Hello.
I'm Cherish Thompson, a public affairs specialist for the Sheridan VA.
I want to thank you all for joining our veteran telephone townhall.
Our focus this evening is for discussion
is the PACT Act for the next hour.
So joining me is the director of the Sheridan VA, Pam Crowell.
Hi. Good evening.
It's nice to be with you all this evening and I look forward to
sharing all the good stuff that's happening at the VA with the PACT Act.
Also with us this evening is the director
of the Cheyenne VA, Paul Roberts.
Hello. Good evening, everyone.
I echo those same comments and looking forward to this evening's event.
Thanks for joining us.
And also joining us and starting off our town
hall would be the regional executive director of the Veterans
Benefits Administration, Mike Robock.
Hey, good evening, everyone.
Happy to be here. Looking forward to the call.
The goal
of this event is to provide you with helpful information and an update
on how this Legislation Impact Act impacts you.
As I Shared Pact Act, the sole focus this evening
for our town hall and it's a huge topic to cover.
We're now going to start the presentation with an overview of Pact Act by Vas
Mike Law.
But Mike.
All right, thank you, Cherish.
And welcome to the call, everyone.
Again, my name is Mike Rohrbach.
I'm the Cheyenne VA Regional Office Director,
so I deal with disability compensation benefits for VA.
But we're here to talk about the PACT Act.
I'm going to give you an overview
of the PACT Act
and I'll spell out the PACT Act for everyone who doesn't know what it is.
And then after that, we'll go into sort of three components
of the
Pact Act that we want to talk about specifically for this call,
which is veterans registry, disability compensation and pension benefits,
and then health care benefits and services as well.
So what is the PACT Act?
The PACT Act is the sergeant
first class Class Keith Robinson, honoring our promise
to address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022.
Uh, you'll see a lot of information coming out.
Everything states the pact act.
That's the long version. That's a long name, for sure.
It's the Pact Act.
It was signed into law in August 10th of 2022.
So just past couple of months, we've signed a law
and this is perhaps the largest benefits expansion in VA history.
And so we're excited about this and we've been working on this actually
well in advance of this being signed into law.
This will
greatly expand benefits and services to veterans exposed to burn pits
and other toxic substances.
And this will help VA provide generations of veterans
and their survivors with care and benefits they've earned it deserved.
So I'm going to really cover eight sort of overarching topics for the PACT Act.
The first one, these are major components of the PACT Act
and these are the benefits of services that it will provide to all of you
veterans, survivors, caregivers
and dependents.
And so the first is that really it expands and extends eligibility
to VA health care for veterans with toxic exposures and veterans.
And these are specific to veterans of the Vietnam era Gulf War
and post-9-11 era veterans
and improves the decision
making process for determining what future medical conditions will be considered.
The presumptive
will be
considered presumptive, and nature of
this will actually give us an opportunity to actually make presumptive
disabilities open for future instances
and also provide initial veterans screening to toxic exposures and follow up
screening every five years for veterans,
it expands Agent Orange exposure locations and disabilities and establishes
presumption of service for 23 respirator, three illnesses
and cancers related to burn pits and airborne hazards exposure.
Next, it also improves
and expands training for VA health care staff and claims processors
specific to toxic exposures,
and requires research studies on the mortality of veterans
who served in Southwest Asia during the Gulf War, post-9-11,
veteran health trends and veteran cancer rates.
It increases resources and builds a stronger, more skilled workforce
to meet the growing demand for benefits and services by way of the PACT Act
and authorizes
31 new medical facilities across the country
providing greater access to VA health care.
So I know I went out a lot of a lot of overarching high level information there.
We'll get a little more information again
coming up on
the registries,
disability compensation, pension as well as health care.
So with that, I'll turn it back over to you.
CHAIR All right. Thank you, Mike.
We are going to be covering
a lot of information tonight and there is still some more to share.
For your reference, VA has provided a link at VA dot gov
slash packed packed
with the links to resources on this act.
Again, if you're having if you have any questions during the call
and would like to ask them, you can press Star three on your phone
at any time to get into the queue to ask a member of our staff
can collect your question
and then I'll answer as many as we can at the conclusion of our presentation
next to speak to you about toxic exposure
registries is shared in VA's director Pam Kroll.
Pam Hi, good evening.
I just want to thank you all for being here again
and I also want to thank you for being here on Election Day.
You may wonder why we picked November 8th,
and one of the main reasons is that today is the official kickoff
for the toxic exposure screening and the registries.
And so that's going to be the first thing I talk about.
So a message went to all of VA employees today with a with a reminder that
that today is one of the implementation dates for Veterans Health Administration.
So there are multiple registry types.
And to be on the registry, there are standardized questions.
And it's it's a way for us to collect data
and we've
had the open burn pit registry for a while,
but it helps us understand potential health effects
of the particulate matter and burn pit exposures and proactively identifies
health concerns that veterans can talk to with their health care providers.
It also we have registries for airborne hazards as well.
Participation is voluntary and will not impact
your VA health care access or compensation and benefit claims.
And the registry itself is not a common pen claim.
And just a comment about here in Sheridan,
we didn't wait till the November 8th date to start.
We've been doing this for a while and we have a provider that is traveling
the 75,000 square miles that we cover in Wyoming
to take appointments regarding these registries and
and to start that process. So
I did just want to mention that that was one of the reasons why we picked today.
So I'm going to turn it back over to Mike and he's going to talk about the comp
and pen aspects of the PACT Act.
Right. Thank you, Pam.
Oh, like I
mentioned before, the PACT Act is really going to expand benefits
and services greatly to millions of more veterans than before.
And I'll talk specific to the disability compensation realm of VA
for those that were exposed to toxins while they served.
And that's specific to those 23 new presumptive conditions
for burn pits and other toxic exposures, and the addition of more presumptive
exposure locations for those folks who served in the Vietnam era.
And we're supposed to Agent Orange and radiation,
but I'll throw this first out there to everybody
and throw this out there a couple of times because it's information you will need.
So write this down.
But details regarding the new presumptive conditions,
a new qualifying service locations can be found in detail
if you visit VA dot GOP
forward slash pact pay c t
and that's VA dot GOP forward slash pact.
So what do we mean when when we talk presumptive conditions?
This is sort of my wheelhouse that I've worked in and every day
is provide disability compensation, a presumptive condition for toxic exposure
as it relates to disability compensation,
I think it's very important for for everybody to understand
and I'll start with to get granted
a VA disability rating to be found
approved for that, a veteran's disability must be connected to military service.
For many health conditions, veterans need approved.
The service caused the condition, but for some conditions, VA
automatically assumes or presumes
that the military service caused the condition.
And so when a veteran has a presumed condition,
they don't need to prove that to the VA that their service caused the condition
and they only need to meet the specific requirements
for the presumptive condition, such as being diagnosed.
So for an example, I was being diagnosed with chronic bronchitis
and having served in Iraq or Afghanistan on or after September 11, 2001,
that veteran doesn't need to show proof that that was caused by the service.
VA will automatically assume or presume
based on this law that that was caused by service.
And so it really provides a veteran a quicker access to benefits.
Sorry, presume condition
veterans don't need to go out and gather a bunch of medical evidence
and information dating back to the time they're in service.
They just need to file their claim with the VA
and we will be able to move that forward.
One thing we know is that the conditions outlined in the PACT Act
have already taken a
serious toll over the years on many veterans and their families.
And so with that, VA is has has decided to expedite the timeline to deliver
benefits to veterans and survivors as soon as possible.
And by that I mean in the legislation we were supposed to phase
have a phased in approach for when we start granting
disability compensation for specific conditions
instead of phasing in the conditions over the coming years.
As outlined in the legislation, the VA decided to make
all conditions in the PACT Act presumptive for benefits.
As of August 10th, the day the bill was signed into law.
We'll begin processing these benefits as early as possible,
all starting January one, 2023.
When we start processing claims on January 1st, we will prioritize all cancer
claims to make sure those folks get timely and access care and benefits they need.
And generally, if a veteran applies for benefits
any time before August 10th, 2023, so next August
and the applications
granted that claim that person will receive benefits
backdated to the date the bill signed August ten, 2022.
So again, we're not phasing we're having different phases
to granting benefits as it was stated in the legislation.
We're we're going to process all claims starting
January 1st, 2023,
with an effective date of August 10th.
If you get that claim in within a year.
And so with that, I will go into some of the things that we've already done
preemptively on the benefits side
to make this to implement the PACT Act smoothly.
But I'll first start with throughout my VA career,
we've implemented many changes and I have to say I think
we're the most prepared to implement the PACT Act.
A few things we've already implemented to assure to ensure success
is we've
expanded hiring and training for claims processors across the country
to accommodate this significant increase in veterans and survivor claims.
We anticipate millions of more claims every year.
Disability compensation claims, and for that we're hiring
thousands of more claims processors to meet that need.
We don't anticipate a huge backlog like
folks may have seen in the past decade or so ago.
We prevent preemptively hired staff to process
these claims in anticipation of this bill being passed.
We've also prioritized over the last year automation of new claims
related to toxic exposure conditions to help streamline
and focus our personnel on decisions that are complicated
and need a person to make a decision for them.
We have and will continue to solicit just like we will today.
Um, veterans to file
claims for these new pack doc presumptive conditions
so we're soliciting veterans apply veterans and survivors
apply for the benefit and we're accepting all claims right now.
I mentioned we're going to start processing them January one and don't wait
till January one.
You can file the claim to date
and then we're going to continue to try to, um,
as claims come in, we're continuing to try to make that direct connection.
Um, for claim
conditions if we can tie it directly to service as claims come in.
So does that mean that means
while we're going to wait on processing pack that claims so January one
if a veteran files a claim and we can make that direct service
connection before January one, we'll do that.
But anything where the evidence is of direct,
secondary, aggregate aggravation or already established presumptions
other than specified by the PACT Act are sort of technical.
There will even, you know, as we're going to review
all those claims as they come in, if we can make a direct connection,
a grant for benefits, we're going to go ahead and make that immediately.
If we can't or wait until we're starting a process under the PACT Act
regulations January one.
But with all that, I want to end with some of the most important things.
I think veterans need to know in regards to a pact
act, disability compensation benefits.
So just really compensation and pension
benefits, we want all veterans and survivors to apply now
for the fact that benefits don't wait, like I mentioned,
because these conditions are already taking a serious toll.
We're going to we're going to consider all conditions established
under the pact act to pre be presumptive
on that August 10th the date the bill was signed into law.
So in the legislation, again, there's a phased approach for wounded
grant benefits.
VBA for the benefits side, we're not going to phase in that.
We're going to go ahead and move forward accepting all claims
with a date of August 10th.
As long as you file that within the first year.
Again, I
mention that January 1st date we're we're taking claims in right now.
If we can do that direct connection, we'll go ahead and grant that benefit.
If not, we'll wait until January 1st to process it.
We've already received a total of 130,000
PACT Act related claims and VA.
Out of those hundred 30,000, we were able to decide 40,000 of those
with direct connection.
So we'll continue to try to direct connect the benefits of not hold
the claim to be a process under the pact act for presumption
is that critical link as well along with the phone number for everyone.
A veteran or survivor can learn more about the pact act
by visiting va dot gov
bago the forward slash pr t
or by calling one 800
my VA or one one.
And then lastly
I will leave everybody on the on the call with you've probably seen a lot
of advertisements for support
for example June benefits or PAC tax benefits.
I just want to remind everybody on the call,
please be vigilant of PAC tax scams.
There's a lot of folks out there.
There's a lot of money being distributed to veterans and there's a lot of actors,
bad actors out there that may take advantage of folks.
So again, at VA dot GOP forward slash
pat is the official source of pact active information.
Please use that to verify any information you're receiving from other sources.
With that, I'll turn it over to Pam Cronin
and Paul Roberts to speak to Backpacked and VA health care.
Yeah.
Hi, this is Paul Roberts, the director at the Cheyenne VA Health Care System.
I'm going to touch on the expanded eligibility
as it relates to the health care portion.
And let me emphasize referencing everyone to those Web sites
that were just mentioned, because I'm going to go over a couple of things here
briefly, but it gets very technical and it gets into time dates and so forth.
So the best resource is really to get to those websites.
But this this will really allows us to phase in,
you know, hospital care, medical services and nursing home care for any illness
as related to these three new categories of veterans
that are affected under this legislation, the eligibility enrollment expansion
that we're undergoing, it'll take place in a in a phased approach.
So from now until October 1st, 2023
veterans who served on
active duty in a theater of combat operations during a period of war,
after the Persian Gulf War, or in combat against a hostile force
during the period of hostilities after November 11th, 1998,
and who were discharged between September 11th,
2001 and October 1st, 2013, may receive care
and apply for enrollment for VA health care enrollment is free.
There are no annual costs and care
associated with such may be free as well.
The rest of the phase enrollment will will occur over a multi-year period.
That's all explained a little bit more in depth on the website.
But it's, it's, it's a phased
rollout plan that'll that'll go through several years.
But a lot of action in this first year as as has been explained
health care eligibility
will be extended and expanded for Gulf War
and post-9-11 combat veterans.
So veterans who served on active duty in a theater of combat
operations during a period of war, after the Persian Gulf War or in combat
against a hostile force during the period of hostilities.
Once again after November 11th, 1998,
and who were discharged and released can benefit from this new legislation.
So I know that's a mouthful,
but I wanted to cover that so that you can hear that
and then and then make extra reference to these Web sites
to see where you may fall exactly in those timeframes
and in which theater of operations and exposures you you thank you.
You've been been a part of and and then contact us
and we're going to work with you and get you through this process.
And we've got good people on board now and we've got good people
that we're bringing on board to take care of this influx of new claims.
So we're pretty excited about it right here in Cheyenne.
We're got a couple of transitions we're making with providers into our comp
and plan area.
We've got some additional admin support that we're already earmarked for
for these operations. And
just like
my fellow veterans on the line, when we when we served in uniform,
you know, rack up and and get ready to tackle the mission.
And that's what we've already been doing and we're certainly doing now
pretty aggressively. So thanks.
Thanks for dialing in tonight.
Thanks for your service to our country and we hope you're as excited
as we are about these new benefits that, quite frankly,
everyone deserves who's been in these areas.
Okay.
So it's Pam Croll and I'm back.
And just a point about the toxic
toxic exposure screening for veterans.
That is what's required to start today on November 8th.
Although we've been doing this for longer than that,
we were early implementers and I believe that Cheyenne was as well.
But it
the act requires that we started by today.
The initial screening is a five minute questionnaire with with a provider
and then we'll do follow up screening every five years.
And so just to comment as we move into the questions,
because I think we're ready to do that, I see
a lot of questions about specific things
that we are not going to be able to address in a large group.
However, we will hand off your questions
and your phone number to someone who can assist you.
So we want to really focus on the broader questions
related to the PACT, Act and implementation.
And so that is what we have
time to do now, right? Yes.
Um, yes.
Thank you, everybody, for joining again.
If you have not got to enter a question and have a question for our screeners,
please press star three on your phone
and you will get pulled into the queue to be screened.
And I'd like to thank both Paul, Tim and Mike for addressing
this information this evening.
And we are going to start with our first caller on the call queue.
I'm going to go live with Jeff in Colorado.
Jeff, if you'd like to ask your question.
Yes. Hi.
So my question is, my uncle
was in the Vietnam theater.
He had he was
ignoring exposure approved and paying rent, getting paid for it.
He was being paid at 80%
occupancy.
He was at 80% being paid at 100.
But he passed away from a somatic heart failure,
which is a presumptive for Agent Orange exposure.
But when I filed the deceased off for my aunt to continue his benefit,
they keep coming back with the doctor needs to tell us
that his contact was connected to agent Orange exposure.
When I thought that was
an automatic presumptive condition.
Hi, Jeff.
This is Pat Hall with the Cheyenne V.A.
Regional Office.
First off, thank you for your call.
This is actually right up my alley is what you're talking about.
It's my favorite thing to do is to help widows with bicycling.
So so thank you for your call.
Thank you for your question. Let's talk a little bit about it.
So first and foremost, Agent Orange
was not actually a disability.
It was a defoliant that we used to kill the vegetation
in in Vietnam and other places too.
They used it in Korea and several other places as well, but primarily in Vietnam.
You are correct that systemic heart disease is a presumptive disability
covered under 38 CFR 3.3 or nine E And
basically what that law
does is that love tells the VA
what benefit or what disabilities are associated
with Agent Orange and Congress has allowed us to grant those benefits.
And so you are correct that ischemic heart disease is that my first question
for you, Jack, would be does your uncle's
death certificate mention
ischemic heart disease or coronary artery disease on it?
Do you happen to know?
So, Jeff, we have your contact number.
And what we'll do is we'll get a hold of you to get those questions
and connect you to the our folks here in the VA to really get your needs met.
Is there any follow up questions for that, sir?
Hello.
Now I have Richard from Milwaukee to ask his question.
Oh, hi. I want to thank all of you for what you do.
And you
I guess you very much say saved me that day.
I ended up in your emergency room after visiting
my brother, Fort Collins, Colorado.
But anyways,
my question is, if I might 100%
this would all be just a waste of my time right now
to see if there's any extra benefits
that I get paid because of Agent Orange.
That's what they say.
Most of my physical problems were caused by.
That's my question.
I Richard, thanks for the question and thanks for your service.
This is Mike Rohrbach with the Cheyenne Regional Office.
Yeah.
From from a compensation disability compensation side of the House.
Once once you at 100% you can't go above 100%
even if you got a grant, an additional,
an additional contention or additional disability.
However, there's
there's other benefits that may go on top of that as well.
So but I think it would be beneficial
to go speak to a benefits counselor, a regional office,
or you can sign up online to do a virtual appointment.
Um, and we'll get your information.
We can actually reach out to Richard as well, right?
Yes. Yeah.
But there are times where it might be beneficial.
Um, for instance, if you have a spouse right now
and you apply for a benefit
or a disability that's presumptive now that wasn't presumptive before
your, your spouse or your widow in the future may, may be entitled
to benefits based on getting granted a new condition
if that led to
a led to a death.
So there are instances where it would be beneficial.
Sometimes it's not, but I would say it's very specific in your situation.
One of our benefits counselors can reach out to you and
and get the specifics of your case and actually look into that for you
to see if it would be beneficial for you to apply.
I wish there was you know, I'm not a doctor,
but they did tell me that
it's been caused by a, you know, age.
And I'm like, wow, you know,
they did that to us, you know?
But at the time, I was there,
I never got to know what was going on there.
But I know a lot about it now, of course.
And I think it's I think any veteran, even if you're 100%,
should be eligible for maybe some other benefits
because of that event,
those events that took place the 14 months I was there.
Absolutely. Yeah.
And I think that's that'll be specific to your situation.
So let us let us reach out to you and get you
specific information.
Looking at having one of our best benefits counselors look into your record
to see if that would be beneficial for you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, sir.
And next, we're going to go with Roger from Casper.
Roger, you can ask your question.
Hi, my name's Roger and I'm from Casper, Wyoming.
And my question is, how does this affect the veterans
who have not been exposed to any of the burn pits?
And how long is this going to make their claims last?
Is it going to make the normal person's claim longer to get processed?
I Roger, this is Mike Robock, again,
the director for the Cheyenne Regional Office.
Like I had mentioned before, what I was briefing on
sort of the benefits side of the House.
Um, we don't anticipate this causing an impact
on other veterans contact that claims in regards to timeliness.
Uh, like I mentioned, we started preemptively hiring up
additional claims processors last year.
So we've brought those folks on board, train them up throughout the year.
And we've and we're hiring even more claims processors
to essentially um, hire enough resources to be able
to manage this anticipated workload, by the way, impact act going forward.
Right now
we have, like I mentioned, 130,000 packed out claims
that have come in so far, anticipate even more coming in
into the millions and we'll start processing those January 1st.
But as far as other veterans claims,
they won't be they won't be thrown off to the side, I assure you that.
And right now, the average processing time that we have today
is about 120 days to process a claim, disability compensation claim.
And we anticipate holding
holding close to that measure as well.
So these are going to be prioritized above any other claims.
Uh, with the exception of cancer
claims and other priority claims.
So we have a overarching priority list,
uh, veterans that are financially, are in a financial hardship.
Homeless veterans, veterans with terminal conditions.
We process those and prioritize those.
But the whole gamut is not going to go above any other veterans claim.
Again, thank you
for joining us for our packed act town hall tonight.
So our questions should be remain specific about pact act
should not have
any personal medical information as we have thousands of people on this call.
We thank you for your questions.
And if you have one, please
dial star three at any time to get put into the call queue.
Thank you.
Our next call, we are going to go
live with Josh from Casper. Josh
Yeah.
So I had kind of a
two part question.
One was, is the is there any provisions in the pact that currently
that are going to provide benefits for individuals
that have an autoimmune or endocrine dysfunction
because of exposure to toxic that's related to the burn pits.
And the second one was,
I know not just myself, but other veterans in the area
that were told to get a screening from these shared in VA
and then later received a phone call
that informed the veterans that their employment was canceled
and that they would refer them to someone else or reschedule
and then never received a phone call back
for an appointment.
So this is Pam, the director in Sheridan.
And, um, I am not a medical provider, and so we're going to get back to
you on the, the question, your first question.
Um, but your second question.
We do have a provider who will do the, um,
the screening, the toxic exposure screening.
And um, I very much apologize for your appointment being canceled.
Um, and I will make sure that someone from Casper gets back to you
when the provider that we have who is traveling
the state is back in the area so that, that you can be screened.
Um, and then I think that's maybe a good point
to ask about, um,
the issues that you're having.
Pam If I could just add, and this is Mike.
Josh, I just want to add in as well, uh, that address
that I, that web address that I sent you or they mentioned on the call VA dot
gov for slash pact that actually lists out all the presumptive conditions.
So it lists out a laundry list of cancers and other illnesses and diseases
that are that we that are associated by law with exposure to burn pits.
So you can go on that website and look at those conditions.
And if you have a diagnosis for those, we will automatically presume
that that was caused by your time in service.
Great. Thank you for your question. Josh.
Next,
we will be going live with Michael from Douglas.
Michael, would you like to ask your question?
I'd love to.
I was
this year given a 30% disability for one condition
due to Agent Orange.
But I also got billed
from an independent laboratory
on the East Coast that apparently did the blood work
for the blood work and the appointment
which I paid out of my pocket.
I've been contacted
that I'm going to be contacted by L.A.
GI for another examination, for another condition.
And I was curious if I should expect to get built for that test.
Also.
Thank you.
Hey, Michael.
Mel Turner, you're veteran experience officer here in Cheyenne.
And the same thing happened to me.
So what happens is, number one,
if you're going to use your private insurance, you have to make sure that
using your private insurance will cover whatever services that's authorized.
Now, if you're wanting the VHA to authorize those services,
you need to get an authorization through your primary care provider.
So if you were going through these tests and did not get
with your primary care provider to receive an authorization,
then your second or your other health insurance, your secondary health
insurance is going to have to pay for it.
And of course, your other health insurance needs to make sure
they explicitly state that they're going to cover that care.
So, Sarah,
I know as a veteran, I'm going to tell you that same thing happened to me,
which is why it is invaluable to insure that you have an authorization
to the VHA if you're expecting the VHA to pay for it.
Thank you.
Um, I'm going to go live now.
It's Mark from Southwest Wyoming.
Mark, if you'd like to ask your question.
Yeah, I appreciate you taking my call.
And overall, I want to give a a thumbs up to the VA.
I know it's a huge job and there's always going to be some problems.
But but at any rate,
I was told that I could get glasses
through an eye check, you know, and get some glasses.
And so then I went to the Thomas guy
and told them the VA approved me to come in and get checked.
And so they called the VA to verify that I was telling the truth.
And the VA said yes.
And so they went ahead and check me and done everything.
And then they build the VA, and the VA turned it down.
They wouldn't pay it.
And so I thought, what the heck?
I don't know whether they're really,
you know, somebody is pulling my leg or what the deal was.
But any rate, do they do they cover
eye checks and glasses?
Marcus is Josh I run the community care office over here at the Cheyenne VA.
So the answer to your question is it kind of depends on your individual situation.
So I have someone from my team reach out to you to ask specifically about it.
But I want to echo what Mel said with the last caller,
which was before you go out and get care, if you're expecting the V.A.
pay for it, you need to make sure that you have an authorization in place
and that it covers everything that's there.
So will contact you specifically to get
some specifics from you and see if we can.
But if the care was not authorized ahead of time or if it wasn't
on your authorization, chances are it will not be reimbursed.
Thank you for your questions.
Again, let's keep our questions specific to the packed act
and I will be taking the next call
from Steve from Colorado Springs.
Steve from Colorado, I'd like to ask your question.
I would.
So I'm Steve from the VFW here in Colorado.
And one of the things I haven't heard recently was if that claims are going
to go to the national pile and be dropped from there by different regional offices,
or are we going to use the regional office within the veterans area?
Hey, Steve, this is Mike Rohrbach.
Yeah, we're going to we're
I'm sure you probably know more technical stuff than most on the call.
So yeah, you've probably heard of.
And our national work.
You know these claims will get processed across the country.
We have 56 regional offices.
This is hopefully for the larger on the call.
We have 56 different regional office that would be processing these claims.
We're not centralizing these to one specific office.
We have what we call a national work you where all the claims for the nation,
for every veteran across the country goes to
and then those claims get dispersed based on capacity.
So that allows us to make sure we're processing all veteran claims
equally across the board, across every station.
So it's specific for your question.
No, they're not going to go to one specific regional office that be processed
across the country at all of our 56
offices. Oh,
and good evening.
Next would be Paul from Greeley.
Paul.
That's all the
actually, I guess I have like a two part question.
First one on me here at the website.
Looking at it right now and you said it's a long list, it's
pretty much 20 illnesses and cancers.
And really, it's it's like severe stuff.
But the veterans are facing that have gone
through these burn pits like myself, but they shouldn't.
Can we claim that as a presumptive.
This is my first part.
And then one of the things is, is where we have in the past
where we have already have a compensation getting it.
If we were denied that back when we applied the first time.
Could we go back to the original date instead of August of 2022?
But good evening.
This is Chuck.
I'm here in the Cheyenne office and I'll answer your question.
Thank you for calling in and ask that for today.
So this is all about the pact, Jack, and I'm glad that you did.
You looked it up online, so you had the disabilities in front of you.
Those are the ones that are covered by the PACT Act.
So if you put in for a claim that was denied
for a presumptive basis, it would be covered on with this.
But I would encourage you to talk to your local VSO or claims counselor,
and they could probably go
into more detail of what other avenues are things that we can do to put in for you.
But if it's not covered under the existing law or this pact act,
you know, a lot of times it would not be granted.
But I still encourage you to seek out some guidance
from one of us, and we can reach out to you
if you'd like us to, and we'll try and help you through that.
Thank you.
Up next, we're going to be going live with Lewis in Cheyenne.
All right, Lewis, if you'd like to ask your question.
Yeah, it's kind of related.
I see that I currently had a claim
since 2016
and it was originally denied, but it went up to appeal.
And I think the condition is it's
definitely listed here on the Web, on the packet website.
And I served in at least two of those locations on or after September
11, 2001, in the Middle East, or actually
after August 2nd, 1990, in two of those locations.
When it goes up for the appeal, they consider
that those claim any kind of cancer claim
since the initial date of the filing
under the Impact Act.
Well, they consider that I mean, I it seems
wrong to have to refile.
I lose my microwave back.
Yeah, I think, um, there's two pieces here.
One is pre pre-packed, actually,
prior to the August 10th, 2020 to date.
Um, so the, the,
um, the appeals, the appeal could be considered
a direct connection from the 2026,
2016 date up until the pack doc date.
Right.
Uh, but I think the, the judge will have to make a determination on whether or not
they do a direct connection from 2016.
Um, or if they can't make that direct connection, remand
it back to the Regional Office to award the benefit based on the new law,
the new pact Act legislation which started August 10th.
Uh, but, but really it's a, it's a case specific
situation and it'll be determined by the by the board.
And. Q Next,
we'll be going live with John from Castle Pines, Colorado.
Paul, I was late joining
the conference. Quick question.
If we file them as a pack pack, which form do we use?
And number two, do we listed
as a pack that claim or a Gulf War syndrome claim?
Good evening, sir, and thank you for your call.
This is about all of the information
I'm. In your situation.
All you need.
To do is fill out your claim on a 21 dash.
526. Easy.
That's our standard claim form.
And I'm just pack tact or Gulf War.
Either way is fine
if your if your disability that you're claiming is related
to the pack that I'd recommend right impact on the claim and certainly don't
don't hesitate to reach out to your VSO for help for this as well.
We're going to go live with Rich from Cheyenne.
Hi, Rich.
Would you like to ask your questions tonight? Okay.
First of all, thank you very much to the VA.
You guys have done wonders for me.
I really everything you've done.
My question is, I have filed
three claims in the past which have all been denied
because there's not a diagnosis
in my medical records,
I have asked my
providers
to include a diagnosis after I've been seen
and I have been told
we will not include a diagnosis.
If you're looking to file a claim, that's it.
Thank you, sir, and thank you for your service,
if you don't mind.
Is your providers well, not
identify something that's already in your medical records, meaning that
if your medical records, which you have access to the release of information
or through my health event,
you take information, provide that through to your veteran service officer,
and they will compile that to file your claim.
Meaning if your medical records identify
a diagnosis, that's all you need to carry on to your VA.
So to submit your claim, we have a lot of challenges with some of our veterans.
You don't understand that process.
You do not need a medical provider to put something on paper
that is already existing in your medical records.
But again, please contact at least an information or do mild event.
Capture that information and have a sit down conversation with your VA. So
thank you again for that question.
We have another one from Cheyenne Lloyd, if you'd like to ask your questions.
You mean?
Yes. I participated in a nuclear
bomb test in 1955.
And since then I have multiple
skin cancer spots.
Now, is this covered under the act?
Well, Lloyd, thank you for your service.
And I'm sorry that you went through that.
This is a whole again, from Cheyenne.
These are difficult cases.
And they're really mostly, you know a case by case basis.
So what I'm going to do is I'm going to write down your phone number
and either I will call you or I'll have one of my employees
call you tomorrow to kind of discuss your situation, because most other
veterans in the state of Wyoming haven't been through a nuclear blast before.
But thank you, sir.
Next, we're going to go live with Carl in Fort Collins. Carl
has to do with
finding supplemental claims and pack it.
Is one going to interfere with the other.
Okay.
Hi, Carl. No.
So you're saying you've already.
You filed a supplemental claim already
and you want to file? I'm ready.
I'm ready to file on a variety of things, but
I don't know whether that's going to
interfere with a claim under Pact with You,
which is one of the presumptive
things from my Vietnam service.
Okay, I understand.
So, no, it won't have an impact
if you've already filed the claim and it's still pending out there.
We'll take a look at that and apply the PACT Act legislation.
If it's a if it's a condition that are included in the PACT Act
or presumptive.
Yeah. From Windsor, if you'd like to ask your question.
Yes, I would.
I was in Vietnam and I also was stationed on Guam,
and I noticed that Guam used Agent Orange
to clear the bases, the perimeter, so that people couldn't come in.
I have a daughter who is on Guam.
Is she covered for potentially
Agent Orange exposure?
Good evening, sir.
Thank you for your call.
There is a benefit program through what we call chapter 18
for the Children of Vietnam Veterans, Agent Orange Exposed Veterans.
It's a really unique program and doesn't apply to a whole lot of veterans.
But what we're going to do is take down your phone number tonight
and we'll take a look at your situation and give you a call
and kind of explain to you about the Chapter 18 program.
It's actually administered through the Denver V.A., through the Denver V.A.
Regional Office.
So you're in good hands with relatively local people
who will handle sort of that claim.
Are you, Jean from Longmont, Colorado if you want to ask your question.
Yes, thank you.
I was exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam
and did come down with prostate cancer 12 years ago.
At that time, I got a small benefit from the VA
for that prostate cancer,
but the treatment went into remission.
However, just recently I have been diagnosed as my cancer.
Prostate cancer numbers are going up very fairly fast.
What should I be doing with that
for your sir?
Yes, definitely put in a claim for us so we could take another look at that.
If you're if your cancer is active again, you could potentially
be service active for that again.
And increased rate depending on the level of disability.
So I would encourage you to talk to your VA.
So let's put in that claims that can take care of you.
You don't need to wait on that one at all.
But that in right away.
Bob from Torrington, if you'd like to ask your question.
I already am receiving. Yes,
I'm ready receiving PTSD.
Okay.
I'm already receiving PTSD and tinnitus.
And I went to my VA.
So to see if I could put in for the pact that
claims.
And he said, yeah, he said, we can put some in.
He said, but you got to be careful because they'll look at your PTSD
and you're trying this and could deny you and takes some away from you.
So I'm afraid to file preset R
for pack that because I don't want to lose what I already have.
Can they take it away from me?
Go ahead.
Hey. Hey, Bob.
It's not Mike Werbach.
Yeah.
So when you file it, if you're already granted
benefits for PTSD and colitis and you file a claim for something different,
v VBA
does not look at those other conditions
when making a decision on those new conditions you fight for.
We do periodically for conditions like mental health.
Go back and do follow up exams years, years later.
But just filing another claim for something completely different
won't trigger us.
To go review everything and make a determination to reduce
benefits on other disabilities are already granted.
Next, we're going to go live with Ray from Woodland.
Right?
You might be talking about me.
It's Worland.
But my question is,
is I'm on the site and I'm looking at eligibility.
I kind of don't know if I fit
within certain guidelines here because I haven't received a D2 14.
I'm in a retired reserve.
So where does that put my discharge date?
I don't
putting to this, I don't qualify for either way.
I mean, I was in Afghanistan and stuff in 2002 and
you know, it just
I was discharged, I guess, from the National Guard,
but sent to the retired reserves on an MGB 22.
So I won't get a 214 until I hit 60 when I completely, fully retire.
What is how does that affect me?
Hey, Ray, this is Josh at the Cheyenne VA, also with the enrollment department
over here.
So so what I want you to do is we'll do this one of two ways.
I'll take your information and give it to the enrollment supervisor,
because what he's going to have to do
is he's going to have to go in and look at your actual records.
The other thing that you can do if you want to get ahead of me is
the phone number is 3077787924.
And you can get hold of us.
We will look at your records
and see what we can do for you, but it's going to depend on what we can find
and perhaps,
sir, also you are eligible to file for disability
benefits based upon that period of service in Afghanistan.
It sounds to me like that was probably total ten active duty orders
while you were in Afghanistan.
And as a result, certainly if you have any disabilities
related to that time that you were there, we would encourage you
to file a disability claim.
The disability claim form number is 20 1-526 easy.
And also don't hesitate to reach out to a VSO to help you with that.
We're nearing the end of our questions section.
But just to wrap up this evening, Pam has a few things to say
and so let me just say again that
you can use the
VA dot gov pact website as a resource
and if you need a screening appointment or you need
to know how to get on a registry, all you have to do is
call us and let us know why you'd like us to see you.
We will make an appointment for you for that.
Um, so for the Sheridan
system again, I said we have the traveling provider,
but the provider goes to our clinics and will make appointments to see veterans
in those clinics.
Um, the final thing I want to say is that
we know veterans are their own best advocates
and many of you know people that have not come to the VA.
And one of the reasons that we wanted to talk to you tonight is to
have you talk to your fellow veterans
about coming to the VA, because this opens the door
for a lot of eligibility for new eras of veterans.
It's one of the most substantial pieces of legislation
that the VA has passed in decades.
So Our doors are open.
We want to provide you with health care.
So please, if you know veterans who have not registered
or sought eligibility,
we really want to screen them and um,
and we really want to provide services to them.
So, um, that is how I will end my comments for this evening
other than thank you so much for joining us.
Welcome home and I really appreciate your service to our country
and that's all I've got.
Thank you.
Yeah. Good evening, folks.
Thanks again for for dialing in.
And I want to echo what Pam just mentioned.
You know, as veterans, we are our own best advocates a lot of times.
And we networked and we we got her done when we were on active duty.
And I think the same applies now where we're at in this part of our life
and connecting with each other and taking this information and
and getting out in all the different parts of the community
that we are involved with.
That's that's the real power behind this.
And I think we finally have some legislation here that's going to going
to put the rest of the package together.
So so thanks for for hanging with us,
especially through these last two years of the pandemic.
And and and in going through this next phase with us as well,
as you all know, 40% of our staff are veterans themselves.
So you couldn't come to a better place to get folks
that talk the same language and want to help you out.
So thanks for calling in, folks, and and giving us the opportunity
to take care of you through this this new this new phase here.
It's going to be it's going to be very good for us.
Thank you. And
that's all I have
for you.
We appreciate you taking the time to join us and to hear about more on the pact.
Back from the benefits side, thank you to our VBA teammate Mike
and for our health care leadership from Cheyenne and Sheridan.
We really appreciate this opportunity
to speak directly with you and answer your questions.
And we are going to be hosting
more of these telephone townhall opportunities in the future.
So thank you again and have a great evening.