The Department of Veterans Affairs screened more than 4 million U.S. military veterans in the first year of the new PACT Act to find out if they thought they'd been exposed to toxins during their military service. The vast majority of those screened were already enrolled in VA health care. Of those millions of veterans, 1.7 million had 'screened positive' for possible exposure.

As a result, the VA is reaching back out to those veterans, encouraging them to file a supplemental claim that could potentially increase benefits, whether on the health-care side or many of the other benefits.

The PACT Act linked a variety of medical conditions with toxins common during specific eras or circumstances of military service. Rather than require veterans or their survivors to prove that a toxic exposure caused a given condition, the law assumes that some illnesses are service-connected if the person served in a certain place at a certain time. This means that veterans may be eligible for additional VA benefits based on past toxic exposure during their service.

Here's how the PACT Act could affect existing VA bene-ficiaries: Veterans who already have a partial VA disability rating could have their rating increased now that the VA covers more conditions under the PACT Act, and they don't need to fear that applying could potentially cause their rating to decrease instead. “We are not going to look back at other service-connected issues trying to decrease those,' Kaitlin Richards, assistant director in the VA's Office of Policy and Oversight, said.

Even those veterans who already receive the maximum monthly disability benefit should file a PACT Act claim if they think they have a condition that's newly covered under the PACT Act. Doing so could benefit not only the veterans now but their families later. Even if you are 100% service-connected already, you should still file for benefits because if you get service-connected for a disability, and that is ultimately the disability that you pass away from, whatever is listed on your death certificate is how your survivor, your spouse, will be able to file for their own benefits.

Meanwhile, veterans themselves may, depending on their condition, qualify for additional benefits if they need, for example, aid and attendance in everyday living or specially adapted housing.

Establishing a service connection could also ultimately help with burial, such as providing an allowance for costs.

The survivors of deceased veterans who already receive the VA's Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) likely won't benefit from filing a toxic exposure claim now, unless they have an increase in their veteran's disability rating. DIC beneficiaries can get an increase if their veteran was totally disabled with a service-connected disability for eight years leading up to the veteran's death.

Survivors should file a new DIC claim if they think they qualify now, even if the VA denied their claim in the past.

Current recipients of the VA's income-based Survivors Pension could become eligible for DIC instead if their service member died of a newly presumptive condition. Because the Survivors Pension is meant only to raise their income up to a certain threshold, depending on individual circumstances, the flat-rate DIC could pay more.

If you have any questions, call your Charles Mix County Veterans Service Officer, Jerry Seiner, at 605-487-7691 or 605-4811338. Office hours are Monday and Tuesday from 8:00 to 4:30 and Wednesday from 8:00 to 12:00.