John Plahovinsak

John Plahovinsak

On January 8, 2025, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced it was adding eight (8) new presumptives for disabled veterans. These new presumptives are: acute and chronic leukemias, multiple myelomas, myelodysplastic syndromes, myelofibrosis, urinary bladder, ureter, and related genitourinary cancers.

The addition of these presumptives lowers the burden of proof for these disabled veterans, meaning they do not need to prove that their service caused their condition to receive benefits for it. Instead, VA automatically assumes service connection for the condition and provides benefits.

Additionally, when a disabled veteran becomes service-connected for a health condition, it gives the veteran access to free VA’s health care for that specific condition.

The presumptives determination is applicable to Persian Gulf War veterans, who served on or after August 2, 1990. It is also applicable to Post 9/11 veterans, who served during the Gulf War on or after September 11, 2001.

This presumptive decision also includes disabled veterans who served at the Karshi-Khanabad (K2) air base (in Uzbekistan) after Sept. 11, 2001.

The presumptions for urinary bladder, ureter, and related genitourinary cancers went into effect on January 2, 2025, and the presumptions for acute and chronic leukemias, multiple myelomas, and myelodysplastic syndromes, myelofibrosis went into effect on January 10, 2025.

This expansion is part of a comprehensive effort by VA to expand access to benefits for disabled veterans in the nation. President Joseph Biden signed the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act of 2022.

This was the largest expansion of disabled veteran benefits since World War II. Because of the large number of veterans to be impacted, the PACT Act was designed, by Congress, to be gradually phased in during a period of several years.

However, the VA then made millions of disabled veterans eligible for health care and benefits years earlier than stipulated by the law. The VA followed up their action by launching the largest outreach campaign in VA history to encourage disabled veterans to apply.

As a result of this outreach effort, approximately 890,000 disabled veterans have signed up for VA medical care and services since the bill was signed into law. This was a forty (40%) percent increase over the previous equivalent period.

Disabled veterans have submitted more than 4.8 million claim applications for VA disability compensation benefits, an over a forty-one (41%) percent increase over the previous equivalent period (an all-time record).

My Opinion: The Disabled American Veterans (DAV) organization has been spearheading the effort for the disabled veterans who served at the Karshi-Khanabad (K2) base, in southeastern Uzbekistan, to ensure that VA is providing them, and their survivors, with the medical care and benefits they deserve.

Camp Stronghold Freedom, or K2, was a former Soviet air base that contained residuals of chemical weapons, radioactive depleted uranium, and jet fuel, among nearly 400 other deadly chemical compounds. Over 15,700 military personnel were stationed there from 2001 to 2005.

Because of the VA’s PACT past and current actions, K2 disabled veterans have higher disability claim and approval rates than any other cohort of disabled veterans. A total of 13,002 K2 veterans of the approximately 16,000 known K2 veterans are currently enrolled in VA health care.

More than 11,800 K2 veterans are service-connected for at least one medical condition, and the average service-connected K2 disabled veteran receives an average of $30,000 a year in their earned benefits.

Unfortunately, many of the K2 disabled veterans have already passed away from the deadly radiation that they were exposed to at the K2 air base.

The Department of Defense (DoD) knew that service members stationed at the K2 air base were exposed to dangerous toxins, and a 2015 U.S. Army Study found that K2 veterans have a 500% greater chance of developing certain cancers.

Hundreds of veterans surveyed by the Stronghold Freedom Foundation—a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of toxic-exposed K2 veterans—reported illnesses ranging from neurological and autoimmune in nature to respiratory and urological.

Initially, from 2015 to 2020, the VA did not recognize the K2 exposures. The PACT Act, the most comprehensive toxic-exposure veterans’ law in history, did little for K2 veterans.

“While the PACT Act includes K2 veterans in the burn pit presumptives, the VA still has not recognized the other toxic exposures and potential diseases unique to K2,” DAV Deputy National Legislative Director Shane Liermann previously said. “Because of these gaps, many veterans will be denied access to life-changing health care and benefits.

The VA, with the issuance of the January 8, 2025 presumptives, finally recognizes the plight of K2 veterans. “Adding these presumptives lowers the burden of proof for disabled veterans to get the benefits they deserve for the conditions that followed them home from war,” said VA Secretary Denis McDonough.

Since 2021, more than 1.3 million disabled veterans have enrolled in VA health care and VA has delivered more than $600 billion in earned benefits directly to disabled veterans, their families, and survivors during that time.

As of July 1, 2024, 31,945 disabled veterans in the State of Ohio have had their PACT Act disability compensation claims granted by the VA.

BioSketch: John Plahovinsak is a retired 32-year Army veteran, who served from 1967 to 1999. He is the Disabled American Veteran (DAV) Department of Ohio’s Hospital Chairman. He is at: plahovinsak@msn.com.