WASHINGTON — Millions of additional U.S. military veterans will soon become eligible for free or low-cost care at Veterans Affairs health facilities.
Starting on March 5, they will be eligible for health care with the Department of Veterans Affairs years earlier than expected. Vets exposed to toxic substances — from burn pits and sulfur fires to asbestos and firefighting foams — will be able to apply.
The VA announced Monday that all veterans who have served in a combat zone since the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, Iraq, Afghanistan, or any other combat zone after September 11 as well as those who participated in training or operations and came into contact with hazardous materials, will be able to enroll directly in VA health care without first applying for VA benefits.
In addition, vets who never deployed but were exposed to pollutants while participating in a known "toxic exposure risk activity," either in the U.S. or abroad, will also be eligible.
"Certainly, President Biden wanted to make sure that we are doing everything we could to live up to our sacred obligation to care for our veterans and their families. So, with this expansion, we are trying to do just that," said White House Senior Advisor for Veterans Affairs Terri Tanielian, in an interview with 13News Now.
The initial expansion of toxic exposure healthcare benefits was mandated by the 2022 PACT Act to cover 23 diseases now presumed to be service-related, including asthma, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema.
Since then, under the act, more than 100,000 veterans have already enrolled in VA health care and roughly 760,000 disability claims have been approved.