VA to Grant Benefits to All Veterans with ALS

It's Official!!!
VA to Grant Benefits to All Veterans with ALS

We did it! Tomorrow, September 23, the Veterans Administration will publish regulations officially establishing ALS as a service connected disease! Effective immediately, all veterans with ALS will now have access to the highest level of VA benefits without having to prove that their disease was caused by service in the military.

This is a tremendous victory for all veterans and is the culmination of years of work by The Association, our VA Issue Team and veterans across the country. It is clear that our outreach - testifying before Congress, partnering with the VA, advancing research to identify the connections between ALS and military service and educating the public about this issue - have paid off. The Association has championed legislation (H.R. 5454) that would have established ALS as a service connected disease. However, thanks to our efforts at Advocacy Day and throughout the year, this legislation no longer is needed!

ALL Veterans with ALS Eligible for Benefits

This new policy means that ALL veterans with ALS will receive the benefits they need, deserve and have earned. Importantly, it is broad in scope and applies to all veterans diagnosed with ALS regardless of when or where they served and regardless of when they were diagnosed with the disease following service in the military. A summary of the regulation can be found here. The text of the regulation is available here.

Tomorrow and in the coming days, The ALS Association will post additional information about the regulation, including answers to frequently asked questions, an overview of benefits available to veterans with ALS, as well as guidance veterans can use to obtain service connected veterans benefits.

The ALS Association would like to thank VA Secretary James Peake, Congressman Henry Brown (R-SC) and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) for their efforts to work with us and the ALS community in support of veterans across the country. We also would like to thank all veterans with ALS whose outreach to Congress has helped make this important benefit possible.

Additional information will be available on our website on September 23. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Advocacy Department at advocacy@alsa-national.org.

Although this is excellent news for right now we must focus on the ALS Registry. If all goes well we'll have two things to celebrate tomorrow so stay focused.

Patience or the Lack Thereof

With the announcement made, perhaps prematurely, that the VA intended to make ALS a disease which grants presumptive service connection veterans with ALS rejoiced. Now with two months gone by and no news the rumor mills are churning full blast. I've heard things that haven't been done in the history of the VA. I've heard political underpinnings. I've heard heard comments concerning Ouiji boards.

I've gotten confirmation from a second source that the move to make ALS a disease which grants presumptive service connection is still alive and well. At last report it is in the hands of the Office of Management and Budget and they are required by law to submit an answer by mid November. Now I will admit that the answer may be to make changes and those changes will further delay the process but that is where we stand. Until the decision is made one way or the other there is no use making suppositions.

ALS Service Connection

On June 12th this year I had the honor of testifying before the House Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs concerning H.R. 5454. My testimony is available here. The purpose of H.R. 5454 is to make ALS a presumptive service connected disease for all veterans. This means that any veteran diagnosed with ALS would be granted service connection and all benefits.

Shortly after that hearing there were rumblings that Dr. James Peake the Secretary of Veterans Affairs was going to add ALS to the presumptive conditions. Then on July 14th it was released by Representative Henry Brown and Senator Lindsey Graham that his was in fact true. That release also stated that the changes would take effect August 1st. Well August 1st came and went and there was no news concerning service connection and the rumor mill took off.

Although I can't claim first hand information I can say that my sources are reliable. As such I would like to help in dispelling some of the rumors. The movement to make ALS a condition warranting presumptive service connection are still ongoing. The intention is to make this a regulatory statement meaning that it will be included in United States Code and as such it will be binding. It is due to that in part that the August 1st date passed us by with no word. Making regulatory changes requires approvals and time. Although no dates have been given the process is still moving along.