Minnesota Veterans will soon get the help they need after being exposed to burn pits while on active duty.
A bill was recently passed in Congress that will expand their benefits. The legislation is the biggest expansion of veterans' health care and benefits in more than 30 years.
Larry Herke is the Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Veteran Affairs and he says it's a big deal for many Minnesota vets.
“Before you had to prove that there was a link there between your service,” says Herke. “Now with the presumptives, there's no longer a requirement to provide that link. It's just, you have to prove basically, or get checked out to make sure that you actually have whatever the element is that you're claiming.”
Herke is encouraging all Minnesota veterans to go to their county to schedule an appointment for a checkup. Then they can see if they have conditions that may be covered under the new law.
“One of my concerns as commissioner is that we're only treating about 30% of our veterans currently at the VA Medical Center,” Herke told WCCO’s Susie Jones. “So I think this is going to open the door to a much larger audience, and I believe you're going to see a lot of veterans getting treatments that were not eligible previously.”
Herke says the bill increases access to care and disability payments and mandates the Department of Veterans Affairs to assume some respiratory conditions and cancers were related to the exposure to burn pits.
The bill struggled some to get passed by the House. After initially getting 84 votes two months ago, it failed in July with only 55 votes after a change in language in the bill in reference to "using rural medical practices for the VA."
Democrats said the change did nothing significant to the bill or funding, while some Republicans changed their vote with one calling it "a budgetary gimmick".
It was eventually passed August 3 and signed into law by President Biden last week.
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Much like Agent Orange in Vietnam, burn pit exposure has become synonymous with combat in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries to which American troops deployed following 9/11. Since then, millions of veterans and service members have potentially been exposed to areas of open-air, uncontrolled combustion of trash and other waste. The practice caused toxic substances to fill the air where American troops served, sparking a host of long-term health consequences.
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, chemicals, human waste, paint, fuel, metal, plastics, rubber, and other materials can create more hazards when burned in open air pits than other controlled burns.
Burn pit exposure will have different impacts for each individual exposed since the chemicals and toxins released were not consistent from location to location.
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