| NEWS FROM...
CHAIRMAN BOB FILNER
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Kristal DeKleer at (202) 225-9756
http://veterans.house.gov
Congress,
Vietnam Veterans Dissatisfied With VA's Unreasonable Allocation of Service-Connected
Benefits
Washington, D.C.
On Wednesday, May 5, 2010, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Chairman
Bob Filner (D-CA)
conducted a hearing to examine the health effects that veterans sustained
during the War in Vietnam as a result
of being exposed to the toxic dioxin-based concoctions that we now generally
refer to as Agent Orange and discuss related legislation.
The Committee will also follow-up on the outstanding directive to the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
to conduct the National Vietnam Veterans Longitudinal Study (NVVLS).
In 1984, Congress required the VA to conduct the National Vietnam Veterans
Readjustment Study (NVVRS),
a landmark analysis on the prevalence of psychosocial and physical health
problems among Vietnam veterans.
In 2000, Congress mandated that the VA conduct a follow-up study, the
NVVLS, to reassess the same cohort of veterans and better understand the
prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), cardiovascular disease,
general psychiatric syndromes, as well as their health care utilization
patterns. VA Secretary Eric Shinseki decided to restart the NVVLS in September
2009, although it seems the project has stalled due to cost concerns and
perceived difficulty of administration.
"It is time for VA to return to the forefront of research and public
policy - which is why I asked Secretary Shinseki to restart the study,"
said Chairman Filner.
"In order to better understand the consequences of war, we must increase
our knowledge of the Vietnam generation
so we can improve care for every American veteran.
Findings from the study will inform policy regarding health services,
rehabilitation, and compensation - and there is just too much that we
still don't know.
I do not understand this level of bureaucratic procrastination in response
to collecting data that would inform health providers and lead to effective
treatments for affected veterans."
Some Vietnam veterans returned home only to experience serious illnesses
as a result of their exposure to Agent Orange.
Dissatisfied with VA's regulatory interpretation of Congress' several
legislative efforts to provide these veterans with care
and benefits for their disabilities, Congress enacted the Agent Orange
Act in 1991, which established for the first time a presumption of service-connection
for diseases associated with herbicide exposure.
Currently there are 14 recognized presumptive service-connected conditions
related to herbicide exposure, including the newly added B cell leukemias,
Parkinson's disease, and ischemic heart disease.
VA published proposed regulations on these three new presumptions conditions
on March 25, 2010.
The overwhelming majority of stakeholders, including DoD, Institute of
Medicine, Congress, the Court of Appeals
for Veterans Claims, veteran service organizations, and many researchers,
conclude that a veteran's exposure to
Agent Orange cannot be properly determined solely based on troop movement.
However, currently in its regulations and internal procedural manuals,
VA requires a "foot on land" occurrence in Vietnam
in order to award service-connected disability compensation, which determines
that certain veterans suffering from
exposure to Agent Orange are not eligible for VA benefits and related
health care.
According to VA, this reversal had the effect of excluding more than 800,000
combat Vietnam veterans from presumptive service-connection. Affected
veterans have been contesting this regulation since its inception as it
represents an abrupt reversal of VA's previous regulations wherein these
veterans were eligible for compensation and also creates an artificial
and unprecedented distinction between combat veterans.
Chairman Filner introduced the Agent Orange Equity Act of 2009 (H.R. 2254)
to provide these veterans with benefits based on their exposure to Agent
Orange regardless of arbitrary geographic line drawing that imposed by
the VA.
If enacted, this bill would clarify service in Vietnam to include those
who served in the inland waterways, the
waters offshore, air space above Vietnam, and on Johnston Island where
disposal of Agent Orange occurred after the war.
Under H.R. 2254, any veteran awarded the Vietnam Service Medal or the
Vietnam Campaign Medal would be entitled to the benefit of Agent Orange
presumptions just like other Vietnam era combat veterans.
The bipartisan bill has 256 cosponsors.
Filner concluded: "I am convinced that Vietnam veterans are suffering
and dying while VA dithers and vacillates.
VA should be ashamed of its illogical 'foot on land requirement' regulation
that unfairly keeps the Blue Water class of veterans from receiving the
benefits and treatment that they have earned and deserve.
I strongly urge VA to reverse this policy consistent with the Institute
of Medicine's 2008 Update recommendations.
VA also should be ashamed of the fact that it has not begun, yet alone
completed, the decade-long overdue NVVLS study.
We need this information to take better care of these veterans and VA
needs to do everything in its power to make sure
that it finally gets done.
These heroes served bravely and should not have to plead with their government
to receive the care and benefits they
were promised and that Congress mandated.
Vietnam veterans are not looking for sympathy. They are looking for our
grateful Nation to fulfill its promises."
WITNESS LIST
Panel 1
Richard A. Fenske, Ph.D., M.P.H.,
Professor and Acting Chair of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences,
School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington,
Seattle, and Chair, Committee on the
Review of the Health Effects in Vietnam Veterans of Exposure to Herbicides
(7th Biennial Update),
Board on the Health of Select Populations, The Institute of Medicine,
The National Academies
Charles R. Marmar, M.D.,
Chair, Department of Psychiatry, NYU Langone School of Medicine
Randall B. Williamson,
Director, Health Care, U.S. Government Accountability Office
Panel 2
Richard F. "Rick" Weidman,
Executive Director for Policy
and Government Affairs, Vietnam Veterans of America
Joseph L. Wilson, Deputy Director,
Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation Commission, The American Legion
Commander John B. Wells, USN (Ret.),
Cofounder and Trustee, Veterans Association of Sailors of the Vietnam
War
John Paul Rossie, Executive
Director, Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Association
Vivianne Cisneros Wersel, Au.D.,
Chair, Government Relations Committee, Gold Star Wives of America
Panel 3
Joel Kupersmith, M.D.,
Chief Research and Development Officer, Veterans Health Administration,
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Accompanied by
Victoria Anne Cassano, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.P.M., Capt. MC USN (Ret.),
Director, Radiation and Physical Exposures and Acting Director, Environmental
Agents Service, Veterans Health Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs
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Prepared testimony and a link to the webcast of the hearing are available
on the internet at this link: http://veterans.house.gov/hearings/hearing.aspx?newsid=571
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