What it means for you
The 2022 PACT Act made it far easier for veterans sickened by burn pits, Agent Orange and other toxic exposures to get VA disability pay and health care. More than 1.9 million veterans and survivors had approved PACT Act-related claims by March 31, 2026.
Who benefits: Veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange and other toxic substances, and their survivors. More than 1.9 million veterans and survivors had approved PACT Act claims by March 31, 2026.
For years, veterans who got sick after breathing smoke from burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan, or after other toxic exposures, had to prove to VA that their service caused their illness. The PACT Act flipped that burden for a long list of conditions.
The law added more than 20 burn pit and toxic exposure conditions, including many cancers and lung diseases, to VA’s “presumptive” list. If you served in a covered place and time and have one of them, VA assumes your service caused it. The law also added high blood pressure and MGUS to the Agent Orange list. It also widened VA health care, and on March 5, 2024, VA expanded eligibility to more toxic-exposed veterans. Every veteran enrolled in VA health care gets a toxic exposure screening, with a follow-up at least every five years.
You do need to act: file a disability claim or enroll in VA health care at VA.gov. Survivors of veterans who died from a covered condition can apply too.
The law passed with support from both parties. Rep. Mark Takano introduced the original bill, and the Senate version was led by Democrat Jon Tester and Republican Jerry Moran. President Joe Biden signed it on August 10, 2022.
VeteransHealth care
Sources
- The PACT Act and your VA benefitsU.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
- VA PACT Act Performance Dashboard, Issue 55U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, April 24, 2026
- Public Law 117-168GovInfo
- Tester, Moran's Bipartisan Toxic Exposure Bill Passes SenateSenate Committee on Veterans' Affairs
How we checked this
Drafted by Claude Opus 5.5 (Anthropic) on November 11, 2026. Checked against its sources by GPT-5.6-sol (OpenAI) on November 11, 2026, which corrected it. Confirmed the law, eligibility rules, legislative credit, both roll calls, and current status. Corrected the VA dashboard metric, which had confused completed claims with people whose claims were approved.
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