Vietnam-Era Veteran Benefits: Agent Orange Presumptions, Covered Locations, and Newly Recognized Conditions

If you served in a covered location and now have listed conditions, you do not need to prove that Agent Orange made you sick. The VA presumes it. This presumption has grown since 1991 and many veterans who were denied years ago now qualify under new rules.

How the Agent Orange Presumption Works

The presumption has two parts. First, the VA presumes exposure to herbicides if you served in a specific place and time frame under 38 U.S.C. § 1116 and 38 CFR 3.307(a)(6). Second, it assumes that listed diseases are caused by that exposure.

Meet both, and you don’t need a medical opinion. Most conditions listed can appear decades after exposure. There are three exceptions: chloracne, early-onset peripheral neuropathy, and porphyria cutanea tard. They must have become disabling at least 10% within one year of the last exposure.

Which Service Locations Count

The core is service in the Republic of Vietnam between January 9, 1962, and May 7, 1975. Since the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019, that also covers sailors aboard ships operating within 12 nautical miles of the coast. Veterans who served in or near the Korean DMZ between September 1, 1967, and August 31, 1971, qualify too.

The PACT Act has added five more locations to the list:

• Any U.S. or Royal Thai military bases in Thailand from January 9, 1962 to June 30, 1976, where you no longer need to prove that you worked near the base perimeter.
• Laos from December 1, 1965 to September 30, 1969.
• Mimot or Krek in Kampong Cham Province, Cambodia from April 16 to 30, 1969. 
• Guam or American Samoa (including territorial waters) from January 9, 1962 to July 31, 1980.
• Johnston Atoll or any ship that visited there from January 1, 1972 to September 30, 1977.

The Current Presumptive Conditions List

The listed cancers are: bladder cancer, chronic B-cell leukemia, Hodgkin’s disease, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, prostate cancer, respiratory cancers (lung, bronchus, larynx and trachea) and soft tissue sarcoma, with a few exceptions.

The other conditions are: AL amyloidosis, chloracne, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure (hypertension), hypothyroidism, ischemic heart disease, monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), Parkinsonism, Parkinson’s disease, early-onset peripheral neuropathy, and porphyria cutanea tarda.

One quirk: 38 CFR 3.309(e) still doesn’t list the newest additions. They come from statute, and the VA applies them anyway.

Newly Recognized Conditions and What Changed in 2026

In 2021, Congress added bladder cancer, hypothyroidism and Parkinsonism to the defense authorization act for that year. The PACT Act then followed in 2022, adding hypertension and MGUS.

Congress let the VA phase in hypertension with October 1, 2026 as the deadline for all eligible veterans. VA accepted these claims immediately, and that deadline has now passed. Hypertension is presumed to be fully covered for anyone with qualifying service. Given the prevalence of high blood pressure, this change could reach more Vietnam-era veterans than anyone else.

One expansion is still pending. In February 2024, the VA proposed a rule to presume exposure at Defense Department sites where herbicides were tested, used or stored outside of Vietnam, including sites in the United States, Canada and India. As of November 2026, this has not been finalized. Until then, veterans from these sites need evidence of actual exposure.

If VA Denied Your Claim Before

If VA denies you for a condition that is now presumptive, you can file a Supplemental Claim. For bladder cancer, hypothyroidism, and Parkinsonism, Nehmer’s class action rules have led VA to review many earlier denials on their own. Hypertension and MGUS come from the PACT Act, so don’t wait for a letter. Surviving spouses may also qualify for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation if a presumed condition contributed to the veteran’s death.

Talk to Veterans Benefits Law Group About Your Agent Orange Claim

Placing yourself at a Thai airbase or inside the Blue Water Navy decades later takes record and persistence. Veterans Benefits Law Group helps veterans of the Vietnam era and their families to build that evidence and hold the VA to the assumptions it overlooks. If you have listed conditions or a past denial, contact us today to schedule a free consultation. You served when your country asked. You should not have to fight hard for the care that was promised.