HAMPTON, Va. - The Dept. of Veterans Affairs will begin processing all claims filed by veterans under the PACT Act in the new year.
The PACT Act expands healthcare and benefits to veterans exposed to toxic substances during their service. Among other things, it removes the burden of proof from veterans to connect their health issues to their exposure.
Local veteran Stephen Kudrick says he was exposed to burn pits multiple times during his 20-year career in the Navy.
"I remember being in Afghanistan they would just pile all the trash wherever they could find into these huge pits and burn it," Kudrick told News 3 in Augustwhen President Biden signed the Act into law.
Many veterans, like Kudrick, trace their health issues to burn pit exposure.
"My lungs are at a decreased capacity now. I've got some really bad sinuses. I'm constantly clogged up. I live off of sinus medication and constantly flushing my sinuses out," he said.
The VA says they've already begun processing claims for veterans who are terminally ill and in the new year will process all claims, of which there are already more than 213,000.
"It feels like a long time coming, maybe 50 or 60 years, all the way back to the Vietnam War," Kurdrick told News 3 Friday.
Kurdick is under 100-percent disability by the VA, but said he does plan to file in case the Act could help him down the line.
"If something else pops up, I know it's going to be in my record and they're going to be able to care of me," he said.
The VA has been rolling out an information campaign to spread the word about the PACT Act. They say it's the biggest expansion of VA benefits in more than three decades. They've hired more than 2,700 people to help process the claims.
"Our commitment is to make sure that we have the staff in position to work through those claims aggressively, to resolve those claims in a quality way, and to get to payment of those benefits rapidly and transparently," said Sec. of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough.
For more information on how to file, click here.
