This bill would change Title 38 to give certain veterans and some family members access to hospital care and medical services when they were exposed to perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) or other per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at a military installation. It lists specific conditions tied to PFOA exposure (diagnosed high cholesterol, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, testicular cancer, kidney cancer, and pregnancy-induced hypertension). For other PFAS, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, after consulting the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and using the NDAA 2018 study, may identify additional diseases that have a positive association with PFAS exposure. The bill creates a presumption of service connection for the listed conditions for veterans who served at covered installations. It treats certain reserve service at covered installations as active duty for these purposes. It also allows family members who lived at a covered installation or were in utero while the mother lived there to be eligible for the same care, subject to limits. The family-member care is limited to amounts provided in advance in appropriations acts, cannot be provided for conditions found to result from other causes under VA guidance, and reimbursement may be provided only after exhausting claims against third parties. The bill requires annual reports to Congress for three years after the ATSDR study is submitted, showing numbers served, conditions treated, denials and pending applications. Many provisions take effect 90 days after enactment.
No publicly available information on estimated costs or budgetary effects is included in the bill text. The bill says family-member care may be provided only to the extent and in the amount provided in advance in appropriations Acts, which ties those services to future funding decisions.
No publicly available information.
No publicly available information.