Family members are only eligible to receive healthcare benefits. Camp Lejeune Water Contamination Means Compensation - Fort Bragg, NC - Marines and their families could be eligible for compensation for illness. Which like you’re going to talk more about the disability benefits. YOU MAY BE ELIGIBLE FOR VA HEALTH BENEFITS IF YOU … Hopefully one day the list of 8 will grow to include all 15 conditions. The effective date for this rule is March 14th, 2017 and no earlier. And so for filing a claim for these conditions, I don’t think, from my understanding there’s no specific claim form for camp Lejeune only cases as there is for the healthcare. PFAS at Military Installations Is there credible medical opinion to confirm that the veteran’s 29-day degree of risk was as high as others on the base who were there the required 30 days? VA published a final interim rule today regarding Camp Lejeune Water Contaminated Veterans, 82 FR 4173. And you won’t be redirected for that one. As a Veteran, you may have been exposed to a range of chemical, physical, and environmental hazards during military service. So I think it’s good to know that if you’re not a veteran, you’re not entitled to VA compensation benefits. They are not intended as a guarantee that we will obtain the same or similar results in every case we undertake. Christian: It’s a little different than how a lot of other sorts of contaminants are or other ways that veterans families might have been exposed to these things that they dealt with it. But it wouldn’t be on a presumptive basis, right? Christine: Exactly. But considering the VA’s track record for Camp Lejeune denials and the staggering backlog of claims, the 30-day requirement will be one of the initial boxes to check off when looking for reasons to weed out and nullify claims. So the form just so again is a hundred as a 10-106 8B. For veterans who served at Camp Lejeune from 1953 through 1987, who have any conditions they think are directly related to or aggravated by contaminated water, we encourage you to file a claim for compensation. Roughly 900,000 veterans and 123,000 reservists were exposed to Lejeune drinking water polluted with industrial chemicals and solvents. You actually fax it or send it to a different address which is located on the forms. Active duty, reserve, and National Guard members who served at Camp Lejeune or MCAS New River, N.C. for a minimum of 30 days … And then an actual nexus or connection between the two, which is usually medical evidence. Veterans must have served at least 30 days (consecutive or nonconsecutive) at the base. Our attorneys are VA-accredited and are here to help you get the disability benefits you deserve. And have certain disabilities to get service connection and compensation for those disabilities. Three years later, in 1985, those Wells were finally shut down. Finally, in 2012, a bill was passed into law to extend free VA medical care to affected veterans and their families. So that’s just sort of important to know. I filed a claim with the VA for Agent Orange and Camp Lejeune Water I was granted disability for my heart only; I filed an appeal for and currently pending. Veteran… COVID-19 Notice: We are still here, working for you. Our technology allows us to operate at full capacity even as we work remotely. Veterans exposed to contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune between the mid-1950s and mid-1980s may qualify for disability benefits or an increased disability rating under a new Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) rule. Christian: And that the, it might change. Burn Pits: The Agent Orange for Post-9/11 Veterans, “Other related factors” must be considered in extraschedular analysis. So, whereas family members can only get healthcare benefits. you know, a lot of times, Marines were coming in and out of Camp Lejeune, they might’ve been there for a couple of weeks, they might’ve been there for a couple of days at a time. There’s, there’s a, there’s a biological chemical medical link between the exposures and the condition. Share this page via Email. on Investigations & Oversight of the H. Comm. Shortly after opening, the base was subject to large scale water contamination due… Camp Lejeune Marines receive compensation for exposure to toxic water. And something we wanted to note is that these rules can apply right to guardsmen and reservists, but that can be complicated, so if you were in the guard, you were a reservist, you’re at camp Lejeune you know, we would definitely suggest that you reach out to an advocate that might be able to help you make that case cause the, the rules are going to be really the rules about the you know, how you would go about direct service connection and everything would be similar but the, but some of the rules are a little bit more complicated and it would probably be wise to get some help. Since they were stationed at Camp Lejeune, the VA is responsible for providing VA compensation for disabilities that were a result of the contaminated drinking water. Social Security Disability Denial Attorneys - Texas Disability Law Firm. The other thing I wanted to note is that if someone is a survivor, surviving spouse or a surviving dependent child of a veteran, that they would similarly be entitled to benefits as they would for compensation benefits. That can be through your service records, evidence that you were at the base, they’d be similar, you find, go to your service records for that. The VA has enacted special provisions for obtaining disability compensation for exposure to Camp Lejeune contaminated water. You can also show any. There is limited and suggestive evidence of an association between certain diseases and the chemical compounds found at Camp Lejeune during the period of contamination. Very, very straightforward. [crosstalk] But, there’s a lot of really good information that they, you know, they did community meetings, they had a lot of scientific research that went into, figuring out what conditions were, were being caused or were in some way linked to these exposures. In 2017, the Obama administration agreed to provide disability benefits totaling more than $2 billion to the veterans who had been exposed to the tainted drinking water while assigned to Camp Lejeune. With my case pending for agent orange do I have to refile my claim for Camp Lejeune Water. VA published a final interim rule today regarding Camp Lejeune Water Contaminated Veterans, 82 FR 4173. Camp Lejeune Health And Disability Benefits Author: US Department of Veterans Affairs \(VBA and VHA\) Subject: Camp Lejeune Benefits Information Keywords: camp, lejeune, water, disability, compensation, benefits Created Date: 10/22/2019 3:40:25 PM We may pay you back for your out-of-pocket health care costs that were related to any of these 15 conditions: Bladder cancer; Breast cancer; Esophageal cancer volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as perchloroethylene (PCE), a solvent used in an off-base dry cleaning business; trichloroethylene (TCE), a solvent used for cleaning metal parts; Benzene, a fuel component also used to make other chemicals. Do You Have Disability Insurance Coverage? It’s an installation and there were, service members and, family members who were there. Contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune If you served at Camp Lejeune or MCAS New River between August 1953 and December 1987, you may be at risk for certain illnesses believed to be caused by contaminants found in the drinking water during that time. He had a Steatosis Kidney Cancer, Leukemia, Lung Cancer, Miscarriages, Multiple Myeloma, Mild Dysplastic Syndromes, Neuro Behavioral Effects, Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, Renal Toxicity, and Scleroderma. If you served at Camp Lejeune but do not qualify for a presumptive condition for disability compensation, there are other routes to getting benefits. Filing a Camp Lejeune Toxic Water Claim. Camp Lejeune's 34 years of water contamination ended in 1987, while Rummings was still serving as a medic at the sprawling Onslow County base. Michelle: So one of the things I think is important, is to have the medical documentation. Water lines for a small unit water purification system prototype draw water from a reservoir at Camp Lejeune, N.C., May 9, 2014. So all of that time together in order, not consecutive, all that time together gets added for the purposes of triggering both of these, laws that we talked about. Clearly, VA’s list of presumptive conditions for medical treatment is longer than its list of 8 presumptive conditions for disability compensation. Finally, we invite you to contact us and we welcome your calls, letters and electronic mail. So you might have realized that some of the conditions for health benefits purposes for family members and some of the presumptive conditions are exactly the same. E.g., did specific duties keep you in contact with the base’s water supply? VA notes that the definition of service at Camp Lejeune relies on military orders or other official service department records to establish that an individual had service at Camp Lejeune for the purposes of entitlement to presumptive service connection based on exposure to contaminants in the water supply. Christine: Yes. So the rules for, service members are going to be a little bit different. And so the evidence that you would use for direct service connection just quickly would be similar except there would be that additional requirement that you want to keep in mind that you need some sort of medical evidence showing that your exposure is what caused your condition prior to 2017 and the evidence that you’d show otherwise would be very similar if not exactly the same. Especially, you don’t often see family members also were considered right away too. But I mean looking at Agent Orange the presumptive conditions that have been, you know, added to the books over all the years since Vietnam have increased. Your service-connected conditions are going to be given a VA disability rating from 0-100% in increments of 10%. The identified source of the contamination was poor waste disposal practices at an off-base dry cleaning company. I didn’t know there was going to be a difference. Importantly, the new rule presumes exposure for all active duty, reservists, and National Guard personnel. Veterans disability compensation The Camp Lejeune Act of 2012 provides health care and health care funding assistance to Veterans and family water supply at Camp Lejeune, N.C. Learn about research on past chemical contamination. 4: 2012] In some instances, Congress and the VA … Camp Lejeune Marine awarded compensation due to water contamination . And as in most cases, the evidence that’s gonna help you most and this is sort of related to what you were talking about, Michelle, evidence that you were there for the required amount of time. Indicate that you’re applying for one or more of the presumed Camp Lejeune conditions; medical evidence of at least one presumptive condition (you need a current diagnosis of the condition you’re claiming); military records showing you served at Camp Lejeune or MCAS New River for at least 30 days during the period of contamination, while on active duty, or in the National Guard or Reserves; Claims also can be filed electronically through eBenefits. So–. a certified practice advisor with Atticus, an organization that provides business training and management skills If this is your situation, you may benefit by filing a new claim under the most current rules. And, what they found, I mentioned chemicals, they found Volatile Organic Compounds commonly referred to as VOCs, such as dry-cleaning solvent degreasers and almost 70 other hazardous chemicals. Christian: That contaminated the groundwater. Michelle, is there anything that particularly stuck out to you that we might want to let, let people know about the Camp Lejeune issue we’re talking about today? Whereas for, for benefits for, for the disability benefits, if a veteran is filing a claim, they can file for their current dependence, whereas the medical condition, their current dependence or dependence that they had after they were there, even if they have medical conditions, don’t qualify under that medical, the laws pertaining to medical coverage. There were TCEs which is Trichloroethylene, Benzene. For additional history, see our past articles about the underlying issues of the Lejeune contamination, which lead to the 2016 proposed ruling at that time. So and then you also have the application that goes with that. So if you all don’t have anything else? In some cases, the VA may assume a service connection for certain disabling conditions related to contaminated water exposure. These water systems served housing, administrative, and recreational facilities, as well as the base hospital. You have Esophageal Cancer, Female Infertility. Marc is double board-certified in Social Security and Personal Injury. So we’re talking 1953 to 1987 then you also needed to be a dependent of the veteran at the time. The specific span of time in question begins August 1, 1957, and ends December 31, 1987. See more of Camp Lejeune Water Contamination on Facebook. [laughing] Do you want to just go through a little bit of the history of what happened at that particular in that particular area? From 1953 to 1987, water sources at the base were contaminated with industrial solvents that are correlated with certain health conditions. And this was something I actually didn’t know is that it’s different depending on the years of Camp Lejeune service. And Michelle, I’m gonna turn it over to you to talk a little bit more about the medical conditions and the medical benefits. And I apologize, I’m gonna read them off a little bit. So you don’t have to meet that extra hurdle. And just notably, and importantly, Christine, you noted that there is an effective date, right? So as Christine mentioned in 2012, VA passed the Honoring American Veterans and Caring for Campus Youth and Families Act. The only thing we will lose, hopefully only briefly, is the ability to meet face-to-face. And there was Vinyl Chloride. So that’s just something to be mindful of when you’re looking up for the application. From 1957 to 1987 U.S. service members and their families drank contaminated water at Camp Lejeune located in North Carolina. 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