Veterans need to know about military benefits
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — They have made tremendous sacrifices for our country and wore the uniform proudly.
We are talking about our military veterans.
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A lot of them have military benefits coming to them, but unfortunately, many of them don't know about them or how to go about getting them.
Pat Ziegler of Mitchell, who served in Iraq in 2006, has found himself in another battle; stage four bladder cancer.
'My cancer wasn't covered under the PACT Act, I just wrote it off, I'm just going to have to live with that fact,' Ziegler said.
The PACT Act is a law that expands VA health care and benefits for Veterans who were exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances.
One day Ziegler says he switched his radio to an AM station and heard a news story about the PACT Act.
'I heard the bladder cancer is now covered under the PACT Act, I almost had to pull over, didn't believe it,' Ziegler said.
So he started looking into it and eventually filed a disability claim with his local Veteran Service Officer.
'That's why we are here,' VA Appeals Claim Manager Dave Huntimer said.
'We help with compensation claims for disability, we help with education, we help with pension, survivor pension, burials, so anything that has to do with that we can help out with that, but the thing is at our office we do it for free,' Huntimer said.
Huntimer says the PACT Act has changed three times already since it first went into law back in March of last year.
'That's why veterans need to keep in contact with us, because there are times where this condition may have gotten denied, but now it's new in the PACT Act, so now they can reapply for it,' Huntimer said.
The benefits go beyond the PACT Act, but for Ziegler, it's been life-changing, because he now gets 100% disability.
'Here I am in the middle of this fight and I didn't know about it, had I not switched to the radio I probably still wouldn't know about it; I might have gone to my grave not knowing about all these benefits for my family and everything that goes with it,' Ziegler said.
Huntimer says their office has helped 78 thousand South Dakota veterans and paid out more than $443 million in claims just last year.
If you're a veteran and would like to learn more about the PACT Act, click here.
There's also a program called Community Care that allows veterans to see their own doctor if they can't make it to the VA.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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