NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Thursday, VA announced that Veterans and survivors who apply (or submit their intent to file) for PACT Act benefits by 11:59 p.m. Eastern on Monday, August 14, 2023 will be eligible to have their benefits backdated to August 10, 2022 – the day that President Biden signed the PACT Act into law.
"The easiest way for folks to sign up for PACT Act benefits is to go to VA.gov, and click on a button there to apply for a disability claim," said VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes. "What that does is, even if you don't have all the necessary documents, you're filing an Intent to File and it holds your place in line and you, too, will be eligible for those backdated benefits."
VA has made this decision out of an abundance of caution after experiencing technical difficulties with VA.gov/PACT in recent days. Specifically, due to extremely high demand, some Veterans who have sought to submit their intent to file for PACT Act benefits have received error messages while doing so.
Despite these messages, VA has successfully logged every one of these intents to file – meaning that every Veteran or survivor who has received an error message while applying for PACT Act benefits can consider their intent to file complete. VA is working on contacting these Veterans to clarify their status.
"It takes maybe five or ten minutes for you to actually do it," Hayes said. "We're routing folks to VA.gov to apply today."
You do not have to have all of your paperwork in order to submit an Intent to File. It is important to do so in order to get access to the backdated benefits for the past year.
Jeff Herndon at the Dole VA Medical Center in Wichita also contributed to this story.