U NITED S UPREME C OUNCIL V ETERANS R ESOURCE C OMMITTEE
It has been over 18 months since the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act was enacted on August 10, 2022. This legislation expanded Veteran Affairs (VA) health care and benefits for those exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange (AO), and other toxic substances. It is the most significant healthcare and benefit expansion in VA history. The PACT Act added over 20 presumptive conditions for Veterans who participated in Toxic Exposure Risk Activity (TERA) events; added more presumptive-exposure locations for AO and radiation; required the VA to provide toxic exposure screenings to all VA Healthcare enrollees; and improved research, staff education, and treatment related to toxic exposure. However, how has the VA performed implementing the PACT Act, and how has it impacted the lives of
Veterans, their families, and caregivers since its enactment? To address the first part of the question, let’s review the VA PACT Act Performance Dashboard. The VA Pact Act Performance Dashboard is a digital newsletter that shares performance metrics with the public and internal and external stakeholders. The VA uses this data to assess its performance in implementing the Pact Act, an ongoing process. The following figure illustrates the VA’s performance in expanding benefits and healthcare to Veterans as of December 20, 2023. Per the data shown, the VA has performed reasonably well. Regarding the 75.9% approval rate for PACT Act-related claims, the most frequent reason for denial is “no diagnosis” of the claimed condition. For a Veteran to file a VA claim for a condition believed to be related to military service,
the condition must first be diagnosed by a competent medical authority before filing the claim. Other frequent reasons for denial are that the VA deemed the condition was not incurred or caused by military service and not established by presumptive service.
T HE S PRING B ULLETIN
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