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Ed Palmer
07-11-10, 09:55 AM
Agent Orange and Heart Conditions


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I just found out that I qualify great news
Mabe some of you also qualify
Ed.
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All of the veterans “who have been trying to link their heart condition to a service-connected condition won’t have to do it now if they’re Vietnam vets,”

The cost of war -- on veterans’ health and taxpayer wallets -- will loom a little larger in the new year when the Department of Veterans Affairs issues a final rule to claim adjudicators to presume three more diseases of Vietnam veterans, including heart disease, were caused by exposure to Agent Orange.
The rule, expected to be published soon, will make almost any veteran who set foot in Vietnam, and is diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, B cell leukemia or ischemic heart disease (known also as coronary artery disease), eligible for disability compensation and VA medical care. The exception would be if credible evidence surfaces of a non-service cause for the ailment.

Katie Roberts, VA press secretary, said no estimates will be available on numbers of veterans impacted or the potential cost to VA until after the rule change takes effect sometime in 2010. But the National Association for Uniformed Services was told by a VA official that up to 185,000 veterans could become eligible for benefits and the projected cost to VA might reach $50 billion, said Win Reither, a retired colonel on NAUS’ executive board.

NAUS also advised members that VA, to avoid aggravating its claims backlog, intends to “accept letters from family physicians supporting claims for Agent Orange-related conditions.” It said thousands of widows whose husbands died of Agent Orange disabilities also will be eligible for retroactive benefits and VA Dependency and Indemnity Compensation.

“This is huge,” said Ronald Abrams, co-director of the National Veterans Legal Services Program. NVLSP has represented veterans in Agent Orange lawsuits for the last 25 years. The non-profit law group publishes the “Veterans Benefits Manual,” a 1900-page guide for veterans’ advocates to navigate the maze for VA claims, appeals and key court decisions.

Abrams said he can’t guess at how many more thousands of veterans previously denied disability claims, or how many thousands more who haven’t filed claims yet, will be eligible for benefits. But numbers, particularly of those with heart disease, will be very large, he suggested.

All of the veterans “who have been trying to link their heart condition to a service-connected condition won’t have to do it now if they’re Vietnam vets,” Abrams said. For VA, it will mean “a significant amount of money -- and many, many, many people helped.”

The excitement over expansion of benefits for Vietnam veterans, and worry by some within the Obama administration over cost, flows from an announcement last October by VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki. He said three categories would be added to the list of diseases the VA presumes were caused by Agent Orange. Veterans with the presumptive Agent Orange ailments can get disability compensation if they can show they made even a brief visit to Vietnam from 1962 to 1975. With a presumptive illness, claim applicants don’t have to prove, as other claimants do, a direct association between their medical condition and military service.

Shinseki said he based his decision on work of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies. VA contracts with IOM to gather veterans’ health data and investigate links between diseases and toxic herbicide used in Vietnam to destroy vegetation and expose enemy positions.

In a speech last July, Shinseki, former Army chief of staff and a wounded veteran of Vietnam, expressed frustration that “40 years after Agent Orange was last used in Vietnam, this secretary is still adjudicating claims for presumption of service-connected disabilities tied to its toxic effects.” VA and the Defense Department should had conducted conclusive studies earlier on presumptive disabilities from Agent Orange, he suggested.

“The scientific method and the failure to advocate for the veteran got in the way of our processes,” Shinseki bluntly concluded.

In last October’s announcement he said VA “must do better reviews of illnesses that may be connected to service, and we will. Veterans who endure health problems deserve timely decisions based on solid evidence.”

When a disease is added to VA’s list of ailments tied to Agent Orange, veterans with the disease can become eligible for retroactive disability payments, back to the date original claims were rejected, if after 1985.

Joe Violante, legislative director for Disabled American Veterans, praised Shinseki’s decision. But he said VA faces a “logistical nightmare” in trying to find veterans turned down on earlier on claims. A VA official told Violante, he said, that cost of the search could be part of that nightmare.

Chairman of government affairs for Vietnam Veterans of America until last October was John Miterko. He said he wasn’t surprised that Shinseki added ailments to the Agent Orange presumptive list including heart disease.

“If you look at the Vietnam veteran population, the diseases we’ve contracted and the mortality rate, the only group dying faster rate are the World War II veterans,” Miterko said. “We’re picking up diseases by our ‘60s that we shouldn’t be getting until our late ‘70s, early ‘80s. So his adding other diseases, heart disease in particular, isn’t a surprise.”

Both Shinseki and his predecessor, James Peake, former Army surgeon general, had long military careers and served in Vietnam. “That’s a hell of a bonus for us,” Miterko said. Both of them have shown “much more empathy, much more understanding. They would have seen many of their own peer group suffering from the effects of exposure to Agent Orange.”

Miterko doesn’t believe anyone can estimate how many veterans will benefit from the new presumptive diseases. VA will continue to process claims individually, he said, and likely won’t be accepting Agent Orange as the cause of heart disease for someone “who has smoked for 40 years and is mobidly obese. Common sense is going to have to prevail as well.”

Riven37
07-11-10, 10:06 AM
My heart claim has been in for several months and I haven't heard anything yet. The issue is smoking. I made sure my smoking was combat related meaning I would have not smoked if I wasn't in combat therefore, my heart condition is related to combat and AO since there sprayed our area (hill) daily just before we went out on patrols.

hbharrison
07-11-10, 01:53 PM
Already there have had my claim in for months also have been telling some others around the area they need to file can't hurt. The VA told me that they are not making any judgements until it has been writen into the Fed Register and until it is it willnot be considered a presumptive. Checked last month and that has been done in May 2010 as far as I can tell. But they keep telling me at the VA they have not seen it yet think they are not looking either.

Ed Palmer
07-11-10, 02:51 PM
Already there have had my claim in for months also have been telling some others around the area they need to file can't hurt. The VA told me that they are not making any judgements until it has been writen into the Fed Register and until it is it willnot be considered a presumptive. Checked last month and that has been done in May 2010 as far as I can tell. But they keep telling me at the VA they have not seen it yet think they are not looking either.

I went to my DAV REP Friday and he said I was eligible so it must be on the books.

hbharrison
07-11-10, 03:01 PM
And yes as of May do not why it took from Oct09 until May10 to get it in the Fed register but I did find out from the same place the DAV that it had been put in there. What they told me at the VA was until it is in the Fed Register they will or can not do anything to me that is just one more load of BS they seem to be good at spreading around. I registered in Nov09 and have still not received any word keep checking every month but so far nada. They say that the two are Ischmic Heart Desease and this includes Coronary Artery Desease and that you can both or just one not the other.

Troutzilla
07-11-10, 04:21 PM
The Rule has been written......

http://frwebgate3.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/PDFgate.cgi?WAISdocID=2metJK/1/2/0&WAISaction=retrieve


and under review at OMB at this time.....

http://www.reginfo.gov/public/jsp/EO/eoDashboard.jsp

I filed my claim a week after the VA Secretary announced the 3 new presumptives back in October....after all the upcoming reviews publication should be sometime in September with any luck.

Good luck with your claims.

Semper Fi

:flag:

hbharrison
07-11-10, 07:52 PM
Been telling every one back in Nov09 to file, file, and file get it in and on the books.

fjmas1976
07-12-10, 11:34 AM
My Dad served in the Army, in Viet Nam from April 1969-March 1970 and was exposed to Agent Orange. The VA service connected his Diabetes/Heart issues 100%. He passed away from the conditions, but my Mom is still receiving benefits.:usmc:

hbharrison
07-12-10, 01:10 PM
Sorry to here your Dad passed with this but glade to here your Mother is getting benefits as it should be hang in there and don't let them try and stop it for her.

Riven37
07-13-10, 08:59 AM
Your PDF file Rule has been written is no available.



The Rule has been written......

http://frwebgate3.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/PDFgate.cgi?WAISdocID=2metJK/1/2/0&WAISaction=retrieve


and under review at OMB at this time.....

http://www.reginfo.gov/public/jsp/EO/eoDashboard.jsp

I filed my claim a week after the VA Secretary announced the 3 new presumptives back in October....after all the upcoming reviews publication should be sometime in September with any luck.

Good luck with your claims.

Semper Fi

:flag: