John Plahovinsak
The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act has been “the largest health care and benefits expansion to veterans in the history of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).”
This statement was made by VA Secretary Denis McDonough while addressing the over 2,000 delegates at the National Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Convention on August 7, 2023.
According to the VA Secretary, the VA has delivered more than $1.85 billion in earned PACT benefits to 340,754 veterans and their survivors since the official signing of the legislation into law on August 10, 2022.
This number will increase as the VA processes a half-million pending claims and receives applications from 1.65 million veterans who have submitted an intent to file in the past year.
The VA had received 843,448 claims under the PACT Act legislation and 458,659 of the PACT Act Related Claims were completed. The VA approval rate for PACT Act Related Claims was 78.5%.
In addition, 332,252 veterans have enrolled in VA health care, which is nearly 50,000 more enrollees than the previous year. This includes 113,719 enrollees from the PACT Act population (Vietnam; Gulf War; and Post-9/11 veterans).
Since the PACT Act was signed on August 10, 2022, the Disability Claims Backlog has significantly grown. In order to fall into this “backlogged claim” category, the claim must be 125 days or older. According to McDonough, “this growth in backlogged cases was expected.”
In September of 2022, there were slightly less than 150,000 backlogged cases. Currently, there are 272,925 backlogged claims and this category could grow to as much as 730,000 by 2024.
In addition to processing PACT Act disability claims, the VA has been screening veterans for toxic substance exposures. A total of 4,182,635 veterans have received the ten (10) minute screenings for toxic exposures under the PACT Act. This is a critical step to catching and threatening potentially life-threatening health conditions as soon as possible.
Forty-two (42%) percent or 1,777,506 veterans endorsed at least one (1) potential exposure to toxic substances during the screening process.
Anticipating an influx of new patients and veterans eligible for disability benefits, the VA embarked on a hiring effort to attract medical providers, as well as claims specialists.
In total, both the Veterans Health Administration (VBA) and the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) have achieved their highest growth rates in twenty (20) years. The VBA is now above 29,000 employees for the first time in its history.
The VBA introduced an automated system to accelerate the claims process for common conditions that warrant disability compensation and to prevent its backlog of claims that are older than 125 days from growing exponentially.
One of the campaigns the VA launched in conjunction with the implementation of the PACT Act was the spreading of the word to veterans and their survivors about the health care available from the VA.
In this fiscal year, veterans and their survivors have submitted nearly two (2) million total claims (including 843,448 PACT Act -specific claims). This was 37% more claims than last year. Veterans also submitted 1.65 million “Intents to File” applications during this fiscal year which was 44% more than last year.
But even with all the progress, the VA and the VBA is contending with stressed resources and delays in getting such financial aid into the hands of the veterans who seek it from a department that has a well-documented struggle with backlogs.
Those issues were on display this week with an eleventh-hour rush of online applications from veterans and their survivors trying to meet an August 9, 2023 deadline for benefits backdated to August 10, 2022, the day the President Biden signed the PACT Act into law.
The surge led to some 5,600 people receiving an error message when they attempted to submit their information, with the VA late Wednesday afternoon announcing it was extending the deadline by five more days, until 11:59 p.m. Aug. 14, “out of an abundance of caution after experiencing technical difficulties” with the department’s website.
The VA’s phone lines also struggled under an “extremely high” call volume on Tuesday, with wait times spiking 10-15 minutes compared to the normal average of 10-30 seconds, according to the VA.
My Opinion: The “bottom line” is that there is “no” deadline to apply for PACT-related benefits. These benefits are readily available now, but they will not be backdated to August 10, 2022.
However, the House of Representatives VA Committee Chairman Mike Bost stated he wants answers on the technical issues that plagued the VA’s website ahead of the August 9, 2023 cutoff period for backdated benefits.
The PACT Act has opened doors for easier approval of benefits. The President had pledged that the PACT Act would allow the VA to move quicker to determine if a veteran qualifies for the benefits under the law such as monthly disability compensation and regular toxic exposure screenings.
Evidence has proven the VA is moving quicker and it is easier now to obtain these benefits!
BioSketch: John Plahovinsak is a 32-year retired Army veteran, who served from 1967 to 1999. He is the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Department of Ohio Hospital Chairman and Adjutant of DAV Chapter #63 (Clermont County). He can be contacted at: plahovinsak@msn.com.