Moran, Davids celebrate anniversary of health care law by urging veterans to step forward

TOPEKA — U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran marked the one-year anniversary of a federal law extending health care to service members potentially harmed by toxins by urging the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to improve public awareness of the program and speed processing of applications.

Moran, a Kansas Republican, and Democratic U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids touted Thursday significance of the PACT Act, which was crafted to deliver medical treatment and disability benefits to generations of toxic-exposed veterans. Both voted for the bill along with U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner and U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall. Two of the state’s GOP members, U.S. Reps. Tracey Mann and Ron Estes, voted against the bill.

“While I recognize implementing the PACT Act is a monumental task,” Moran said, “I have concerns that VA has not adequately tracked how many veterans are enrolling in the VA health care system and believe that the VA can do a better job at informing veterans about the opportunity to enroll. I also remain concerned about the backlog of benefits claims and the time needed to hire and train employees to correctly process claims.”

He said it was possible veterans and survivors could wait months for benefits or receive inaccurate responses to applications leading to years of appeals.

Davids, whose mother served 20 years in the U.S. Army, said 7,532 of the state’s 186,000 veterans had completed PACT Act claim applications. In her 3rd District covering all of Johnson, Miami, Franklin and Anderson counties and part of Wyandotte County, 1,025 of 37,328 veterans submitted PACT Act documentation.

She also said the Kansas City VA had provided more than 26,300 toxic exposure screenings and learned 44% pointed to at least one potential toxic exposure.

“Kansas veterans, including those in my own family, have made countless sacrifices to serve our nation, and the least we can do is ensure they have the necessary care through VA when they get home,” Davids said.

The law was signed by President Joe Biden Aug. 10, 2022, to address repercussions of the U.S. military relying on large burn pits at bases around the world to dispose of garbage, plastics and medical waste. The pits exposed service members to toxins for months that could lead to asthma, cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.

In addition, the law took into account military personnel encountering dangerous pesticides, oil well fires, radiation, contaminated water, Agent Orange and other toxic substances when deployed.

The VA extended until 11:59 p.m. Aug. 14 the deadline to file a PACT Act claim, or submit an intent to file, for benefits backdated to Aug. 10, 2022. The change resulted from high volume of people submitting documentation under the Sgt. 1st Class Health Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act.

Veterans interested in applying for PACT Act benefits related to toxic airborne hazards while deployed can find information here.

Rick McKenna, commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7397 in Lenexa, said he was grateful to federal lawmakers who realized health complications of veterans’ toxic exposure was a nonpartisan issue rather than a feuding opportunity for Republicans and Democrats.

"The passage of the PACT Act opened the door to thousands of veterans like me who were previously denied benefits for many years are now able to receive care and benefits they earned long ago,” he said.