Since 2012, Veterans who served on active duty in the Armed Forces at Camp Lejeune
for 30 days or more between August 1, 1953, and December 31, 1987, have been
eligible for hospital care and medical services for any of 15 illnesses or conditions
identified in the Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act
of 2012, as amended (codified at 38 U.S.C. § 1710(e)(1)(F)). Veterans are also eligible to
enroll in VA health care for other services they may require.
Veterans, Reservists, and National Guard members who served at least 30 days at
Camp Lejeune between August 1, 1953, and December 31, 1987, and later developed
one of the following eight diseases: Adult leukemia, aplastic anemia and other
myelodysplastic syndromes, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, liver cancer, multiple
myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and Parkinson’s disease, are eligible for disability
compensation benefits.
On August 10, 2022, the President signed into law the Honoring our
PACT Act (Public Law 117-168). Section 804 of this law is the Camp
Lejeune Justice Act of 2022 (“CLJA”), which allows new lawsuits for
individuals exposed to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.
Whether Veterans and family members decide to seek relief under
the CLJA is entirely their decision and will not influence VA’s
decision to provide them benefits or health care based upon their
exposure; it also will not affect the amount of benefits or health
care VA can provide them.
It is important to know, however, that if a Veteran or family
member is awarded relief by the court in a lawsuit brought
under the CLJA, the award must be offset by the amount of any
disability award, payment, or benefit VA provided to the Veteran,
family member, or their legal representative relating to exposure
to water at Camp Lejeune. This would reduce the amount of the
award Veterans or family members receive from the court, but it
would not affect their VA benefits.
Your VA compensation benefits or health care services will not be
impacted if you file a lawsuit. If you are awarded relief from a CLJA
lawsuit, your VA benefits will not be reduced, and your eligibility
for other VA benefits or services will not be affected.
