John Hult, South Dakota Searchlight
A federal law extending medical benefits to service members exposed to toxic burn pits has hiked the number of claims processed annually by the South Dakota Department of Veterans Affairs since 2021.
Department Secretary Greg Whitlock told the Legislature’s Government Operations and Audit Committee on Tuesday in Pierre that the recent spike in claims is directly related to the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxins (PACT) Act, signed into law in 2022.
“Our claims office has been processing a record number of claims,” Whitlock said.
The act widened the number of veterans eligible for benefits as a result of exposure to toxic burn pit smoke, or to chemicals like Agent Orange, during their service. The law added 23 illnesses to the list of conditions that the federal Department of Veterans Affairs presumes are connected to military service, eliminating the need to prove that the conditions are connected to military service through medical examinations.
Eligibility for benefits is tied to current service-related health concerns, with veterans who don’t have current conditions becoming eligible for VA care in phases. Veterans can also be eligible for VA care under previously existing criteria.
The latest data from the federal VA shows 6,956 PACT Act claims filed in South Dakota through Sept. 16.
The state-level veterans department processes applications for benefits, including applications for PACT Act benefits, and forwards them to the appropriate federal agency. Veterans can also apply for PACT Act benefits online through U.S. Veterans Affairs.
In 2021, the department took in fewer than 600 claims a month for all types of veteran benefits, according to a performance metrics document the department delivered to the committee. Today, two years after the PACT Act was signed, Whitlock’s team is handling more than 1,000 claims a month, and is on pace to surpass the 2023 annual high of 11,346.
The office has maintained customer service throughout, Whitlock told the lawmakers. Just two of the department’s 8,620 claims filed through August of this year have taken more than two business days to process. That’s an improvement over 2023, when 42 claims took between three and four days.
In an emailed statement sent after Tuesday’s meeting, Whitlock said most of the claims processed in South Dakota were for Vietnam War veterans who’d been denied benefits when they returned home decades ago.
Whitlock wrote that the spike in work, which has not required the department to hire any additional help, is “a good thing.”
“Since the passage, our team has worked diligently on outreach to ensure veterans who are entitled to the care receive it,” he wrote.
Whitlock also told the committee that his agency is working to address hiring difficulties at the state Veterans Home in Hot Springs. The home is an assisted living facility, but also offers physical and speech therapy, mental health services and a range of other services.
The home has relied on contracted temp employees to help meet its staffing needs since 2022.
“There are two other nursing homes we compete with, plus the VA hospital (in Hot Springs) and the Fall River Hospital,” Whitlock said.
The department partnered with Western Dakota Technical College by offering a satellite location for the school’s Licensed Professional Nursing program, Whitlock said, and is using a federal grant to help pay for its nursing recruitment efforts in southwestern South Dakota. The department also offers scholarships and student loan repayment programs.