The 4th Degree Knights of Columbus Sir Knights has a long history of helping veterans. Being part of the Patriotic Order, we pay tribute to those that served our country.
As part of helping, the Knights of Columbus peridically receive communications of special interest to veterans. The most recent are listed below.
Please click here to go to 2024 Issue 12 of Military Exposures & Your Health.
MESSAGE FROM THE UNDER SECRETARY FOR HEALTH
March 5, 2024
VA Health Care PACT ACT Eligibility Expansion
Colleagues,
Beginning today, three new cohorts of Veterans are eligible for VA health care under the PACT Act:
These cohorts were originally granted eligibility on a phased-in schedule between October 2024 and October 2032. By eliminating the phased-in approach and expediting the timeline to allow all eligible Veterans to enroll beginning today, we can now provide more Veterans with the care and benefits they have earned sooner.
I want to acknowledge the significant work that has happened behind the scenes leading up to this expansion—some of which began nearly a year ago. Thanks to the tremendous efforts from many of you, we are now one step closer to bringing every eligible Veteran into VA care.
I also want to acknowledge the work still to come for all of us—much of which will begin now, as we spread the word to eligible Veterans and welcome them to VA. Please review the following resources, information, and communications materials to support our efforts:
Thank you for all the work you do, day in and day out, to support our nation’s heroes. I’m honored to work alongside each one of you as we implement the historic expansion of health care eligibility under the PACT Act.
Shereef Elnahal, MD, MBA
Under Secretary for Health
Please click here to go to 2023 Issue 11 of Military Exposures & Your Health.
From Nathan Witt,
Voluntary Service Specialist,
Center for Development & Civic Engagement
to
Charles H. Gallina, PSD/FVSM, KHS
Colonel, USMC/Ret
Advisor, Military and Veterans Affairs,
VAVS National Representative
Liaison, Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA
Good afternoon, VAVS NAC Members –
Many of you expressed interest in information concerning fraudulent behavior impacting Veterans, their families and caregivers. During this month’s VA Secretary’s Press Conference, a new VA site at www.va.gov/VSAFE was launched to combat fraud, scams, and predatory practices.
The site houses education videos on how to prevent fraud and other pertinent resources. The VSAFE (Veteran Scam and Fraud Evasion’s) website provides Veterans with avenues for reporting fraud through VHA’s Office of Integrity & Compliance Helpline at 866-842-4357 (VHA-HELP) and VA’s Benefits Hotline at 1-800-827-1000.
Please pass this vital information on to your members so that we can all help protect those we serve.
Thank you,
Nate Witt
From Nathan Witt,
Program Analyst,
Center for Development & Civic Engagement
to
Charles H. Gallina, PSD/FVSM, KHS
Colonel, USMC/Ret
Advisor, Military and Veterans Affairs,
VAVS National Representative
Liaison, Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA
Good afternoon, VA Voluntary Service NAC Members – We’ve periodically shared information with you related to PACT Act and the landmark expansion of benefits and services that the legislation brings.
As a part of that ongoing communication effort we are providing the following link to a press release regarding the deadline for Veterans who deployed to a combat zone, never enrolled in VA health care, and left active duty between Sept. 11, 2001 and Oct. 1, 2013 who are eligible to enroll directly in VA health care. This special enrollment period gives Veterans who served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other combat zones an opportunity to enroll directly in VA health care without first applying for VA benefits.
Please forward this link to your organization’s membership to reiterate this important deadline that is fast approaching.
Thank you for everything you do,
Nate
From Nathan Witt,
Voluntary Service Specialist,
Center for Development & Civic Engagement
to
Charles H. Gallina, PSD/FVSM, KHS
Colonel, USMC/Ret
Advisor, Military and Veterans Affairs,
VAVS National Representative
Liaison, Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA
Good morning, NAC Leaders – We’ve shared information with you about the PACT Act in the past – legislation providing an expansion of VA health care and benefits for Veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange and other toxins. We want to share with you a message that VA public affairs and communication officers are distributing widely this morning.
We appreciate any support you can provide in sharing this message to your fellow members within your organization. The message to Veterans, survivors, and those assisting them is as follows:
********************
Due to extremely high volume of submissions, some Veterans and survivors are receiving error messages when submitting their "intent to file" PACT Act claims. This impacted about 18% of individuals who submitted an intent to file yesterday (August 8, 2023).
First and foremost, no Veteran or survivor will miss out on a single day of benefits due to this issue. Every Veteran or survivor who received an error message while applying for PACT Act benefits can consider their intent to file complete. We are working to contact these individuals to confirm directly to them that their intent to file will be honored and their effective date protected.
While we take steps to resolve this issue, we are putting an emergency banner (see below) on the VA website to reassure Veterans and survivors that their intents to file will be honored.
While we work to resolve these technical difficulties, we continue to encourage Veterans and survivors to file their PACT Act claims — or submit their intent to file — now at VA.gov/PACT. Veterans who do so on or before August 9, 2023 may be eligible to receive benefits backdated to August 10, 2022. Please know that VA.gov/PACT is not down, and we continue to collect intent to file submissions despite the outgoing error messages.
Additionally, we have experienced extremely high call volume on 1-800-MyVA411. Wait times for these calls, which are normally 10-30 seconds, have reached 10-15 minutes at times throughout the day. We are taking immediate steps to minimize these wait times for Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors.
We at VA are working to resolve this problem immediately, and we will make sure that no Veteran or survivor misses out on their earned benefits because of these technical difficulties.
Emergency website banner being used:
Submit your intent to file!
Due to high volume, some Veterans and survivors are receiving error messages when submitting their intent to file PACT Act claims. If you received one of these messages, don’t worry! We have logged your intent to file and saved your effective date for benefits.
We continue to encourage all Veterans and survivors to file your PACT Act claims—or submit your intent to file—now. If you apply on or before August 9, 2023, you may receive benefits backdated to August 10, 2022.
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