After years-long fight, US veterans exposed to toxic burn pits may finally get VA help
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday passed a bill that will expand health care access for veterans who were exposed to toxic burn pits while serving overseas, a landmark bill that will help more than 3.5 million veterans that has been more than a decade in the making.
“This is closure, healing,” said Rosie Torres, the co-founder of Burn Pits 360, an advocacy group. “I don’t know how many people put a bullet in their head and took their life because they were being told they’re crazy, because they were being passed off as compensation seeking veterans, or it was a somatic form disease, a psychosomatic issue, a mental health issue, not a cancer issue.”
The bill passed 84 to 14 with bipartisan support. Every senator from Kansas and Missouri supported the legislation.
Torres has led an advocacy effort pushing for VA benefits and coverage for veterans who were exposed to burn pits. It is personal. Her husband, a retired Army captain who was exposed to burn pits in Iraq, was diagnosed with a lung disease and was deemed ineligible for treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Their health bills racked up and at one point, they had to foreclose on their house.
In the post-9/11 wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait, the military often used burn pits as a way to dispose of materials outside of camps. They would use jet fuel to burn unwanted materials —plastics, rubber, medical waste, seized weapons— often just hundreds of yards away from the base. The military stopped the practice in 2010.
In that time, millions of veterans were exposed to toxins that came from the burn pits, sparking an array of medical conditions that have plagued them since. Many of them are currently unable to get care from the VA, even though the exposure came when they were serving in the military. That forces them to get their care outside of the VA system, which can drive up costs.
A McClatchy investigation in 2019 found a significant increase in cancer cases treated by the Department of Veterans Affairs between 2000 and 2018. It was significantly higher than the rate prior to 9/11.
Torres has led an advocacy effort on Capitol Hill for the past 13 years, after her husband, a retired Army captain, was diagnosed with a lung disease and was deemed ineligible for treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Their health bills racked up and at one point, they had to foreclose on their house.
The legislation adds 23 symptoms to the list of presumptions that are eligible for care from the Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals, including 11 different kinds of cancer. A presumption means that a symptom is presumed to come from the veteran’s exposure to toxic burn pits.
Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican who co-sponsored the bill, said it will not only help people who have been unable to get benefits and care for their burn pit-related illnesses, it will be reassuring to people who were exposed but may have any illness yet.
“Generation after generation, veteran after veteran, these service members returned home only to be met with a piecemeal process as they worked to cobble together the care that they earned and the benefits they deserved from the Department of Veterans Affairs,” Moran said on the Senate floor. “Veterans have fought years fighting bureaucracy to get the care they need.”
The bill is a result of a sustained effort by Moran and Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat — the highest-ranking members of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee from both parties — to find a bill that could pass with bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate. An earlier version that passed the House of Representatives did not have the support of Republicans in the senate, effectively killing its chances of passing.
Many balked at the cost of the bill, which would have been more than $300 billion, and the fact that it would have immediately required the Department of Veterans Affairs to include all 26 presumptions for toxic burn pit exposure, which some said would have overwhelmed the VA.
The Senate version of the bill will cost more than $278.5 billion and provides funding for VA hospitals to hire more staff and open more treatment centers. The presumptions will be phased in over the next 10 years, which was intended as they takes in new patients while continuing to provide care for those already in the system. Moran said the cost of war includes taking care of veterans when they return from war.
Along with addressing the toxic exposure of veterans who served after 9/11, the bill will add hypertension to the list of presumptions. That will likely allow more access to care to veterans who served in the Vietnam War and were exposed to Agent Orange.
While Moran celebrated the potential impact of the bill, he repeatedly said he was concerned about making sure the VA followed through in implementing the changes required in the bill.
“Every time that I’m involved in a piece of legislation that gives them more authorities, more things to do, I just I worry that they get their act together well enough to do it,” Moran said.
The bill has the support of President Joe Biden, who said in his State of the Union address that he wanted Congress to pass a bill supporting veterans who were exposed to toxic burn pits. Biden’s son Beau served overseas and was exposed to toxic burn pits. He later died of brain cancer.
“We owe it to our veterans and their families to address these consequences comprehensively,” said Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House Press Secretary. “Unfortunately, it has taken decades to understand the dangerous effects of harmful environmental exposures—leaving too many veterans without the benefits and services they need and deserve.”
The bill will next head to the U.S. House. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said they will act swiftly in passing the bill.
This story was originally published June 16, 2022 at 11:44 AM.
