VA Adds More Cancers to Service-Connected List
The passage of the PACT Act resulted in millions of veterans being given expanded access to VA healthcare and disability compensation. Some of the effects of that bill are being felt years after it was originally passed. In 2025, those effects included more diseases and medical conditions being added to a list of medical issues presumed to be related to military service.
In January 2025, the VA announced it added a variety of medical conditions associated with service in the Gulf and in Afghanistan to its “presumed service-connected list” making it easier for veterans who suffer from those conditions to get VA benefits. The conditions added include:
- Acute and chronic leukemias
- Multiple myelomas
- Myelodysplastic syndromes
- Myelofibrosis,
- Urinary bladder, ureter, and related genitourinary cancers
These changes are applicable for qualifying Gulf War Veterans who served beginning on August 2, 1990, and Post-9/11 Veterans who served on or after September 11, 2001.
Read next: Disabled Veteran Benefits Guide
What the VA Changes Mean
According to a press releae on VA.gov, the changes mentioned here is part of a larger effort “to provide every Veteran with the care and benefits that they’ve earned for their service to our nation — and that’s what this is all about,” according to the VA Secretary, who was quoted in the press release.
He adds, “Adding these presumptives lowers the burden of proof for Veterans to get the benefits they deserve for the conditions that followed them home from war. We encourage Veterans with these conditions — and all Veterans — to apply today for the benefits they deserve today.”
Qualifying veterans with conditions on the list above or on the larger VA list of presumptive conditions no longer have to prove their service caused their illness to get benefits. The VA assumes military duty caused their condition and give them benefits.
These changes are important for a variety of reasons. Disability compensation aside, when a veteran’s health problem is related to their time in uniform, they may also qualify for free healthcare for that condition.
Read next: Disabled Veteran Benefits Guide
VA Outreach
The VA official site claims it has been “reaching out to veterans to make sure they know about the benefits they can get. Because of this, many veterans have signed up for VA care and applied for benefits.”
The VA is also working “to help veterans who served at the Karshi-Khanabad (K2) base” according to VA.gov. “These veterans and their families are getting the care and benefits they deserve. Many K2 veterans are enrolled in VA healthcare and getting disability benefits. The VA wants to make sure all K2 veterans get the benefits they’ve earned.”
As the VA official site reminds, veterans who may be experiencing service-connected health problems should apply for benefits and those who were previously denied shoud reapply as many rules to qualify have changed over the years.
Who Qualifies?
If you served in any of the operations below you may be eligible for VA benefits depending on circumstances:
- Gulf War Veterans: Veterans who served in Somalia or the Southwest Asia theater of operations (which includes Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the neutral zone between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, the Gulf of Aden, the Gulf of Oman, the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, and the airspace above these locations) during the Persian Gulf War on or after Aug. 2, 1990.
- Post-9/11 Veterans: Veterans who served in Afghanistan, Iraq, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, or Uzbekistan and the airspace above these locations during the Gulf War on or after Sept. 11, 2001. This includes Veterans who served at the Karshi-Khanabad (K2) base in Uzbekistan after Sept. 11, 2001.
Read next: Disabled Veteran Benefits Guide
About the author
Editor-in-Chief Joe Wallace is a 13-year veteran of the United States Air Force and a former reporter/editor for Air Force Television News and the Pentagon Channel. His freelance work includes contract work for Motorola, VALoans.com, and Credit Karma. He is co-founder of Dim Art House in Springfield, Illinois, and spends his non-writing time as an abstract painter, independent publisher, and occasional filmmaker.
