by Jim Fausone

VA announced  that on November 1st it has finally started making payments under the new AO rules. Providing initial payments – or increases to existing payments – to the 200,000 Veterans who now qualify for disability compensation is expected to take several months.  The three new presumptive diseases which have been in the press all year are:  B-cell (or hairy-cell) leukemia, Parkinson’s disease and ischemic heart disease. 

To read more about the VA’s efforts in this area read http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1991