Vets’ PACT Act claims continue to rise, two years after law’s passage

In his speech at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night, President Joe Biden touted the 2022 PACT Act as “one of the most significant laws ever helping veterans and their families” and a cornerstone of his administration’s achievements.

But the full impact of the law — which granted new disability benefits to veterans who suffered toxic exposure injuries while in the ranks — may not be known for years to come. More veterans received health care and financial aid through the law in its second year than the first, and Department of Veterans Affairs statistics suggest that number could continue to grow into the future.

The law — officially the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act — passed its two-year anniversary earlier this month. When it was enacted, veterans advocates estimated that as many as one in every five veterans living in America today might benefit from some provisions in the measure.

The PACT Act provides for presumptive benefit status for 12 types of cancer and 12 other respiratory illnesses linked to burn pit exposure in the Gulf War and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; hypertension and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, or MGUS, for veterans who served in Vietnam and radiation-related illnesses for veterans who served in several locations in the 1960s and early 1970s.