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By Ken Cruickshank
Veterans Services Officer for Tulare County 

The PACT Act (Part 2)

 

Last updated 1/3/2023 at 8:30pm | View PDF



This is the second column covering the PACT Act. To recap, the full name of the law is the Sergeant First Class (SFC) Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act.

Here we will address the conditions that are related to a veteran who served in either the Gulf War or post-9/11.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has added the following cancers to the presumptive list for burn pit and other toxic exposures: brain cancer, gastrointestinal cancer of any type, glioblastoma, head cancer of any type, kidney cancer, lymphatic cancer of any type, lymphoma of any type, melanoma, neck cancer of any type, pancreatic cancer, reproductive cancer of any type, and respiratory (breathing-related) cancer of any type.

In addition to the above cancers, the VA has added the following illnesses as presumptive: asthma that was diagnosed after service, chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic rhinitis, chronic sinusitis, constrictive bronchiolitis or obliterative bronchiolitis, emphysema, granulomatous disease, interstitial lung disease (ILD), pleuritis, pulmonary fibrosis, and arcoidosis.

You are eligible for any of the above if you served on or after August 2, 1990, in any of the following locations: Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), or the airspace above any of these locations.

You are eligible for any of the above if you served on or after September 11, 2001, in any of the following locations: Afghanistan, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Uzbekistan, Yemen or the airspace above any of these locations.

The VA has also expanded health care services for post-9/11 veterans that is dependent on your service history and some other factors. If you would like further information regarding the health care, feel free to contact the office for more information. If you would like assistance in filing a disability claim for any of the above conditions, please call to schedule an appointment with our office.

Ken Cruickshank, the Veterans Services Officer for Tulare County, is a retired Navy Master Chief Petty Officer. Contact him at the Veterans Services Office at 3348 W. Mineral King Ave., Visalia; by phone at (559) 713-2880; or by email at kcruicks@tularecounty.ca.gov

 

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