If you filed a VA disability claim for a condition related to toxic exposure and were denied before the PACT Act took effect in August 2022, you may now qualify for benefits under the new presumptive framework. The PACT Act itself constitutes new and relevant evidence that can support a supplemental claim, giving you a path to reopen a previously denied claim without needing to find new medical evidence on your own.
A supplemental claim is the appropriate vehicle for revisiting a prior denial when new evidence exists. Under the Appeals Modernization Act, you can file a supplemental claim at any time by submitting VA Form 20-0995 along with or identifying the new and relevant evidence. For PACT Act claims, the new and relevant evidence is the law itself. The PACT Act created presumptive service connection for conditions that previously required individual proof of a nexus between service and diagnosis. If your claim was denied because you could not establish that nexus, the PACT Act may have removed that barrier entirely.
The conditions most commonly affected by this change are burn pit and airborne hazard conditions including respiratory diseases such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, COPD, and pulmonary fibrosis, as well as cancers including lung cancer, kidney cancer, pancreatic cancer, and many others. Herbicide agent conditions added by the PACT Act such as bladder cancer, hypertension, hypothyroidism, parkinsonism, and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance are also common candidates for supplemental claims. Veterans who were denied for these conditions before they were added to the presumptive list should file a supplemental claim.
When filing your supplemental claim, clearly identify the PACT Act as the basis for reopening. Include your current diagnosis, evidence of qualifying service in a covered location during a covered period, and a reference to the specific PACT Act provision that now covers your condition. You do not need a new nexus letter for presumptive conditions. The VA should concede the service connection based on your qualifying service and diagnosis alone.
The effective date for a granted supplemental claim is generally the date the supplemental claim is received by the VA, not the date of the original claim. There is an exception: if the supplemental claim is filed within one year of the PACT Act provision taking effect for your specific condition, the effective date may relate back to the date the law became effective. Because many PACT Act provisions have already been in effect for over a year, the most important thing is to file as soon as possible to preserve the earliest possible effective date going forward.
If your original denial was based solely on the lack of a presumptive framework and you now meet the PACT Act criteria, your supplemental claim has a strong chance of approval. The approval rate for PACT Act presumptive claims is approximately 75 to 78 percent overall, and supplemental claims that clearly identify the regulatory change as new evidence tend to be processed efficiently.
You can file a supplemental claim through VA.gov, by mail, or with the assistance of a Veterans Service Organization. If you have multiple previously denied conditions that are now covered by the PACT Act, you can include all of them in a single supplemental claim filing. Gathering your current medical records showing active diagnoses before filing will help the VA process your claim more quickly.
Note: This article references sections of the VA's M21-1 Adjudication Procedures Manual. The VA periodically reorganizes the M21-1 and section numbers may have changed since this article was written. For the most current section references, visit the VA's public M21-1 Web Automated Reference Material System (WARMS).