Amata Welcomes VA Decision to extend deadline through Monday for Veterans and survivors to apply for PACT Act benefits backdated to August 10, 2022
Washington, D.C. – House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Vice Chairman Uifa’atali Amata is welcoming Thursday’s VA announcement that Veterans and survivors who apply (or submit their intent to file) for PACT Act benefits by 11:59PM Eastern Time on this Monday, August 14, 2023, will be eligible to have their benefits backdated to August 10, 2022 – the day that President Biden signed the PACT Act into law. This is an extension from the past original deadline of August 9, 2023. Eligible Veterans and their survivors should apply – or submit their intent to file – for PACT Act benefits now by visiting VA.gov/PACT.
The PACT Act is a recent law that expands VA health care and benefits for Veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances.
The VA announced this decision out of an abundance of caution after experiencing technical difficulties with VA.gov/PACT in recent days. Specifically, due to extremely high demand, some Veterans who have sought to submit their intent to file for PACT Act benefits have received error messages while doing so. Despite these messages, VA states they have successfully logged every one of these “intents to file” – meaning that every Veteran or survivor who has received an error message while applying for PACT Act benefits can consider their intent to file complete. The VA is working to contact these individuals to confirm directly to them that their intent to file will be honored and their effective date protected. Most importantly, the VA assures that no Veteran or survivor will miss out on a single day of benefits due to this issue.
VA has also resolved most of the technical issues with VA.gov/PACT. Throughout the past day, VA has sent out communications from all channels to reassure Veterans and survivors that they would not miss out on their earned benefits due to this issue.
There is now an emergency banner with the necessary links at the top of VA website https://www.va.gov/ to tell Veterans and survivors that their intents to file will be honored. The VA has changed the intent to file error message to confirm that, despite the error message, the intent to file has been saved, and is communicating with Veterans directly on social media, via email, and through coordination with Congressional leaders and Veterans Service Organizations. All of this messaging will be updated throughout Thursday (details below) to reflect the extended deadline for Veterans and survivors to apply for benefits backdated to August 10, 2022.
“We at VA will continue to encourage Veterans and their survivors to immediately file their PACT Act claims — or submit their intents to file — at VA.gov/PACT. With the extended deadline, Veterans and survivors who do so by 11:59PM ET on Monday, August 14, 2023 may receive benefits backdated to August 10, 2022.” – VA announcement.
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