Bill would help troops sickened at Qarmat Ali - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

Bill would help troops sickened at Qarmat Ali

A key Republican lawmaker wants Iraq war veterans who served in the Qarmat Ali region to receive extended veterans health care benefits because of the possibility they were exposed to toxic chemicals while guarding a water treatment plant early in the war.

Rep. Steve Buyer of Indiana, ranking Republican on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said Army National Guard troops from Indiana, Oregon, South Carolina and West Virginia — and some individual augmentees from other states — were notified by the Veterans Affairs Department earlier this year that they “were possibly exposed to toxins.”

The letters invited those who might have been exposed to be screened for ill health effects.

Buyer said the exposure could have been to a sodium dichromate, a chemical associated with respiratory problems, skin lesions, burns, disorders of the ear, nose and throat, and increased rates of lung cancer.

While pleased that VA sent notices to veterans and is creating a Qarmat Ali registry to track the health of people who served near the water treatment facility, this still leaves some veterans in limbo because they are not eligible for no-questions-asked medical treatment from VA if they were discharged more than five years ago.

Veterans outside the five-year window must file a disability benefits claim and be rated for having a service-connected disability before receiving access to VA health care, Buyer said.

His proposal, HR 6127, would give another five years of no-questions-asked medical care to Qarmat Ali veterans, beginning on the date when they were notified by VA of possible exposure to sodium dichromate.

“This would allow them to immediately begin receiving services at VA medical facilities for any and all of their health care needs,” Buyer said. “Appropriate preventative care can substantially improve health outcomes and the quality of life for our honored heroes.”

Buyer hopes to get the bill on a short list of veterans-related legislation that could be taken up by the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee before lawmakers take a break for the Nov. 2 general elections.