Kansas veterans celebrate aim of politicians delivering health care for toxic exposure victims
LENEXA — Purple Heart recipient and former U.S. Army sniper Kyle Prellberg shook his head in amazement Tuesday when considering the struggle to enact federal law extending health care to veterans exposed to emissions from open-air burn pits and other pollutants while deployed overseas.
"I've lived around burn pits," he said. "Burn pits were everywhere. It's just the way we did business."
Prellberg, who did tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, was severely wounded near Kandahar when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his vehicle in 2012. Anxiety, depression and PTSD are lingering consequences of that experience. But it was political turmoil among Washington politicians, he said, that prolonged debate on the measure extending Veterans Administration benefits to 3.5 million veterans stretching back to the Vietnam War who suffered from 23 medical conditions, including rare cancers and respiratory issues, associated with warzone toxins.
The final U.S. Capitol drama included a gambit by Senate Republicans that threatened to derail a bill that was years in development. Despite partisan feuding, the legislation was signed into law last week by President Joe Biden.
"It felt like everything was mired in turmoil," Prellberg said during a news conference with other veterans and U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids of Kansas. "It's a wildly successful thing to have, in this time."
Davids, a Democrat serving the Kansas City area in Congress, said a provision of the bill authorized a $40 million expansion of outpatient services at the Kansas City VA Hospital.
"Kansas veterans, including those in my own family, have put their health, safety and lives on the line to serve our nation, and the least we can do is ensure they have the care they need through the VA when they get home," said Davids, whose mother served 20 years in the U.S. Army.
The bill was supported by four of the six members in the Kansas congressional delegation. It was backed by Davids as well as GOP U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner, U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran and U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, who flipped his vote after objecting to elements of the legislation.
U.S. House members Ron Estes and Tracey Mann, both Republicans, voted against it. The final votes were overwhelming: U.S. House, 342-88, and U.S. Senate, 86-11.
"From Vietnam veterans suffering from Agent Orange to the 3.5 million post-9/11 veterans exposed to burn pits during their deployments, our nation's veterans and their families will no longer have to fear being turned away from the VA for illnesses connected to toxic exposure," Moran said.
Under the PACT Act, nearly two dozen conditions were added to the VA's list of maladies with a presumption they were service connected. Veterans won't have the burden of proof when seeking health care for illnesses in terms of burn pits or exposure to Agent Orange. The bill expanded federal research on exposure to toxins.
"It also sets a framework for new conditions in the future, so that veterans tomorrow will not have to fight the way that past generations have," said Kansas VFW representative Bruce Fischbach.
At the Veterans of Foreign Wars facility in Lenexa, the senior vice commander of Kansas Disabled American Veterans said the law represented the largest expansion of VA care for those exposed to harmful substances during their military service.
"The thousands of Kansas veterans exposed to burn pits, radiation, and Agent Orange will have access to health care and benefits they have earned," said Jim Bunker of the DAV.