{"id":16696,"date":"2019-08-16T14:38:36","date_gmt":"2019-08-16T14:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/08\/16\/wait-continues-on-additions-to-vas-agent-orange-connected-illnesses\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:40:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:40:06","slug":"wait-continues-on-additions-to-vas-agent-orange-connected-illnesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/veterans\/2019\/08\/16\/wait-continues-on-additions-to-vas-agent-orange-connected-illnesses\/","title":{"rendered":"Wait continues on additions to VA\u2019s Agent Orange connected illnesses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In March, Veterans Affairs officials said they may have a decision on adding four new diseases to the list of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/06\/07\/as-military-toxic-exposure-illnesses-mount-advocates-push-for-more-action\/\" target=_blank>Agent Orange presumptive benefits eligibility<\/a> by the start of the summer. Five months later, they still haven\u2019t moved ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey told us they were ready to go, and we haven\u2019t gone anywhere,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2018\/08\/01\/va-officials-strongly-oppose-congress-blue-water-navy-benefits-fix\/\" target=_blank>Rick Weidman<\/a>, executive director for policy at Vietnam Veterans of America. \u201cIt feels like they just don\u2019t want to spend any money on this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Vietnam veteran advocates feel a sense of urgency because the the youngest who served there are in their early 60s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last November, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/2018\/11\/19\/new-research-could-lead-to-disability-benefits-for-vietnam-veterans-with-high-blood-pressure\/\" target=_blank>researchers from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine<\/a> announced they had compiled \u201csufficient evidence\u201d linking hypertension, bladder cancer, hypothyroidism, and Parkinson\u2019s-like symptoms with exposure to Agent Orange and other defoliants used in Vietnam and surrounding countries in the 1960s and 1970s.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/07\/23\/lawmakers-lawsuit-want-va-to-reconsider-delays-for-blue-water-veterans-claims\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"196\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_660915014.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Lawmakers, lawsuit want VA to reconsider delays for \u2018blue water\u2019 veterans claims<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">VA officials can wait until January to start paying out the claims, but advocates want action sooner.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They recommended adding the conditions to VA\u2019s existing list of 14 presumptive diseases associated with Agent Orange exposure, a designation which allows veterans to more quickly and easily qualify for disability benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last March, VA\u2019s top acting health official \u2014 Dr. Richard Stone \u2014 told members of the Senate Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee that he expected final action on the issue within 90 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But this week, a department officials said that they have \u201cno announcements on Agent Orange presumptive conditions at this time,\u201d providing no further details on delays in the process. Another senior administration official said VA is continuing to review the data and has not yet made any recommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Almost two years ago, then-VA Secretary David Shulkin likewise suggested he was moving towards adding more illnesses to VA\u2019s presumptive conditions list for Agent Orange, but those changes also never materialized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The delay is the latest frustration for Vietnam veteran advocates already unsettled by the department\u2019s decision earlier this summer to postpone payments related to \u201cblue water\u201d Navy veterans\u2019s cases until early 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Congress and the courts have mandated that sailors who served on ships off the coast of Vietnam during the war receive the same presumptive illness status as their fellow troops who served on the ground. But lawmakers also gave VA an option to delay processing those claims for six months, to ensure the rush of new cases doesn\u2019t overwhelm the existing benefits system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">VA leaders said using that extra time is responsible planning. Some advocates and lawmakers said they think the department could start processing some claims sooner, and have urged them to move up the timeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/2018\/11\/19\/new-research-could-lead-to-disability-benefits-for-vietnam-veterans-with-high-blood-pressure\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Vietnam.jpg_0fe378.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">New research could lead to disability benefits for Vietnam veterans with high blood pressure<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Researchers are upgrading the link between Agent Orange exposure and hypertension.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Weidman said he isn\u2019t optimistic that the additional presumptive illnesses will be authorized before early next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur best hope now is to get a bill introduced to push this forward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The addition of bladder cancer, hypothyroidism, and Parkinson&#8217;s-like symptoms to the list would potentially benefit thousands of aging veterans, adding a significant but not enormous amount to VA\u2019s benefits expenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But adding hypertension \u2014 high blood pressure \u2014 as a presumed service-connected illness could affect tens of thousands of individuals, potentially creating billions in costs in coming years. The condition is also common in many older Americans, further complicating whether it should be labeled a conclusive result of military service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Advocates had expected a decision two months ago, but VA officials have no timeline for action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":38616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,23,89,12,26,62,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3222],"class_list":["post-16696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"3O3FTS7D5NDFFL3ZN7VPTCY2NA","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/08\/16\/wait-continues-on-additions-to-vas-agent-orange-connected-illnesses\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Wait continues on additions to VA\u2019s Agent Orange connected illnesses - Navy Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Advocates had expected a decision two months ago, but VA officials have no timeline for action.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wait continues on additions to VA\u2019s Agent Orange connected illnesses\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Advocates had expected a decision two months ago, but VA officials have no timeline for action.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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