More than 1,100 veterans in the immediate Buffalo area have already applied for benefits under a year-old law that extends health and disability coverage to many Iraq and Afghanistan vets exposed to toxic burn pits, as well as Vietnam-era vets exposed to a poisonous defoliant.
But veterans advocates and federal lawmakers are urging other veterans to apply before a Monday deadline, lest they lose out on a full year’s worth of aid.
The application deadline had been last Wednesday, but the Department of Veterans Affairs extended the deadline to 11:59 p.m. ET on Monday after veterans complained of receiving error messages when trying to file online last week. Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, a New York Democrat who helped lead the fight to pass the bill expanding the veterans benefits, said the VA did the right thing in extending the deadline.
“These extra days mean that even more toxic-exposed vets have the opportunity to claim the benefits they deserve, and I encourage everyone eligible to apply,” Gillibrand said.
Veterans will still be able to apply after the Monday deadline, but if they do so, they will lose out on their chance at getting retroactive benefits covering the first full year since Congress passed the PACT Act. That legislation expands health and disability benefits to Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans exposed to toxins released from wartime burn pits.
The largest expansion of veterans benefits in decades, the PACT Act means a great deal to veterans like Kevin Kozlowski of Rochester, a guest of Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer – a New York Democrat and another key backer of the legislation – at President Biden’s State of the Union address earlier this year.
“When I got back from Iraq, I started noticing my breathing was getting bad and soon my symptoms grew worse and included migraines and gastrointestinal issues,” Kozlowski said before Biden’s speech. “Finally, I was diagnosed with COPD and asthma…
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