Navy veterans who served off Vietnam get Agent Orange benefits

Before 2020, VA covered Agent Orange illnesses mainly for Vietnam veterans on land or inland waterways. The law presumes veterans in its offshore area from Jan. 9, 1962 through May 7, 1975 were exposed. Listed illnesses qualify for disability pay and related VA care without proof of exposure. It also moved the start date for qualifying service near Korea’s DMZ back to Sept. 1, 1967. Biological children conceived after a veteran parent’s qualifying Thailand service can receive benefits for spina bifida.

You must file a claim. If VA denied the same offshore claim between Sept. 25, 1985 and Dec. 31, 2019 because it could not establish service connection, an approved claim can make benefits retroactive to the earlier filing date. Survivors can file too. By Sept. 30, 2020, VA had granted 24,328 claims and awarded more than $664 million in retroactive benefits.

Rep. Mark Takano introduced the 2019 bill; committee Republican leader Phil Roe helped lead it. Rep. David Valadao introduced the nearly identical 2017 bill; it passed the House in 2018 but stalled in the Senate. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Steve Daines championed the Senate version; committee leaders Johnny Isakson and Jon Tester helped carry it. In 2019, the House passed it 410–0, the Senate passed it by voice vote, and President Donald Trump signed it. Congress partly paid for it by raising some VA home-loan fees in 2020 and 2021; the first-use, no-down-payment fee rose from 2.15% to 2.3% for active-duty veterans, while the reservist surcharge was eliminated.