January 17, 2001

Washington, DC – Congressman Lane Evans of Illinois today congratulated Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs Hershel Gober for proposing new regulations to compensate veterans who suffer from Hepatitis C.  Evans, the Ranking Democratic Member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, recently phoned Gober urging him to forward the proposed regulations to Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and Gober announced yesterday that the proposed regulations would be forwarded for review today.

“Hepatitis C has emerged as a major health care problem in the veterans community,” Evans said.  “Veterans who were exposed to blood or blood products before reliable tests for detection of the Hepatitis C virus was discovered in 1992 are particularly affected.”

Officials from VA’s Veterans Health Administration have repeatedly testified before Congress that where a veteran is exposed to more than one “risk factor” for Hepatitis C, it is not possible to determine retrospectively which of the risk factors actually caused the disease.  By presuming service-connection for certain risk factors occurring during military service, veterans will be relieved of the requirement to prove which risk factor caused their own present Hepatitis C infection.

“It was simply not fair for veterans who could not have been diagnosed during military service with the yet-undiscovered Hepatitis C virus to have to prove that their current condition was due to infection during military service,” said Evans.  Symptoms of Hepatitis C infection may not become chronic until years after a veteran was originally infected, Evans noted.  While many exposed veterans have been able to establish their entitlement to benefits, others have not.  Obtaining medical information to substantiate that the risk factors were present in an individual case is often long and arduous.  The process requiring expenditure of VA’s administrative time, which will be reduced once the proposed regulations are finally adopted.

Evans encourages any veteran with Hepatitis C who was exposed to risk factors such as blood transfusions or exposure to blood during combat medical activities who has not filed a claim with the VA to do so immediately.  Applications can now be filed on-line by clicking the “Online Application” box for Compensation and Pension at VA’s website, www.va.gov.  Evans cautioned that the presumption will not actually be implemented by the VA until final regulations are issued sometime in the future.

Congressman Evans co-sponsored legislation introduced by Rep. Vic Snyder (D-AR) in the 106th Congress to provide such a presumption of service-connection to veterans who were exposed to risk factors during military service.  However, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs has the authority to issue these regulations under existing laws.  OMB now has 90 days to review the regulations before they are published in the Federal Register for notice and comment.  The issuance of proposed regulations by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is the first step in the adoption process.

“I am pleased that Hershel Gober is beginning this process,” Evans said.  “I hope President-elect Bush will move quickly to publish the proposed regulations in the Federal Register for public comment and ultimate implementation.”

Evans says a presumption of service-connection for Hepatitis C infection deserves and has received strong bipartisan support.  He and former Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Stump wrote to Gober in November informing him of Committee support for a proposed rule focusing on certain risk factors to which veterans were exposed during military service.  The new Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman, Chris Smith, also co-sponsored the legislation introduced by Rep. Snyder in the 106th Congress.