For the last two (2) decades, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has denied most disability claims by Vietnam veterans for three (3) specific medical conditions associated with the Exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides.
These medical conditions were: nerve damage (early-onset peripheral neuropathy); skin cysts (chloracne) and skin blisters (porphyria cutanea tarda). The medical conditions must have incurred within one (1) year of service in Vietnam in order for the VA to presume a connection between the veteran’s suffering condition and the exposure to Agent Orange.
Between 2003 to 2021, a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) analysis revealed that only 11,000 out of 130,000 Vietnam veterans’ disability compensation claims were approved and granted by the VA for the three (3) specific medical conditions.
On September 1, 2022, the GAO released a Report entitled: VA Disability: Clearer Claims Processing Guidance Needed for Selected Agent Orange Conditions (GAO-22-105191).
This Report was mandated by the Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe, M.D. Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020. A provision in the Act required the GAO to report on VA’s efforts to provide benefits to Vietnam veterans for certain conditions that were associated with Agent Orange exposure.
In addition to investigating the number of disability claims submitted and granted, the Report was designed to investigate two (2) other topics. They were: (1) to what extent VA Claims Processors followed VA procedures in evaluating claims; and (2) the estimated cost of removing the one-year manifestation requirement.
The GAO Report revealed that the claims processors didn’t consistently understand or comprehend what evidence could be used to support the veteran’s medical condition and the exposure to Agent Orange for those three (3) specific medical conditions.
The interviews conducted by the GAO investigators suggested that the VA Claims Processors inaccurately evaluated the disability claims for the three (3) conditions inconsistently based upon inaccurate interpretations of VA’s processing guidelines and procedures. The VA guidance provided to the VA Claim Processors did not clearly address these three (3) medical conditions.
The bottom line of this GAO Report is: Many of the 119,000 Vietnam veterans that were denied disability compensation benefits over the last two (2) decades for skin cysts, nerve damage and skin blisters may have been wrongly denied their earned benefits.
The GAO only made one (1) significant Recommendation to the VA and that was for the VA to clarify its guidance on how to evaluate disability compensation claims for the three (3) specific medical conditions. The VA agreed with the GAO’s recommendation.
The GAO estimated that removing the 1-year manifestation period requirement for the three conditions could cost VA between $16.7 billion and $25.8 billion over 10 years.
This GAO estimate includes disability payments of $12.6 billion to $18.5 billion for about 130,000 to 217,000 Vietnam veterans with these conditions, though the primary medical condition is for nerve damage (peripheral neuropathy). This estimate also includes increases in VA health care and administrative costs.
My Opinion: It is exceedingly hard to determine how many Vietnam veterans were deprived of their earned disability benefit compensation without reviewing all the records of the denied claims for those three (3) specific medical conditions.
Only eight (8%) percent of the Vietnam veterans (who submitted disability claims) received their entitled benefits for the exposure to Agent Orange injuries they incurred while serving.
According to the GAO Report, the fault is NOT the responsibility of the VA Claims Processors, who denied the veterans their disability claims.
The GAO indicated that it was the VA’s unclear guidance concerning validating evidence provided to the Claim Processors that actually caused the problem. The VA agreed that the guidance contained in its Claims Processing Manual needed to be re-written for the three (3) cited medical conditions.
But the question remains: What about the 119,000 Vietnam veterans whose claims were denied over the last two decades?
I believe the VA should review all those denied disability compensation claims for the three (3) medical conditions and correctly process them consistently with the clearer written guidance that the VA stated it would provide to their Claims Processors.
My main concern now is that the GAO Recommendation did not establish a deadline of when the creating of the “clearer guidance” and re-evaluation of the denied claims would occur.
The Disabled American Veterans (DAV), and other Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs), should monitor this specific situation outlined in the GAO Report and provide the required justice (and disability compensation) for the Vietnam veterans, who may have been improperly denied their earned benefits.
BioSketch: John Plahovinsak is a 32-year retired Army veteran, who served from 1967 to 1999. He is the Disabled American Veteran (DAV) Department of Ohio Hospital Chairman and DAV Adjutant of Chapter #63 (Clermont County).