Janurary 2023, Norah O'Donnell & Alacia Hastey, CBS News
Andrew Myatt was willing to give his life for his country serving in the Army. After 9/11 he was deployed to Iraq, where he performed dangerous missions like searching for improvised explosive devices to disarm and destroy.
But the 24-year Army veteran never thought the greatest risk to his health would show up years later.
Myatt has a rare form of leukemia, which doctors say was most likely caused by exposure to toxins during his deployments. The toxins were from burn pits, which were the main way troops disposed of garbage, often using jet fuel to ignite flames.
"The last thing you're thinking about is, you know that the smoke I walk by or the solvents I put in my vehicle is going to kill me," Myatt said.
He applied for health coverage three times through the Department of Veterans Affairs and was denied each time. For years, that's been the reality of veterans who couldn't prove to the VA that their health conditions were linked to burn pit exposure.
In August, President Biden signed the PACT Act, expanding VA healthcare eligibility for veterans who had toxic exposures during the Vietnam War, Gulf War and post-9/11 wars. The PACT Act takes the burden of proof off veterans, automatically linking asthma, some cancers and other illnesses to burn pit exposure.
An estimated four million veterans who were deployed in the last 30 years were exposed to burn pits, according to VA Secretary Denis McDonough, who is urging veterans who may have been affected to file claims with the department.
Nearly 260,000 claims have been filed and 66,000 benefits issued since the legislation was signed into law, the VA told CBS News. At least 1.4 million veterans have been screened for toxic exposure.
"We've got a long way to go and we won't rest here in this building until we've reached every one of those vets, made sure they know what they qualify for, we get them signed up and we get that process going," McDonough said...