The PACT Act is a new law that expands VA health care and benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances. The PACT Act adds to the list of health conditions that the VA assume (or presume) are caused by exposure to these substances. This new law helps us provide generations of Veterans - and their survivors - with the care and benefits they've earned and deserve. Here is a link to the VA PACT Act Page. VA PACT Act. 

More Information About the PACT Act.

Kristy Cunningham, the local State of Colorado recently shared information about the PACT Act. The following are the pages of information she shared. Click on the thumbnails below to see the pages of information.

Here’s a quick story on how we made government work for our veterans and deliver the care they deserve.  In Colorado, we’re no stranger to service. We’re home to over 400,000 veterans who have served our country and protected the freedoms we all revere.  We’ve invested heavily in making sure our veterans are taken care of. From our state-of-the-art VA research centers to adaptive sports organizations that get vets out on the slopes, Colorado shows our veterans we care. We want to support them as best we can.  But for years many of our veterans weren’t getting the care they needed.  A big part of the problem starts with burn pits. For years, the military commonly burned not just trash, but all manner of military waste, much of it extremely toxic, in open pits. Our service members inhaled dangerous fumes at bases in Iraq, Afghanistan, and literally all over the world.  Tires, chemicals, plastics, medical supplies, human waste all burned in these pits.  Some of these burn pits were as large as ten acres. Toxic smoke drifted over entire bases. That means thousands of our service members were exposed to these fumes every day. It’s estimated that since 9/11 over 3.5 million veterans may have been exposed to these burn pits.¹ Perhaps not surprisingly, many veterans started to experience cancers – like breast cancer and brain cancer – and other rare illnesses at alarming rates and at far younger ages than what’s expected. Researchers started looking for causes and zoned in on the impact of that smoke from burn pits. They found compelling evidence tying these burn pits to the onset of these chronic illnesses.²   But definitively proving a direct cause and effect between a medical condition and burn pits is complex. Proving that link, however, is critical for our veterans because that’s how the VA determines what care and benefits it will cover. It’s a complicated system, but determining a connection between a veteran’s service and their condition is essential for receiving coverage. While research showed a probable link to burn pits, the federal government said the research wasn’t clear enough for existing regulations to cover treatment. In practical terms, that meant the VA denied 70 percent of disability claims related to burn pit exposures.³ That’s millions of vets left to fend for themselves instead of getting the treatment they needed.  That ended in 2022 – when we passed the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act.  What does the PACT Act do exactly? It established a presumption of a service connection between a veteran’s exposure to burn pits and over 20 associated illnesses, removing the burden of proof from the veteran. It also extends health coverage to Vietnam-era veterans exposed to Agent Orange, and strengthens VA research and resources for toxic exposure. Practically speaking, it means veterans getting proactively screened for toxic exposure. It means receiving radiation or chemotherapy treatment that’s actually covered. It means less time waiting around for care to be approved and more time being treated.  And it also means a lot to affected veterans’ families and caregivers. In some cases, families who lost their husbands, wives, fathers, or mothers to illnesses related to these exposures can finally receive pension payments from their deceased loved ones which had been previously denied.⁴ And those benefits were backdated to cover the time it took us to get our act together and pass the bill.  In Colorado specifically, it’s meant over 20,000 Colorado veterans are now getting better care, the care they deserve and earned. Nationwide that figure is 1 million.  But we’re not done yet.   We’ve hit the road in Durango, Denver, Pueblo, Colorado Springs, and more to meet with veterans, get the word out about their new benefits under thePACT Act, and hear what they still need.  Colorado’s veterans answered the call to protect us. It’s our turn to make sure we’re taking care of them now.