More than 533,000 veterans live in Washington State, with many low-income veterans experiencing barriers to health care, housing, and employment. Northwest Justice Project’s King County Veterans Project provides legal assistance in VA benefits and housing at no cost to hundreds of veterans across the state every year.
During military service, thousands of veterans were exposed to toxins such as Agent Orange and the fumes of open-air burn pits used to dispose of waste in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other locations. As a result, many veterans suffer long-term health conditions, ranging from cancers to neurological disorders.
In August 2022, those veterans got some relief with the passage of the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics, or PACT Act. The PACT Act expands benefits and health care available to veterans exposed to a number of toxic substances through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
Thousands of Washington veterans are eligible for PACT Act relief and Northwest Justice Project (NJP) has seen the number of veterans seeking relief steadily climb since passage of the PACT Act.
How the PACT Act helps
“Prior to passage of the PACT Act, if a veteran who served in Vietnam had hypertension, the onus was on them to prove that it was linked to their military service,” explains Chelsea Hicks, NJP Managing Attorney in King County. “Now under the law, the VA presumes certain medical conditions are linked to toxic exposures based on a veteran’s military service, location of service and time period served.”
The PACT Act makes it easier for several generations of veterans to access the benefits and health care they need. Vital provisions of the Act benefit veterans of the Vietnam War, Gulf War, and post-9/11 eras. For example, the Act recognizes new locations for Agent Orange exposure during the Vietnam War, such as certain bases in Thailand and regions in Laos, Cambodia, Guam, American Samoa, and Johnston Atoll.
It incorporates over 20 new conditions presumed to be due to toxic exposures and requires the VA to provide a toxic exposure screening to every veteran enrolled in VA health care. Additionally, the Act acknowledges radiation exposure during specific military operations.
NJP assisting hundreds of veterans every year
“As a direct result of this legislation, hundreds of thousands of Veterans and their survivors are now better positioned to claim the health care and benefits they rightfully deserve,” Hicks says. As the only legal aid team in Washington doing this work, NJP assists hundreds of veterans every year with their VA benefits claims. Many of these veterans served during the Vietnam war and are now in their 60s and 70s. Nationally, about 23% of claims are denied and many veterans are not awarded benefits for all medical conditions that are related to their military service.
NJP lawyers assist veterans with initial claims, appeals, and overpayments, ensuring they understand and apply for appropriate VA benefits based on their period of service, length of service, medical conditions that were incurred in or aggravated by service, characterization of service, and income.