• EDITOR’S NOTE: Veterans’ Corner, a column to inform armed-forces veterans about services and benefits available to them, appears the first Sunday of each month.
From the 1950s through the 1980s, people living or working at the U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, were potentially exposed to drinking water contaminated with industrial solvents, benzene and other chemicals.
This chemical exposure may have led to health conditions.
These 15 health conditions qualify regarding the contaminates: esophageal cancer, breast cancer, kidney cancer, multiple myeloma, renal toxicity, female infertility, scleroderma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, lung cancer, bladder cancer, leukemia, myelodysplastic syndromes, hepatic steatosis, miscarriage or neurobehavioral effects.
You may be eligible for VA health benefits if you served on active duty or resided (family members) at Camp Lejeune for 30 days or more between Aug. 1, 1953, and Dec. 31, 1987.
If you are eligible:
• Veterans receive VA health care; care for qualifying health conditions is at no cost (including copayments)
• Family members receive reimbursement for out-of-pocket medical expenses incurred from treatment of qualifying health conditions.
Veterans need to gather documents showing they served on active duty at Camp Lejuene. They can use military orders or base housing records.
They then need to enroll in VA Health Care. Veterans already enrolled can contact their local VA health care facility at www.va.gov/directory/guide/ to sign up for the Camp Lejeune Program and receive VA care.
If not yet enrolled, veterans can apply online at http://www.va.gov/healthbenefits/apply/, call toll-free (877) 222-8387, or visit the nearest Veterans Affairs Office.
Family members need to gather documents to show their relationship to a veteran; they can use a marriage license or a birth certificate.
They also need to show that they lived at Camp Lejuene.
They need the military orders sending their veteran to Camp Lejeune or Camp Lejeune base housing records. Then gather receipts for qualifying expenses.
By law, VA may only compensate for eligible out-of-pocket expenses after family members have received payment from all other health plans.
Family members may request reimbursement for expenses incurred on or after March 26, 2013, which is the date when Congress began to fund this program.
To apply for reimbursement, visit www.clfamilymembers.fsc.va.gov or call toll-free (866) 372-1144.
This information is from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, March 2015.
For more information, call Brenda Stormer at the Veterans Affairs Office at (724) 465-3815.
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