“This law is the most comprehensive expansion of benefits for veterans who faced toxic exposure in our country’s history,” said Brown. “We’re working to get the word out to veterans across Ohio. If you were exposed to toxins while serving our country, you deserve the benefits you earned. Period. No exceptions.”
Butler County Veterans Service Commission Executive Director Mike Farmer told the Journal-News Brown is traveling to all 88 counties to hear veterans’ concerns. He said the senators spent an hour-and-a-half with about nine veterans.
“The willingness of Senator Brown and Senator Duckworth to sit down and discuss the PACT Act and food insecurities from the perspective of the veterans within Butler County is priceless,” Farmer said. “The open conversations and dialogue in this type of small and intimate setting are one step to ensure that all veterans; past, present and future will continue to receive the benefits which they have earned, and know that their voices can be heard from Butler County, Ohio.”
The PACT Act expands VA health care and benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange and other toxins. The law adds more than 20 conditions related to exposures, including high blood pressure, now presumed to be related to military service.
Before the act, veterans faced higher hurdles in order to demonstrate past toxic exposure.
The legislation is named after Sgt. 1st Class Heath Robinson, a Central Ohio veteran who passed away in 2020 at age 39 from lung cancer after exposure to burn pits during a one-year deployment in Iraq in 2006.
The PACT Act is the result of a years-long fight by Brown, veterans and advocates to secure access to Department of Veterans Affairs health care and disability benefits for veterans who were exposed to toxins.
He now is working with Ohio veterans, their families and advocates to bring additional attention to provisions in the PACT Act so veterans can get the care they’ve earned and deserve.
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