Congresswoman Chellie Pingree applauds the proposed rule, which will make it much easier for Persian Gulf, Iraq, and Afghanistan veterans to get disability benefits for wartime illnesses
 
Today Congresswoman Chellie Pingree applauded Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki for taking steps to make it easier for veterans to get disability benefits for illnesses associated with the Persian Gulf, Iraq, and Afghanistan wars. 
 
“For too long, veterans have been denied benefits for the illnesses we knew they contracted while they were overseas serving their country,” said Pingree.  “I commend Secretary Shinseki’s commitment to veterans in taking this monumental step in acknowledging the connection between illnesses and a veteran’s service.  This decision will make sure that we accept responsibility for taking caring of the veterans who take care of us.  I look forward to this proposed rule becoming regulation.”
 
The proposed decision—which will be open for public comment for 60 days before becoming official—highlights nine infectious diseases associated with military service in the Persian Gulf, Iraq, and Afghanistan.  The diseases would be established as new “presumptions of service connection,” meaning that to receive disability benefits for them, veterans will only have to show a diagnosis and a record of their service.
 
The VA’s current policy requires that a veteran provide medical evidence to establish a connection between their condition and their military service.  Under this policy, thousands of veterans were denied benefits.
 
“We recognize the frustrations that many Gulf War and Afghanistan veterans and their families experience on a daily basis as they look for answers to health questions, and seek benefits from VA,” said Shinseki.
 
The VA decision comes after a 2006 report by the National Academy of Sciences that studied the long-term health effects of certain diseases determined to be pertinent to Gulf War veterans. The nine proposed presumptive conditions are: Brucellosis, Campylobacter jejuni, Coxiella burnetii (Q fever), malaria, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Nontyphoid Salmonella, Shigella, Visceral leishmaniasis and West Nile virus.