Va Publishes Final Regulation To Aid Veterans Exposed To Agent Orange

[allan]

On Fed Register Tuesday, Aug 31^st

http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/fr-cont.html

-----Original Message-----

From: VA Media Relations [mailto:va.media.relations@VA.GOV]

Sent: Monday, August 30, 2010 10:28 AM

To: colonel-dan@sbcglobal.net

Subject: VA Publishes Final Regulation to Aid Veterans Exposed to Agent Orange

VA Publishes Final Regulation to Aid Veterans Exposed to Agent Orange

VA Health Care and Benefits Provided for Many Vietnam Veterans

WASHINGTON (August 30, 2010)- Veterans exposed to herbicides while

serving in Vietnam and other areas will have an easier path to access

quality health care and qualify for disability compensation under a

final regulation that will be published on August 31, 2010 in the

Federal Register by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The new

rule expands the list of health problems VA will presume to be related

to Agent Orange and other herbicide exposures to add two new conditions

and expand one existing category of conditions.

"Last October, based on the requirements of the Agent Orange Act of

1991 and the Institute of Medicine's 2008 Update on Agent Orange, I

determined that the evidence provided was sufficient to award

presumptions of service connection for these three additional diseases,"

said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. "It was the right

decision, and the President and I are proud to finally provide this

group of Veterans the care and benefits they have long deserved."

The final regulation follows Shinseki's determination to expand the list

of conditions for which service connection for Vietnam Veterans is

presumed. VA is adding Parkinson's disease and ischemic heart disease

and expanding chronic lymphocytic leukemia to include all chronic B cell

leukemias, such as hairy cell leukemia.

In practical terms, Veterans who served in Vietnam during the war and

who have a "presumed" illness don't have to prove an association between

their medical problems and their military service. By helping Veterans

overcome evidentiary requirements that might otherwise present

significant challenges, this "presumption" simplifies and speeds up the

application process and ensure that Veterans receive the benefits they

deserve.

The Secretary's decision to add these presumptives is based on the

latest evidence provided in a 2008 independent study by the Institute of

Medicine concerning health problems caused by herbicides like Agent

Orange.

Veterans who served in Vietnam anytime during the period beginning

January 9, 1962, and ending on May 7, 1975, are presumed to have been

exposed to herbicides.

More than 150,000 Veterans are expected to submit Agent Orange claims in

the next 12 to 18 months, many of whom are potentially eligible for

retroactive disability payments based on past claims. Additionally, VA

will review approximately 90,000 previously denied claims by Vietnam

Veterans for service connection for these conditions. All those awarded

service-connection who are not currently eligible for enrollment into

the VA healthcare system will become eligible.

This historic regulation is subject to provisions of the Congressional

Review Act that require a 60-day Congressional review period before

implementation. After the review period, VA can begin paying benefits

for new claims and may award benefits retroactively for earlier periods.

For new claims, VA may pay benefits retroactive to the effective date of

the regulation or to one year before the date VA receives the

application, whichever is later. For pending claims and claims that

were previously denied, VA may pay benefits retroactive to the date it

received the claim.

VA encourages Vietnam Veterans with these three diseases to submit their

applications for access to VA health care and compensation now so the

agency can begin development of their claims.

Individuals can go to a website at

http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/AO/claimherbicide.htm

<http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/AO/claimherbicide.htm> to get an

understanding of how to file a claim for presumptive conditions related

to herbicide exposure, as well as what evidence is needed by VA to make

a decision about disability compensation or survivors benefits.

Additional information about Agent Orange and VA's services for Veterans

exposed to the chemical is available at

www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange

<http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/> .

The regulation is available on the Office of the Federal Register

website at http://www.ofr.gov/ <http://www.ofr.gov/> .

"Keep on, Keepin' on"

Dan Cedusky, Champaign IL "Colonel Dan"

See my web site at:

http://www.angelfire.com/il2/VeteranIssues/

[SLEDGE]

Well dandy.

I find it almost humorous that so few places have been identified as agent orange exposure sites.

I'm talking about places outside of Nam.

Virtually every US military installation used herbicides to keep problem areas knocked-back or just plain devoid of vegetation.

Including all of the stateside facilities.

In the interests of National Security we don't identify any contamination problem areas until several ex-soldiers or sailors spend lots of money and years in litigation proving what is already known by the DOD.

The VA is overwhelmed already, what's wrong these days with a few hundred thousand more claims?

Even though the VA has the ability to modify their supposed budget just by asking congress for more bucks, the VA constantly leans on that magic 'budget' figure that restricts how much the VA can and will do.

I'm wondering how long it will take the politicians, rulers of the VA and DOD, to set-up another study group or schedule more congressional hearings to identify the problem and who caused it?

Lessee, over 40 years after the fact and over 15 years of totally needless study time and they are proud to announce their accomplishment?

Several years ago a farmer built a machine that killed off his unwanted vegetation with 115 degree heated water vapor.

He hooked it up to his tractor and it worked at about an acre an hour.

The heat killed the bugs too.

I'm not suggesting that we start using cheap and non-polluting water vapor when those huge chemical contracts are already in place.

That would put people out of work and eliminate some Federal jobs, like EPA inspectors.

And we would have to negotiate labor contracts for the tractor drivers.

Before the government could authorize the use of 'water' to kill weeds a time study of the effects on the availability of fluid in the water table would have to be accomplished.

That would keep six guys busy for ten years.

And what would the effects be on global warming?

Another time study and five different universities to compile the results.

They could hire me to manage the new Federal Agency of Hot Water Usage.

What's a cabinet level job going for these days?

How much does the job pay?

Can I hire my unemployed relatives?

Killing weeds can sure get complicated.

sledge

[allan]

They don't want any more claims than they already have sledge.

Deny until they die is how they will likely rate most any claim outside of Vietnam. Even most of those claims where a vet can prove in country, they have denied.

You are right. Almost any military base has AO or other chems and heavy metals, radiation, bioweapons.

If a vet has an ilness that has been connected medically to what has been used in their enviroment, no matter where it is they should be service connected in my opinion. But I can tell you also just how much my opinion counts in the realm of things.

Resently my NSO asked, with all the illnesses i've been diagnosed with, have I ever been exposed to agent orange?

I said it was used on the Naval base Treasure Island I was stationed on. So I asked if he thought VA would be granting benefits for AO for US bases soon?

We agreed probably not in my life time.

Allan

[SLEDGE]

" They don't want any more claims than they already have "

I don't believe they really care one way or the other.

What they are doing is building a case for future use.

(Such as,

look folks, we had a glut of over a million new claims backlogged, now that number has risen by 2 hundred thousand due to the three new presumptive illnesses attached to agent orange.

We need more people to write fast letters and we will reassign a few hundred seasoned claims raters to study the problem.)

I keep thinking of the guy that was rubbing out heel marks with a tennis ball on a stick, in front of the elevators.

That is a perfect example of the mindset of the VA, hang up all of those lovely and expensive posters eluding to the fraud committed by veterans through excess travel pay claims and throw money out the window by hiring a bunch of yuks to do make-work jobs.

If they need to pad the payroll I might be able to show up and just occupy some space.

As long as any veteran's needs are not met I can't get my head wrapped around all of the non-medical bs that the VA just has to have.

New furniture in a new waiting room may look good to the public on TV but, several veterans missed-out on medical care to allow that furniture to be bought.

Stuff that does nothing to help a veteran in a medical way is waste.

We can't be the problem while we are the ones getting screwed.

Until the claims are better served and our medical needs are better met we can do without groundskeepers, floor polishers, thousands of new flags and parking spaces reserved for 'visiting doctors'.

Just think how much better the VA could operate and how much better the VA could meet their budget if those pesky veterans would just stop showing up expecting to receive free stuff like medical care.

sledge

[sawgunner]

Can a vet's widow file for comp on a husband who was exposed to AO in Nam and died of cancer?

My uncle past away last moth and WOULD NOT have anything to do with the VA. He was terrified of the VA.

He had prostate cancer, which is covered byt the VA as presummed.... But his cancer started as colon cancer.

Is there any hope for my aunt to file on him now?

[stillhere]

Can a vet's widow file for comp on a husband who was exposed to AO in Nam and died of cancer?

My uncle past away last moth and WOULD NOT have anything to do with the VA. He was terrified of the VA.

He had prostate cancer, which is covered byt the VA as presummed.... But his cancer started as colon cancer.

Is there any hope for my aunt to file on him now?

What does it say on the death certificate as cause of death?

[allan]

[We need more people to write fast letters and we will reassign a few hundred seasoned claims raters to study the problem.]

Thats the reality we all experience Sledge.

Year after Year the same thing. Congress votes the funding in and the VA spends it on frivalous studys and waste.

If this government really wanted to give us good health care and cut costs they would give us a medical card to use at any local, private facility, Dr or hospital of our choosing. Do away with these VAMC's, and sell the property. I see nothing they provide that the private sector doesn't already have.