VA Begins Adjudicating Claims for New Agent Orange Presumptions Included in NDAA FY2021

VA Begins Adjudicating Claims for New Agent Orange Presumptions Included in NDAA FY2021

INSIGHTi
VA Begins Adjudicating Claims for New
Agent Orange Presumptions Included in
NDAA FY2021
August 6, 2021
Background
On January 1, 2021, the Wil iam M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal
Year 2021 (NDAA FY2021) became law (P.L. 116-283) after the House and Senate voted to override
then-President Donald Trump’s veto of the bil on December 28, 2020, and January 1, 2021, respectively.
Section 9109 of the NDAA FY2021 amended Section 1116(a)(2) of Title 38 of the U.S. Code by adding
bladder cancer, hypothyroidism, and Parkinsonism (a term for neurological disorders that cause
movement problems similar to that of Parkinson’s disease) to the list of presumptive conditions for
Vietnam-era veterans exposed to Agent Orange. This brought an end to a multiyear attempt to expand the
list of presumptions for this specific group of veterans.
As background, during the 116th Congress, H.R. 2200, H.R. 5610, and S. 3444 were introduced. These
bil s sought to statutorily add the aforementioned conditions as presumptions. In addition, H.Res. 729 and
S.Res. 420 would have encouraged then-President Trump to act on creating these presumptions. The
legislation and resolutions came following two updated reports from the National Academies of Sciences
(NAS) studies and scientific literature reviews of health conditions associated with exposure to Agent
Orange. In March 2016, NAS released its Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 2014, which changed the
classification of certain diseases/conditions among the Categories of Association. The classification of
hypothyroidism and bladder cancer changed from “inadequate/insufficient evidence” of association to
“limited/suggestive evidence” of association, while Parkinsonism remained at a “limited/suggestive
evidence” of association. Then, in November 2018, NAS released its latest report on Agent Orange,
which reinforced the previous report’s categorizations on bladder cancer, hypothyroidism, and
Parkinsonism.
Following the NAS reports and introduced legislation, Congress held multiple hearings to listen to
medical and scientific personnel, veterans, VA officials, and veteran service organizations. In July 2020,
Senator Jon Tester proposed S.Amdt. 1972 to the annual National Defense Authorization Act to address
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the issue. The amendment was included, and the legislation passed. Now bladder cancer, hypothyroidism,
and Parkinsonism are presumptive conditions for veterans exposed to Agent Orange.
Budget Request to Assist with Claims
On June 16, 2021, VA Secretary Denis McDonough appeared before the Senate Committee on Veterans’
Affairs to present VA’s budget request for FY2022. In his statement, McDonough addressed the newly
established presumptive conditions, stating, “VA wil begin implementing these provisions so that
Vietnam Veterans wil no longer wait for these earned benefits.” In order to accomplish this, funding for
additional staffing and an increase to VA’s Compensation and Pension account was included in the budget
request. Specifical y, the Veterans Benefit Administration’s (VBA’s) General Operating Expense budget
request for FY2022 includes an 8% increase over FY2021, which wil include the hiring of an additional
429 full-time-equivalent employees to process the claims for the new presumptive conditions and to
manage the increased inventory of benefit claims.
In a briefing to congressional staff, VA estimated that 72,000 claims could be received by VBA in the first
year and over 171,000 claims received over a five-year period as a result of the new Agent Orange
presumptions. In addition, VA estimated that 52,000 veterans and 2,000 survivors may be eligible to
receive recurring benefit payments due to the expanded list of health conditions. As a result of the
increased number of claims, VA estimates that there wil be an increase of $3 bil ion in obligations to the
Compensation and Pension budget, which wil include approximately $2.2 bil ion in retroactive
payments.
Adjudicating Claims
On May 27, 2021, VA announced plans to implement provisions to grant benefits for disability claims for
veterans with bladder cancer, hypothyroidism, and Parkinsonism who were exposed to Agent Orange
during their military service in the Vietnam era. In this announcement VA Secretary McDonough stated,
“Many of our Nation’s Veterans have waited a long time for these benefits. VA wil not make them wait
any longer. This is absolutely the right thing to do for Veterans and their families.”
Less than a month later, on June 21, 2021, VA began to adjudicate disability compensation claims for the
presumptive conditions of these three conditions. Typical y, VA issues interim final regulations for
adjudicating claims. As of the date of this Insight, VA has not issued regulations. However, VA did update
Part VIII.i.1.A and Part III.iv.4.N of the M21-1 adjudication manual providing guidance on processing
claims for these presumptions. On July 26, 2021, VBA and VA announced on Twitter and Facebook that
VBA was adjudicating claims for Vietnam-era veterans with the aforementioned conditions. Since June
21, 2021, VA has granted over $4 mil ion in retroactive benefits to eligible veterans and their families
under these new presumptions.
In its May 27, 2021, press release VA explained that veterans and their survivors who previously filed
claims but were denied benefits for one of the three conditions wil automatical y have their cases
reviewed and therefore do not need to reapply for benefits. VA said it wil mail a letter to inform these
veterans or their survivors of this automatic review. For veterans who have not filed claims for these
presumptive conditions, VA is encouraging veterans and their family members to go to their Agent
Orange Exposure and VA Disability Compensation webpage for more information.

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Author Information

Heather M. Salazar

Analyst in Veterans Policy

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