PACT Act Claims Attorney

PACT Act Claims Attorney

The PACT Act made more than twenty conditions presumptive for burn pit, Agent Orange and radiation exposure, which means an eligible veteran no longer has to prove their disability or illness was caused by the exposure. Two important things follow, and most veterans know neither. Claims denied before August 10, 2022 for conditions now presumptive can be filed again. And the VA computed thousands of PACT Act awards from the application date instead of the statutory effective date of August 10, 2022, which means the VA’s back pay calculation may be short.

What the PACT Act Does

The PACT Act expands VA health care and benefits for veterans exposed to: burn pits; Agent Orange; radiation; and other toxic substances during military service. Under the Act, many conditions are now presumed to be service-connected — meaning a veteran, who has a PACT Act claim, does not have to prove a direct medical link between the exposure and the current disease.

Who Is Eligible

Under the PACT Act, all veterans exposed to toxins and other hazards during military service — at home or abroad — are now eligible for VA health care. Eligibility extends to:

• Post-9/11 combat veterans who served in designated locations
• Vietnam-era veterans exposed to Agent Orange, with expanded presumptive locations and conditions
• Gulf War and post-9/11 veterans exposed to burn pits and airborne hazards
• Veterans exposed to radiation in designated cleanup or testing operations
• Surviving spouses, children, and dependents in certain cases

Presumptive Conditions Under the PACT Act

The PACT Act added more than 20 presumptive conditions for burn pit and airborne hazard exposure, including:

• Brain cancer, glioblastoma
• Head cancer of any type
• Neck cancer of any type
• Respiratory (breathing-related) cancer of any type
• Gastrointestinal cancer of any type
• Reproductive cancer of any type
• Lymphoma of any type
• Kidney cancer
• Melanoma
• Pancreatic cancer
• Chronic bronchitis
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• Constrictive bronchiolitis or obliterative bronchiolitis
• Emphysema
• Granulomatous disease
• Interstitial lung disease (ILD)
• Pleuritis
• Pulmonary fibrosis
• Sarcoidosis
• Asthma diagnosed after service
• Chronic rhinitis
• Chronic sinusitis
• Hypertension (high blood pressure) for Agent Orange–exposed veterans
• Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) for Agent Orange–exposed veterans

Presumptive does not mean automatic

A presumption settles one question — whether the condition is connected to service — and leaves two others open. The VA must still find that you served in a covered location during a covered period, and it must still rate the condition. Most PACT Act denials we see are not about the presumption at all. They are about service dates that do not line up with the covered period in the VA’s records, a diagnosis that is described differently in the medical file than in the regulation, or a rating that treats a cancer in remission as if it never happened. Each of those is an appealable error, and each has a one-year deadline from the decision letter.

The effective-date problem

The PACT Act became law on August 10, 2022. For a veteran who filed a claim, or an intent to file, within one year of that date — by August 9, 2023 — the statute allows benefits to be paid back to August 10, 2022, not just to the date of the application, under the rule for benefits awarded pursuant to a liberalizing law (38 U.S.C. § 5110(g); 38 C.F.R. § 3.114). In thousands of cases the VA set the effective date at the application date instead. The difference is a year of retroactive compensation, at 2026 rates roughly $3,800 to $47,000 depending on the rating and dependents. A veteran who receives a PACT Act grant should compare the effective date on the decision letter with the date the claim was filed; if the award starts on the filing date, the back pay may be short. Our article PACT Act Back Pay: Was Your Effective Date Wrong? explains how to check.

Claims denied before the PACT Act

A condition denied before August 10, 2022 that is now on the presumptive list can be claimed again by supplemental claim. The presumption itself is the “new and relevant evidence” the supplemental claim requires (38 U.S.C. § 5108; 38 C.F.R. § 3.2501). The VA has said it would identify and readjudicate some previously denied claims on its own, but a veteran should not wait for that: the effective date of a refiled claim generally runs from the date of the new filing, so every month of delay is a month of benefits lost.

Toxic-exposure screening and the TERA finding

Every veteran enrolled in VA health care is entitled to a toxic-exposure screening, repeated at least every five years. Separately, when a claim is filed for a condition that is not on a presumptive list, the VA must consider whether the veteran took part in a “toxic exposure risk activity” and, if so, order a medical examination and opinion on whether the exposure caused the condition (38 U.S.C. § 1168, added by section 303 of the PACT Act; 38 C.F.R. § 3.159(c)(4)). That provision reaches conditions the presumptive lists do not — a kidney disease, a neurological disorder — and it is frequently overlooked by raters. If your decision letter says the VA found no TERA, or does not mention one, that is a ground for appeal.

Survivors

The PACT Act’s presumptions apply to Dependency and Indemnity Compensation. A surviving spouse or child of a veteran who died of a condition that is now presumptive — a Vietnam veteran who died of hypertension-related heart disease, a Gulf War veteran who died of a respiratory cancer — may be entitled to DIC even if the veteran never filed a claim, and a DIC claim previously denied on the ground that the condition was not service-connected can be refiled.

Frequently asked PACT Act questions

Do I need to prove I was near a burn pit? No. The presumption is based on service in a covered location during a covered period, not on proof of proximity to a particular pit.

My condition is not on the list. Is the PACT Act useless to me? No. The TERA provision described above requires the VA to consider exposure for any condition, and direct service connection — proving the link with a medical opinion — remains available.

I was denied for a PACT Act condition after August 2022. Why? The most common reasons are a covered-service finding the VA got wrong, a diagnosis the VA did not accept, or a claim filed under the wrong condition name. Send us the decision letter; the reason is stated in it and is usually fixable.

Is there a fee to file? No. There is no attorney fee for an initial claim, and accredited attorneys may charge only for work on a claim after it has been denied, on a contingency basis approved by the VA.

How We Help With PACT Act Claims

We assist veterans and survivors at every stage:

• Filing initial PACT Act disability compensation claims
• Appealing PACT Act denials to the BVA, CAVC, and Federal Circuit
• Pursuing earlier effective dates where exposure or diagnosis pre-dated the Act
• Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) claims for surviving spouses and children
• Filing for VA health care eligibility under the PACT Act

What to Do If You Were Exposed

1. Get a VA toxic-exposure screening — these are now offered at VA facilities to all enrolled veterans.
2. Gather service records that document deployment locations and dates.
3. Document your current diagnosis and symptoms.
4. File a claim for VA disability compensation. If you’re unsure whether your condition qualifies, contact our office for a free evaluation.

Related Resources

See our Resources for Veterans page for government portals and support services, and our VA Disability page for broader information on service-connected claims.