Calling it among 'the most significant” laws to be enacted, President Biden touted legislation he signed in August that expanded health care benefits for veterans suffering from exposure to toxic burn pits.
,"empowers the VA to move more quickly to determine if a veteran qualifies for the benefits of the law,” Biden said at a National Guard and Reserve center in New Castle, Del., named after his late son, Beau Biden. “And the benefits are real, they’re real benefits like exposure screening. … It means new facilities, new research, more health care workers at VA hospitals.”
The issue is personal for Biden, who has said he believes his son's brain cancer was linked to exposure to burn pits during his deployment to Iraq in 2008. In his remarks, Biden said he remembered when Beau, who was diagnosed in 2013, called him to say he had collapsed while running.Since Biden signed the law, more than 185,000 veterans have applied for benefits, the White House said.
The law gives veterans exposed to burn pits access to more medical care and disability payments. It also requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to presume some lung illnesses and cancers were related to exposure, meaning veterans don’t have to prove they got sick from the burn pits to receive compensation.
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