Presumptive Conditions

The A - Z Guide: Veterans VA Disability Benefits

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Presumptive Service Connection

See;

http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/admin21/m21_1/mr/part4/subptii/ch02/ch02_secc.doc

The simple explanation;

The VA awards (not grants or gives) disability compensation for injuries or illnesses (called conditions) that are determined to be caused or contributed to or aggravated by the veterans honorable military service.

This award of monetary and other benefits compensation is said to be "service connected" because there is adequate evidence of an event during service and then post service disabling conditions.

To be service connected, there must be proof that the veteran has qualifying service, that an event occurred and that a disabling condition exists today.

If "Presumption" is allowed, the burden of proof of the event is lifted from the veteran and today's documented disabling condition is presumed to have been related to a determined circumstance of that veterans service.

The recent best known examples might be the Vietnam veteran and the exposure to the herbicide known as Agent Orange. AO is thought to have contributed to a wide range of conditions and as of October 13th 2009, the "Presumptive List" for AO has again expanded.

Presumptive
Updated October 25th 2009

The National Academies Press publishes the reports issued by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council.

Hundreds of titles in electronic Adobe PDF format can be downloaded for free by the chapter or the entire book, or you may purchase them via the web site.

These are serious studies for the veteran who is serious about researching a particular topic.

The 2008 publication;

Improving the Presumptive Disability Decision-Making Process for Veterans
issued by the Board on Military and Veterans Health is that sort of in depth publication.

From a press release:

"WASHINGTON -- The process for awarding benefits to veterans with health conditions presumed to be connected to military service should be improved, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine. The report proposes a revised approach to presumptive disability decision-making designed to assure veterans and the public that these decisions are being made appropriately, consistently, and in a transparent way."

If you're interested in how some conditions become presumptive while others don't, this is the book for you.