SALT LAKE CITY — An expansion in Veterans Administration benefits went into effect Tuesday, impacting thousands of veterans across Utah.
'We're excited because this likely means that thousands more veterans in our catchment which affects Utah, parts of Idaho and Nevada will now become eligible for care and benefits that they weren't previously eligible for," said Matt Critchfield, Chief of Health Administration Services with VA Salt Lake City.
The PACT Act has helped millions of veterans across the country, but way ahead of schedule as timelines that were originally in place, that spanned out to 2032, have now been condensed to be effective Tuesday.
Critchfield can now see thousands more veterans and treat them in VA healthcare facilities because of the change, and its irregardless of whether they’ve been approved for monthly benefits.
"If you're zero percent or whatever, or denied, you still get healthcare," explained Chris Holly, the Executive Director of the Veterans Benefits Administration in the Salt Lake Region.
As a veteran himself, the ability to help more people makes it a great day for Holly.
"It's fantastic," he said. "You know, these are life-changing benefits we're giving folks."
While Tuesday's change doesn’t affect Holly's office, he said they are also working hard to get their benefits out as fast as possible
"Last year, with the roll out of the PACT Act, we did the most claims they've ever done with about 2.3 million claims. This year we're on pace to do 2.6 million and our grant rate is 77 percent. So, really high grant rate and we've paid out $31 million," said Holly.
So while the expansion will have wide-reaching impacts, veterans will have to go through the process, with officials making a plea to apply to those who think they might be eligible.
"It's not a matter of first come first serve or you're more injured or hurt than I am," Critchfield explained.
"We're not gonna run out of money. Not gonna run out of benefits. The hospital can, will expand. We're gonna take care of a veteran. That's the bottom line. No matter how many there are the doors open and we are gonna take care of you," said Holly.
Those looking for more information to see if they quality can CLICK HERE to learn more about the benefits.
