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COURT ORDERS VA TO AWARD 2 MONTHS OF ADDITIONAL
BENEFITS OR ADDITIONAL BENEFITS TO 25,000 VIETNAM VETERANS
WITH TYPE 2 DIABETES

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled on December 10, 2002 in one of NVLSP’s cases, Lisesgang v. Secretary, that the effective date for diabetes claims first filed between May 8, 2001 and July 8, 2002 should be May 8, 2001 or one year before the claim is filed, whichever date is later and not July 9, 2001 as the VA had directed. The VA estimates that there are 25,000 of these claimants. (Claims first filed earlier than May 8, 2001 are governed by the Nehmer case and the effective date should usually be the date the claim was first filed or May 8, 2001, whichever is earlier.)

Those affected are those Vietnam veterans or their survivors who first filed a claim for diabetes or death benefits related to diabetes between May 8, 2001 and July 8, 2002.

The VA is paying all new or pending claims in accordance with the ruling and was ordered to automatically reopen the cases and pay two months of additional benefits to 25,000 veterans who had been assigned July 9, 2001 as the effective date for the award of benefits due to diabetes.