Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced several steps to expand access to VA benefits for Veterans who served at Karshi-Khanabad (K2) base in Uzbekistan after Sept. 11, 2001, as well as their survivors. These steps include:
- Making chronic multi-symptom illness a presumptive condition for K2 Veterans: VA plans to take steps to consider Veterans who served in Uzbekistan as Persian Gulf Veterans, therefore making undiagnosed illness and medically unexplained chronic multi-symptom illness (also known as Gulf War Illness) presumptive conditions for Veterans who served at K2. This will lower the burden of proof required for Veterans who served at K2 to receive presumptive benefits for these conditions.
- Recognition of exposures at K2 as toxic exposure risk activities (TERAs): VA also plans to take steps to acknowledge that Veterans who served at K2 were exposed to several contaminants of concern — including for example jet fuel, volatile organic compounds, particulate matter and dust, asbestos roofing tiles, and lead-based paint. VA continues to work with the Department of Defense to conduct research to identify any additional exposures.
- Ensuring that toxic exposures are fully taken into account when processing K2 Veterans’ claims: VA will provide information and training about service at K2, including a list of the contaminants that Veterans were exposed to while serving there, to all claims processors and examiners. This will mean that every time a K2 Veteran submits a disability claim, VA claims processors and examiners will take those K2 exposures into account.
- Pre-decisional review of K2 claims: Before a decision is made on a K2 Veteran’s claim, it will go through an additional review to ensure that all relevant information (including exposures) was taken into account, and that all benefits to which the Veteran is entitled have been granted. This will apply to any original claim for conditions that could be tied to exposures (for example, there would not be a review for a knee injury).
Importantly, in addition to these steps, all Veterans who served at K2 and meet basic eligibility requirements are already eligible to enroll in VA health care to get world-class, low-cost care for all their health conditions – without needing to apply for disability compensation first. These Veterans are also eligible for presumptive benefits for the more than 300 conditions covered by the PACT Act, meaning that they do not need to prove that their service caused their condition to receive benefits for it; instead, VA automatically assumes service-connection for the condition and provides benefits accordingly.
