WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - VA has recognized several cancers presumptive for the benefit of toxic-exposed veterans, lowering the burden of proof for them to receive no-cost health care and earned benefits.
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced that it is adding acute and chronic leukemias, multiple myelomas, myelodysplastic syndromes, myelofibrosis, urinary bladder, ureter, and related genitourinary cancers to the list of those presumed related to burn pit exposure for Gulf War Veterans and Post-9/11 Veterans.
Gulf War Veterans include veterans who served in Somalia or the Southwest Asia theater of operations (which includes Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the neutral zone between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, the Gulf of Aden, the Gulf of Oman, the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, and the airspace above these locations) during the Persian Gulf War on or after August 2, 1990.
Post-9/11 Veterans include Veterans who served in Afghanistan, Iraq, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, or Uzbekistan and the airspace above these locations during the Gulf War on or after Sept. 11, 2001. This includes Veterans who served at the Karshi-Khanabad (K2) base in Uzbekistan after September 11, 2001.
This step lowers the burden of proof for these Veterans, who do not need to prove that their service caused their condition to receive benefits for it. Instead, VA automatically assumes service connection for the condition and provides benefits accordingly. Additionally, when a Veteran becomes service connected for a health condition, it gives them access to free health care for that condition. The presumptions for urinary bladder, ureter, and related genitourinary cancers went into effect on January 2, and the presumptions for acute and chronic leukemias, multiple myelomas, and myelodysplastic syndromes, myelofibrosis will be effective Friday.
'Adding these presumptives lowers the burden of proof for Veterans to get the benefits they deserve for the conditions that followed them home from war. We encourage Veterans with these conditions - and all Veterans - to apply today for the benefits they deserve today' said VA Secretary Denis McDonough.
K2 Veterans have higher claim and approval rates than any other cohort of Veterans: 13,002 K2 Veterans of the approximately 16,000 known K2 Veterans are currently enrolled in VA health care, more than 11,800 are service connected for at least one condition, the average K2 Veteran is service connected for 14.6 conditions at a 70% disability rating, and the average service-connected K2 Veteran receives an average of $30,000 a year in earned benefits. VA continues to work to ensure that all K2 Veterans get access to the benefits they deserve.
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