WASHINGTON — When President Joe Biden signed the PACT Act last August 9, it was projected that 3.5 million veterans who suffered from toxic exposure in the Vietnam War, Persian Gulf War, Afghanistan, and Iraqi Wars would apply for disability benefits for 23 types of cancers and related diseases and conditions.
"We think it's going really well. We've had nearly 700,000 veterans submit a PACT Act claim since the law was enacted. And that's a great start, but we think there's millions of eligible veterans and survivors. We're doing everything we can to get the word out about the PACT Act," said Joshua Jacobs, Department of Veterans Affairs Under Secretary for Benefits.
Jacobs acknowledges that the new law has contributed to a backlog of 238,000 disability claims, which are more than 125 days old.
"The backlog will increase in the near term, but we've put in place the measures that we need to bring that down in the next year or two," he said.
Jacobs said the Veterans Benefits Administration last delivered a record 1.7 million decisions, up 12% from the previous year, noting that the Department has increased its workforce by about 20% over the past 18 months to help tackle the new claims.
"We're working to make sure we provide a timely deicion. But, we don't want to pursue a timely decision at the expense of a quality decision. So, we often have to balance those two competing demands. But, we want to make sure we give the veterans the right decision the first time as quickly as possible," he said.
And there's an important date coming up.
The VA said if veterans file their PACT Act claim by August 9, or submit their intent to file, they may receive benefits back-dated to August 10 of last year.