Subject: VA issues new directive for health care of combat veterans
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2002 13:20:01 -0400

Vietnam Veterans of America - September 17, 2002

Department of Veterans Affairs
VHA DIRECTIVE 2002-049
September 11, 2002

COMBAT VETERANS ARE ELIGIBLE FOR MEDICAL SERVICES FOR
2-YEARS AFTER SEPARATION FROM MILITARY SERVICE
NOTWITHSTANDING LACK OF EVIDENCE FOR SERVICE CONNECTION

1. PURPOSE: This Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Directive establishes the policy and procedures for offering hospital care, medical services, and nursing home care to recent combat veterans for a 2-year period beginning on the date of the veteran’s discharge for any illness, notwithstanding that there is insufficient medical evidence to conclude that their illness is attributable to their military service.

2. BACKGROUND

a. VA has the authority to provide medical care and other medical services to combat veterans even in the absence of proof of service connection. Title 38, United States Code (U.S.C.), Section 1710(e)(1)(D) specifies that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) may provide health care for a 2-year period to veterans who served on active duty in a theater of combat operations during a period of war, after the Gulf War or in combat against a hostile force during a period of “hostilities” after November 11, 1998, in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Under Secretary for Health. “Hostilities” is defined as conflict in which the members of the Armed Forces are subjected to danger comparable to the danger to which members of the Armed Forces have been subjected in combat with enemy armed forces during a period of war. Although VA appreciated that the wounds of military conflict are not always obvious, and that unexplained or difficult to diagnose illnesses are often associated with military conflicts, in the past the paucity of scientific knowledge regarding the relationship between military deployment and human health hindered VA’s ability to establish the required connection between military service and veterans’ health problems. This new statutory 2-year period also allows for the collection of basic health information to aid in the evaluation of specific health questions such as difficult to explain illnesses.
b. To determine whether a period of hostilities is within the scope of this special authority, VA relies upon the same citation and criterion used to determine eligibility for VA Readjustment Counseling Service contained in Title 38, U.S.C., Section 1712A, as it applies to veterans in service after November 11, 1998.
c. National Guard and Reserve personnel who were activated and served in a theater of combat or in combat against a hostile force may also be eligible. Many activated reserve and National Guard personnel lose routine access to military health care and assistance as soon as they leave active duty, and may require VA services immediately. National Guard and Reserve personnel are eligible for VA health care if they were ordered to active duty by a federal declaration, serve the full period for which they were called or ordered to active duty, and released or discharged from active duty under other than dishonorable conditions.
3. POLICY: It is VHA policy, in accordance with Title 38, U.S.C., Section 1710(e)(1)(D), veterans who served in combat operations during a period of war after the Gulf War, or in combat against a hostile force after November 11, 1998, must be provided hospital care, medical services, and nursing home care for any illness (exceptions are found in subpar. 4a(1)(a)) for a 2-year period following separation from military service, notwithstanding that there is insufficient medical evidence to conclude that such condition is attributable to such service. NOTE: Veterans under this authority may be enrolled as priority category 6, and are not be subject to co-payments for care provided under this authority.


THIS VHA DIRECTIVE EXPIRES SEPTEMBER 30, 2007

Sempers,

Roger