Sen. Schumer stands with Vietnam vets afflicted from exposure to agent orange
ALBANY, N.Y. » U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer visited the Capital Region this week to call on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to add new conditions to the Agent Orange presumptive conditions list.
Schumer held a news conference at the Joseph E. Zaloga American Legion Post, flanked by Capital Region Vietnam War veterans, some who are suffering from Agent Orange-linked conditions.
Schumer announced a letter to OMB and the VA demanding a detailed explanation as to why OMB and the VA continue to block billions in health care coverage and benefits for thousands of Vietnam veterans.
A 2016 National Academies report found suggestive evidence that bladder cancer and hypothyroidism were associated with veterans’ service, as well as clarified that veterans with “Parkinson-like symptoms” (Parkinsonism) should be considered eligible under the presumption that Parkinson’s disease and the veterans’ service are connected.
Following this report, former VA Secretary David Shulkin announced that he would be adding the three conditions to the Agent Orange presumptive conditions list in the near future— which would allow Vietnam War-era stricken by these illnesses to receive health care benefits—but that announcement never came.
Diagnoses of hypertension among Vietnam War-era veterans have also been linked to Agent Orange exposure. Even though Schumer secured a provision in the recently-passed budget deal requiring OMB and the VA to issue a detailed report to Congress on the delay in adding these conditions to the presumptive conditions list, the report was woefully insufficient and both agencies have failed to properly explain why they are denying these Veterans.
“It’s unfathomable that the administration is refusing to do right by our nation’s veterans, including the more than 240,000 New York veterans that bravely served during the Vietnam era, and has unilaterally blocked the VA from expanding healthcare benefits to those exposed to Agent Orange,” Schumer stated.
Last March, Dr. Richard Stone, the Executive in Charge of the Veterans Health Administration, testified before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee that the recommended new presumptive conditions would be added within 90 days, which also never happened. Furthermore,
this past Oct., email communications between the VA and the White House revealed that the delays were at the behest of the OMB Director Mick Mulvaney and White House advisors, who were reportedly concerned about the potential cost of adding diseases to the Agent Orange presumptive conditions list.
Schumer explained that per the Agent Orange Act of 1991, the VA automatically accepts that if a Vietnam Veteran physically served in Vietnam between Jan. 1962 and May 1975, it is probable that the veteran was exposed to an herbicide agent like Agent Orange.
Furthermore, the Act established a list of “presumed” diseases that the VA stipulates are caused by Agent Orange exposure. Therefore, if a veteran served in Vietnam at any time between 1962-1975 and is diagnosed with one or more of the diseases VA recognizes as service connected, the VA will compensate the veteran and his or her family.
However, even though there is scientific evidence linking Parkinsonism, bladder cancer, hypertension and hypothyroidism to Agent Orange exposure, they are not currently on the VA’s list of recognized conditions.
Schumer said veterans shouldn’t have to wage their own war to gather the scientific facts and medical opinions about hypothyroidism in order to receive the care and benefits needed to treat the illnesses they contracted because they served our nation. Schumer added that is absolutely crucial that the roughly 240,000 Vietnam-era veterans in New York State receive the healthcare benefits they need and deserve.
A rough breakdown of Vietnam War-era veterans in the Capital Region:
• In the Capital Region, there are roughly 25,384 veterans