VA Secretary Denis McDonough discusses compensation for veterans affected by burn pits

Interview

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Well, look, I mean, I think we're out of the gate strong. But, so far, we're doing a lot of outreach.

In fact, we have just conducted and we are conducting the biggest outreach campaign in the history of VA, so that veterans, no matter where they are, know what they qualify for. And they come in and file a claim to try to make sure that we get them everything that they have earned.

So that 800,000 number feels decent. We have a long way to go. And we're going to stay on top of this until every veteran knows what's available to him or her, files a claim, then we fulfill that claim for them.

And I think we're out of the gate strong, but we got a long way to go, and we're not going to let up.

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Well, look, I mean, the numbers, let's just take one half of the law.

The first half of the law addresses Vietnam vets, but let's set that aside for a second. The other half of the law covers anybody who was in Central Command for the 30 years of war there starting in 1991 and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, going all the way through the summer of 2021, and when the activities in Afghanistan ceased.

So that's 30 years of war. We think there's probably four million veterans who qualify, having been in that geography. So we want to make sure that everybody knows that they have an opportunity gets that claim filed, and we get to work for them.

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Yes.

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Yes.

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I don't have that information at my fingertips. I was really gratified to see that you cited our data in your lead-in.

We made a decision early in this process that we'd put out the data we have every two weeks, so that you and then obviously veterans and their families, Congress, everybody can see exactly what we're doing. So…

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Again, we have what -- we have we have published what we have.

If you have -- you all have a request, all right, we will go to work on it. But what we're working through right now is actually getting those claims filed, processing those claims, and getting the benefits paid to our veterans.

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Sure. Sure.

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Right.

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Right.

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Yes.

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So we have been working on this issue of constrictive bronchiolitis.

One of the issues is the test to prove existence of chronic constrictive bronchiolitis is actually as intrusive in many cases as the disease itself.

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And so I don't have news on that yet.

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We don't have specific process yet established on how to test for constrictive bronchiolitis.

But a lot of times, it manifests in other challenges too. Those are conditions that we have very straightforward tests for, so asthma being one of them.

So, I don't have news for you on that at the moment, but we will stay on top of it. This is one of the things that our troopers really wrestle with. It's something that we need a straightforward definition for and an even more straightforward test, so that we can establish the connection -- or establish the existence of the condition, so that people who were in that geography and have that condition get their benefit.

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Yes.

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Correct. Right.

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Sure.

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Yes.

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Totally.

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Look, I mean, it's really hard for me to know. I'm really glad. We will make sure that we track down the doctor that you're working with there and make sure that we understand what that timeline is for those 300.

I don't know if those 300 since the president signed the law into -- signed the bill into law a year ago, but we will get to the bottom of it and we will figure it out. I think what we have been trying to say to veterans is, we want you in our care. We want you to get the benefits that you have earned and so richly deserve.

That's what this outreach campaign has been about. Believe me, nobody's more frustrated about how we can diagnose -- make some of these diagnoses than I am. But we will keep working at it.

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A VA working group, correct.

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Correct. Yes.

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Those are being worked through at our -- what's called our War Related Illness and Injury Study Center of Excellence, which is up at East Orange, New Jersey, and our VA center there.

This is some of the best science that we have on these conditions. I guess I want to just underscore to you, Amna, I'm not happy about where this stands. I want to make sure every veteran gets the care and the benefits that they have earned.

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Look, we're -- because we're working through the science to get to it. And that's -- and let's be clear. That's on one condition, constrictive bronchiolitis, that we're working through, 800,000 claims.

About 450,000 of them have now been completed. We're granting in those 450,000 at about 80 percent. It's -- I think the last number I saw is 78.6 percent. That's substantially higher. And that's the importance and the strength of the new law, which establishes a presumption of connection.

So we just need the existence of the condition and the fact of presence in Central Command. Those two things make sure that we get the rating, get the benefits and get the care.

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Life or health.

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I think the most recent numbers I have seen are in 50 range.

This is going back to the period when we started providing the services in September. So, I don't know that that's the most recent number. That's the number that sticks out to me as being the one we have most recently provided to Congress.

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Thank you so much.

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