Guest: Joe Goedken, Iowa City VA Health Care System
At VA Iowa City Healthcare System, their health care teams are deeply experienced and guided by the needs of Veterans, their families, and caregivers. And now, millions of Veterans nationwide are eligible for VA health care years earlier than called for by the PACT Act.
The PACT Act is a law that expands VA health care and benefits for Veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances. This law helps the United States provide generations of Veterans—and their survivors—with the care and benefits they’ve earned and deserve. The PACT Act is perhaps the largest health care and benefit expansion in VA history.
The PACT Act will bring these changes:
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Expands and extends eligibility for VA health care for Veterans with toxic exposures and Veterans of the Vietnam, Gulf War, and post-9/11 eras
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Adds 20+ more presumptive conditions for burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic exposures
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Adds more presumptive-exposure locations for Agent Orange and radiation
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Requires VA to provide a toxic exposure screening to every Veteran enrolled in VA health care
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Helps improve research, staff education, and treatment related to toxic exposures