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Senators Take Issue With Presumptive Illness Payments for Veterans

Last year the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Sec. Eric Shinseki announced 3 new illnesses would be added to the VA's presumptive illness list for Agent Orange exposure during the Vietnam war. Since the VA began accepting claims, more than 84,000 have been paid, and others have lead to Agent Orange lawsuits.

There are approximately 74,000 claims pending review. Because the ailments are on the VA's presumptive illness list, veterans will only have to prove two things in order to successfully establish their claim:

• They were in Vietnam at some point in time; and
• They have one of the diseases on the VA's presumptive list.

The families of the veterans with these presumptive illnesses are undoubtedly happy with the VA paying these claims. At a time of budget cuts and belt tightening, some Republican Senators feel these payments are "unfair" to other veterans as well as taxpayers.

They argue the Agent Orange Act of 1991 bestows too much power on the VA Secretary to allow disability compensation based on too loose of a connection between Agent Orange exposure and illnesses. They believe veterans should have to present more proof of their exposure causing their claimed illness.

The Senators point to a high number of veterans suffering from illnesses on the presumptive disease list that could be caused by numerous other factors, and not necessarily exposure to Agent Orange. Veterans who are paid for disabilities not associated with their military service divert funds away from other disabled veterans, according to Senators.

If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, a South Florida disability attorney from LaVan & Neidenberg is ready to help. To learn if you are entitled to certain programs and benefits contact our veterans disability rights firm today - 1-888-234-5758.