Kristina Derro
Veteran Advocate
VA just announced today that eight medical conditions that are linked to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina from 1953 to 1987, will become presumptive disabilities allowing for service connection. Currently, Camp Lejeune veterans who had exposure to the contaminated water during that time period and have those eight conditions are eligible for free VA health care or reimbursement for medical costs. With these new regulations, those veterans can also become presumptively service connected for those disabilities. The disabilities include kidney cancer, liver cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, leukemia, multiple myeloma, scleroderma, Parkinson’s disease, and aplastic anemia or other myelodysplastic syndromes. This means that the widows/widowers/dependents of these veterans who died from these diseases are also eligible for DIC benefits.
Veterans who have previously been denied for these claims may seek to have their previous claims reevaluated. For those veterans who currently have claims pending for these conditions, those claims will be put on hold with VA until the final regulations are released. No timeline was given by VA for this task to be completed.
