VA Disability and Agent Orange Compensation

Veterans who return home with a service-connected illness, injury, or disease may be eligible for VA disability compensation (provided they weren't dishonorably discharged). Those who served in a location that exposed them to Agent Orange may have an easier time establishing service connection—and therefore qualifying for disability benefits—if they have one of the many conditions on the VA's "presumptives list" of disorders caused by Agent Orange.

Because it's often difficult to provide evidence that an illness is the result of exposure to hazardous chemicals such as Agent Orange, disabled veterans who served in Vietnam or nearby areas where the toxin was used were denied VA benefits for many years. Following passage of the Agent Orange Act of 1991 and the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act of 2022, however, veterans and their families have easier access to VA compensation for disabilities linked to Agent Orange exposure.

Which Veterans Can Make VA Disability Claims for Agent Orange?

Veterans with certain health conditions that are caused by exposure to Agent Orange and who also served in a location where they're likely to have been exposed to Agent Orange can establish "presumptive service connection" for disability benefits. Presumptive service connection means that you don't need to establish an evidentiary link, or "nexus," between your time in the military and your current medical disorder. The VA will see that you served in a place where Agent Orange was used, developed a condition related to Agent Orange exposure, and connect the dots.

Even if you don't meet the requirements for presumptive service connection, you can still apply for VA benefits and win your claim. You'll just need to provide additional information, like evidence that you actually came into contact with Agent Orange through inhalation or scientific proof—such as a published research study—that your medical condition is caused by Agent Orange.

Service Requirements for Presumptive Agent Orange Exposure

Depending on the time and location of your service, the VA will presume that you've been exposed to Agent Orange for the purpose of disability compensation. You'll have a presumption of exposure if any of the below requirements describe your active duty service:

• Between January 9, 1962 and May 7, 1975, you served for any length of time in the Republic of Vietnam, aboard a U.S. military vessel that operated in the inland waterways of Vietnam, or on a vessel operating not more than 12 nautical miles seaward from the demarcation line of the waters of Vietnam and Cambodia.
• You served at any U.S. or Royal Thai military base in Thailand from January 9, 1962, through June 30, 1976.
• You served in Laos from December 1, 1965, through September 30, 1969.
• You served in Cambodia at Mimot or Krek, Kampong Cham Province from April 16, 1969, through April 30, 1969.
• You served in Guam or American Samoa or in the territorial waters off Guam or American Samoa from January 9, 1962, through July 31, 1980.
• You served in Johnston Atoll or on a ship that called at Johnston Atoll from January 1, 1972, through September 30, 1977.

• You served in or near the Korean DMZ for any length of time between September 1, 1967, and August 31, 1971.
• You served in an Air Force unit location where a C-123 aircraft with traces of Agent Orange was assigned, and had repeated contact with this aircraft due to your flight, ground, or medical duties.
• You were involved in transporting, testing, storing, or other uses of Agent Orange during your military service.

If you aren't sure whether your service meets any of the above requirements, consider reviewing relevant provisions of the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act (2019), Air Force speciality codes and units for affected C-123 aircraft, or the dates and locations of herbicide tests and storage outside Vietnam.

Agent Orange Presumptive Disorders List

Even if you served during a time and place where you were especially at risk of Agent Orange exposure, you'll need to have a diagnosis of a disorder on the "presumptives list" in order for the VA to assume that the disorder is connected to your military service. You can see if your diagnosis is on the current presumptive disorders list by reviewing the medical conditions below.

Cancers Caused by Agent Orange Exposure

• bladder cancer
• chronic B-cell leukemia
• Hodgkin's disease
• multiple myeloma
• non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
• prostate cancer
• respiratory cancers (including lung cancer), and
• some soft tissue sarcomas.

With regards to soft tissue sarcomas, the VA doesn't include osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, Kaposi's sarcoma, or mesothelioma on the list of presumptive conditions for Agent Orange.

Other Illnesses Caused by Agent Orange Exposure

• AL amyloidosis
• chloracne (or other types of acneiform disease like it), if it causes a disability rating of at least 10% within one year of exposure
• type 2 diabetes
• high blood pressure (hypertension)
• hypothyroidism
• ischemic heart disease
• monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS)
• Parkinson's disease or Parkinsonism
• peripheral neuropathy (early onset), if it's at least 10% disabling within one year of exposure, and
• porphyria cutanea tarda (must be at least 10% disabling within one year of exposure).

Conditions can be added to the presumptives list as new laws and regulations are enacted in response to medical developments, so if your diagnosis isn't currently on the list, check back periodically to see if it gets added. Even if your disease isn't on this list and you don't think you have the evidence you need to prove your claim, you should still apply. That way if your diagnosis gets added later, you'll have preserved an early effective date for benefits and will get a larger lump sum payment.

Disability Ratings for Disorders Related to Agent Orange

As you may have noticed while reviewing the diagnostic list above, certain illnesses require vets to have a disability rating of at least 10% in order to qualify as a presumptive disorder. Ratings are assigned using the VA Schedule of Rating Disabilities, which categorizes medical conditions according to the affected body parts and assigns a diagnostic code to each condition.

The VA will then look at how severely the condition affects your ability to function and give you a disability rating based on how limited you are as a result. The more extensive your medical condition is, the higher your disability rating will be. For example, chloracne that doesn't affect the face and neck is rated 10% disabling, while chloracne that affects over half of the face and neck is rated 30% disabling. Similarly, diabetes can be rated 10%, 20%, 40%, 60%, or 100%, depending on how difficult it is to manage and how invasive the treatments are.

Your disability rating isn't just important for determining whether your condition qualifies as a presumptive disorder—it's one of the main factors in deciding how much you'll receive in disability payments. A 10% disability rating entitles an individual veteran to $175.51 every month (in 2025), for example, while the basic monthly amount for a veteran with a 60% is $1,395.93. For more detailed information, check out the VA's current disability compensation rate tables.

Agent Orange Compensation for Families of Affected Veterans

Spouses, children, and dependent parents of deceased veterans who had a disability caused by Agent Orange exposure may be eligible for one or more survivors' benefits offered by the VA. The agency also acknowledges that the presence of birth defects like spina bifida in veterans' children can be associated with the parent veteran's exposure to Agent Orange during service.

Biological children of veterans who have spina bifida—except those with a milder type called spina bifida occulta—can be eligible for VA compensation, health care, and vocational training. In order to qualify, the child's veteran birth parent must have served in one of the following locations:

• Vietnam or Thailand during the period from January 9, 1962 through May 7, 1975, or
• in or near the Korean demilitarized zone between September 1, 1967 and August 31, 1971 and were exposed to herbicides. (Veterans who served in a unit in or near the Korean demilitarized zone anytime between September 1, 1967 and August 31, 1971 are presumed to have been exposed to herbicides.)

Additionally, the child must have been conceived after the date on which the parent veteran first entered Vietnam, Thailand, or the Korean demilitarized zone during the qualifying service period. You can learn more on the VA's webpages dedicated to spina bifida and Agent Orange as well as benefits for veterans' children with birth defects. You can also find out the 2025 birth defect compensation rates for children of Vietnam and Korea veterans.

Applying for VA Benefits Due to Agent Orange Exposure

Filing for VA benefits is a fairly straightforward process. You'll need to fill out VA Form 21-526EZ, Application for Disability Compensation and Related Compensation Benefits. Many veterans choose do to this by using the VA's online application tool, but you can also download the form, fill it out, and send the completed form to the following address:

Department of Veterans Affairs
Claims Intake Center
PO Box 4444
Janesville, WI 53547-4444

You can also fax the application to 844-531-7818 (248-524-4260 if you're outside the U.S.) or bring it in person to your local VA regional office. Some veterans can choose to work with an accredited representative or attorney through the Veterans Service Organization to help you through the application process, but it's not a requirement. However, hiring an experienced lawyer can be helpful if you need to appeal a denial or upgrade your discharge status.