Noteboom The Law Firm

New Bill Provides Medical Care To National Guard Veterans

September 20, 2010 - U.S. Congressman Steve Buyer (IN-04) initiated H.R. 6127, a bill that will upon passage, provide health care to National Guard veterans whose service included Iraq's Qarmat Ali region during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

H.R. 6127 is known as the Qarmat Ali Veterans Health Care Eligibility Extension Act and applies to those veterans exposed to sodium dichromate during their deployment near or at the Qarmat Ali water injection plant.

Those National Guard Guardsmen serving near the Qarmat Ali could have possibly been exposed to toxins. Sodium dichromate is one such toxin and has a litany of health risks associated with exposure. The most common include:  

• Respiratory issues;
• Skin lesions;
• Burns;
• Increased rates of lung cancer; and
• Other ear, nose, throat, and skin disorders.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has attempted to notify and track every veteran who could have been possibly have been exposed, in accord with the Gulf War Registry. For those exposed veterans, getting proper health care is imperative.

Congress instituted a 5-year open enrollment period, which applies to non-service related veterans. Those veterans must file a disability claim and pursue a service-related disability rating. If a veteran fails to achieve a disability rating, that veterans will not be eligible for VA health care benefits.

Buyer's bill will fix this oversight. H.R. 6127 will extend the congressional enrollment period in which veterans can still take advantage of the VA's health care services. Under H.R. 6127, the 5-year enrollment period will not begin until the veteran has been notified. This way, those National Guardsmen exposed to toxins at Qarmat Ali can receive health care, to include preventive measures, immediately.

Denying health care to veterans who have served this country because they didn't have notice of their eligibility is the wrong answer. Hopefully H.R. 6127 will pass and allow these exposed veterans to access the health care they so rightly deserve.