garcia, USAF, Ret.
Nobody should be denied that long. THIS SITE IS COMPROMISED!
I SERVED ABOARD A DESTROYER FOR FOUR YEARS. I HAD THE TOP BUNK. I SHOWED THAT THE OVERHEAD WAS LINED WITH ASBESTOS. I DEVELOPED STAGE THREE LUNG CANCER. MY CLAIM FOR THIS WAS DISPROVED. I TRIED THREE TIMES WITH NO LUCK.
I’m a Navy Veteran who applied for toxic exposure under the PACT. Immediately the DAV Representative showed me the dates and amount of ionizing radiation I have been exposed.
After 8 months of the VA gathering evidence and running my body from appointment to appointment, in their infinite wisdom decide my case is special because of being a radiation worker and all my records are being moved from Wisconsin to Mississippi and may take several more months to process.
I’m unimpressed.
Congress passed the law but didn’t authorize extra funding for the VA so be prepared to wait even longer for medical care.
The V. A., it’s hospitals, clinics, regional offices, and all that it encompasses, continues to be the Greatest Enemy the American Veteran will ever face.
I m a Vietnam Nam war era veteran, served 72 to 76, moreover, need to know if my present va care covers my conditions I suffer from now and if the new PACT ACT relates to my service. Can I apply for more coverage?
I decided to leave VA Health Care and move to the Philippines where I can afford health care and get it in a timely manner as needed.
Could not see my “Team” for urgent care because it was not emergency care which I would have went to the ER for in the first place.
Getting billed for community care services that Triwest is supposed to pay. Going in the hole so getting the hell out of the USA health care that is 38 in the world, 19 down into the 3rd world below the 18 other industrialized nations.
Still waiting on my appeal. Trial Camp Lejeune 1975 20 years
I developed epilepsy from my service at Lejeune in 1975 and was medically discharged from my reserve unit in 1978 as a result of it. I filed a claim with the VA 1n 2014 ( as soon as I found out about the water contamination ) and am still under appeal (for about the ??? time). They list Neurological effects on their list but not epilepsy for some unknown reason. I’ve been dealing with this mess for going on 50 years.
You should not have to wait that long.
50 Yeats is not appropriate for waiting period. Go to your local office VA. Don’t wait and speak to your State Representative, Your States Attorney General and local Health Insurance once they get you approved!
I was stationed in Camp of June 1975. I’ve been putting my claim in for over 20 years. I have already proven my case. I’m waiting for my appeal trial now.To many games.
Don’t wait that long. Go to your local gov. It doesn’t take 20 to 50 years to get approved.
That’s funny, I have registered for The PACT Act and GWI, have been to the exams and every VA doctor claims they have no idea what they are or the symptoms of it.
They sure have a diagnosis of Arthritis for it preventing me from being properly diagnosed and treated though. Gulf War Veteran, field artillery. Houston area VA locations.
I believe u I also have been effected because they hid all the exposures period.Lies lies cover ups its a Unbelievable act by our Country but we should have learned from world War I II Vietnam etc they don’t take care of their own Soldiers
VA is far from the best at recognizing the effect of toxic burning to the health of Veterans. My husband was a missile launch officer at Minot North Dakota. At the end of each alert day he was expected to burn all classified documents used including plastic materials during his alert shift. The Air Force provided him with no protective gear. He was forced to breathe in the burning fumes without any type of protection from the toxic fumes. There is evidence that middle launch officers have developed cancers from missile duty and the required burnings. The burning process was changed to protect the officers. Too late for my husband who was diagnosed with bladder cancer in December 2022 followed by chemo and radical removal of his bladder. Prostate and lymph nodes in August 2023. The VA DISAPPROVED HIS CLAIM. Do not take credit for success in this area of military disability.
Sorry for your loss it should be away for vets and families to be a way we could come together and file a Class Action I’m experiencing this right now. SO SORRY nothing can comfort your loss
Go to your State Representative to help expedite your VA needs. If they can not, they are fired!
Take that disapproval to your local health and you should not be denied. There are other programs, if these people are legitimate.
Dang! I served with Haskell. He was fire marshal for my duty section when I was new to the USS Cape St George. Great leader in the best cruiser in the fleet.
I arrived at a Qatar/U.S. Air Base in Qatar in 2002. On 15 December 2002 I reported to sick call with a red rash in my groin. The medic gave me a tube of salve which I used to clear up the rash. Since then, I have always had the rash on different parts of my body. I have had it on both arm pits, bath feet, both shins, other parts and on my hands. As I am writing this, I have a spot on my left hand.
I applied two times to the VA about my rash and two times they turned me down. Would The PACT Act make any difference now?
It may make a difference in both treatment and disability compensation eligibility.
If you got problems in your private areas, you might need to ask to send you a wife!
That really says more about shortcomings than anything.
Skin condition in that locale. That’s a life-changing event. Sexual relations and so on.
Your implied knowledge of Monistat, Vagisil, etc just stinks.
The PACT Act is indeed a game changer, in that it relieves the burden on veteran’s to show direct a current disability was mentioned somewhere in their active duty medical records, thanks to Jon Stewart and some honorable individuals in Congress. The VA may understand treatment for many of the illnesses identified in the act, they sure don’t know about all of them. No one in the VA, at least in Richmond, has any idea how to treat Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and they don’t seem to be very interested in learning how. The disability raters don’t understand the disease well enough to fairly evaluate the level of disability. They’ve punted on CFS, and it looks like they’ve punted on MUCMI also.
I agree with most of your comments here. Every one of the diagnoses of the conditions for which I am service connected came from my private doctors. Getting a VA doctor to commit to a diagnosis is nearly impossible. I have a few that work hard at investigating symptoms, so far without resolution, but none of my VA doctors so far have any idea what I’m talking about when I mention GWI, oil well fire smoke exposure or chemical agent exposure.
Okay I thought It was just 4 weeks to tell the diagnosis of the test they order
Always think outside the box, if your state is not helping, the VA at the correct site and web needs to know about it. You should never be denied health under the military service act!
Go Above and Beyond. Never quit and never give up!
Yeah right ??
Go Above and Beyond. Never quit and never give up!
Everyone get their Marching Orders!!