Veterans urged to apply for retroactive toxic exposure benefits
- Veterans have until Aug. 9 to apply for full retroactive benefits
- Claims filed after that will only be paid from the date of claim
- Veterans sickened by exposure to toxic burn pits should apply
FILE – An Afghan National Army pickup truck passes parked U.S. armored military vehicles, as smoke rises from a fire in a trash burn pit at Forward Operating Base Caferetta Nawzad, Helmand province south of Kabul, Afghanistan, April 28, 2011. The House has approved a significant expansion of health care and disability benefits for millions of veterans who were exposed to toxic burn pits while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Simon Klingert, File)
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RUMFORD, Maine, Aug 3 (Reuters) – U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough urged veterans across the country to apply by Wednesday to get an extra year of retroactive benefits under a new law passed last year to aid veterans sickened by gases from military toxic burn pits.
McDonough told dozens of veterans in Rumford, Maine, they could get an additional year of benefits worth up to thousands of dollars per month if they filed a claim, or their intention to do so, by Aug. 9.
“War is hell,” McDonough said. “What we know now is exposure to those burn pits, and exposure to particulate matter, especially in the deserts of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Afghanistan … has real health effects on our veterans.”
Claims can still be filed after that, but will only take effect from the date the claim is filed.
