VA Extends PACT Act backdate deadline

On Aug. 10, the VA released a PACT Act Year-In-Review Dashboard showcasing the care and benefits that VA has delivered to Veterans and their survivors since President Joe Biden signed the PACT Act into law on Aug. 10, 2022. Partly due to this historic law, the VA reports they are delivering more care and more benefits to more Veterans than ever before. 

According to the VA, the PACT Act is here to stay, and Veterans and survivors can apply anytime for the care and benefits they’ve earned. Veterans and survivors who apply (or submit their intent to file) for PACT Act benefits by 11:59 p.m., ET, Monday, Aug. 14, 2023 will be eligible to have their benefits backdated to Aug. 10, 2022 — the day that President Biden signed the PACT Act into law. This is an extension from the original deadline of Aug. 9, 2023. VA encourages all Veterans and survivors to visit VA.gov/PACT to apply — or submit their intent to file — before the Aug. 14, extended deadline.

“Thanks to President Biden, millions of Veterans who fought for our country are now getting health care and compensation for the conditions that followed them home from war,” VA Secretary Denis McDonough said. “We’re proud that so many Veterans and survivors have already benefited from the PACT Act, but this is just the beginning: we won’t rest until every Veteran and every survivor gets the VA health care and benefits they deserve.”

For more information about how one year of the PACT Act has helped Veterans, visit VA’s PACT Year-in-Review Dashboard. This dashboard is a special highlight edition of VA’s regular PACT Act dashboard, which VA publishes every other Friday to document the implementation of this legislation and showcase its impact on Veterans and survivors. The Year-in-Review Dashboard includes national and state-level data on PACT Act benefits and health care.

Key results to date include:

Delivering benefits to Veterans and their survivors: VA has delivered more than $1.85 billion in earned PACT Act benefits to Veterans and their survivors. VA is delivering these benefits to Veterans at the fastest rate in our nation’s history, processing 1.65 million total Veteran claims thus far in this fiscal year (including 458,659 PACT Act claims) — 16% more year-to-date than the previous all-time record.

Increasing Veteran access to health care: Since Aug. 10, 332,252 Veterans have enrolled in VA health care — which is nearly 50,000 more enrollees than during the previous year. This includes more than 113,719 enrollees from the PACT Act population (Vietnam, Gulf War, and Post-9/11 Veterans).  

Screening Veterans for toxic exposures: More than 4.1 million Veterans have received free, 10-minute screenings for toxic exposures from VA under the PACT Act — a critical step to catching and treating potentially life-threatening health conditions as early as possible.

Spreading the word to Veterans and their survivors: Thanks to the largest outreach campaign in VA history, Veterans and survivors are applying for their earned benefits at record rates. In this fiscal year, Veterans and survivors have submitted 1.95 million total claims (including 843,448 PACT Act-specific claims) — 37% more than last year and on pace to break an all-time record. Veterans have also submitted 1.65 million “intents to file” during this fiscal year — 44% more than last year and also on pace to break an all-time record.

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