Click here to watch Boozman’s questions on the PACT Act implementation.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR) pressed Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) officials on their outreach efforts to inform former servicemembers about expanded benefit eligibility as a result of historic legislation that became law last year delivering all eras of toxic-exposed veterans VA health care.

Boozman previously championed the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act of 2022, helping secure its passage.

Since its enactment, the VA has received more than 744,000 PACT Act-related claims, including more than 8,700 in Arkansas, and enrolled more than 2,200 Natural State veterans in VA health care.

During a Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing Wednesday, Boozman shared the need to target rural communities for outreach.

“One of the concerns that we have coming from Arkansas, and really all the states represented here - we have very rural areas,” Boozman said. “That’s where so many of our veterans come from.”

Veterans and survivors must file a claim before August 9 to be eligible for retroactive compensation. Post-9/11 combat veterans discharged more than 10 years ago and not enrolled in VA health care must enroll by October 1 to avoid a phased-in enrollment.

The law includes Boozman-backed provisions to expand benefits to Vietnam War-era veterans who served on military bases in Thailand as well measures to bolster recruitment and retention of the VA workforce in order to respond to the increase in benefit claims.

Boozman continues to advocate additional improvements to attracting highly qualified VA health professionals so the department can deliver the care veterans earned. In January, the senator joined Chairman Jon Tester (D-MT) to introduce the VA CAREERS Act to help fill critical roles at VA hospitals and clinics.