Camp Lejeune VA disability claims: 8 qualifying conditions

Search "Camp Lejeune" and you get three different programs tangled into one result page: a VA disability claim, a VA health care benefit, and a federal lawsuit with a deadline that already passed. They get conflated constantly, and the confusion costs veterans time on the one process here that actually matters most to a disability rating — the VA claim.

Camp Lejeune VA disability claims run on a presumptive list, the same mechanism behind Agent Orange and PACT Act claims: if your service matches the qualifying place and dates, and your diagnosis is on the list, the VA presumes the connection instead of making you prove it. Here's what qualifies, what doesn't, and how it's different from the other two things sharing its name.

Who qualifies for a Camp Lejeune VA disability claim?

You need at least 30 days of service, consecutive or not, at Camp Lejeune or Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina, between August 1, 1953, and December 31, 1987. That's the window the water supply was contaminated with industrial solvents, and it applies to active duty, reserve, and National Guard members who served there, discharged under conditions other than dishonorable.

Thirty days doesn't have to be one stretch. Temporary duty, training rotations, and multiple shorter tours all count toward the total, as long as your service record shows them.

What are the eight presumptive conditions?

If your service matches the location and dates above and you carry one of these diagnoses, the VA presumes your condition is connected to the water exposure. You skip the hardest part of a normal claim: the medical nexus opinion linking the diagnosis back to your service.

What the presumption does not do is set your rating percentage. Service connection and severity are separate questions under presumptive conditions generally — the presumption gets your claim past the connection question, and your percentage still comes from what your medical evidence shows about how the condition affects you.

How is this different from Camp Lejeune VA health care?

VA health care for Camp Lejeune runs on a different, longer list — including conditions like esophageal cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, scleroderma, and female infertility, alongside several that overlap with the disability list. It also opens on a different start date, January 1, 1957, rather than August 1, 1953, and it's open to family members who lived on base, not only the veteran.

That program pays for treatment and can reimburse documented out-of-pocket medical costs. It does not pay monthly disability compensation, and being eligible for it does not mean a condition is also on the eight-condition disability list above. The two programs share a name and a cause; they run on separate rules (38 CFR 17.400).

Is this the same as the Camp Lejeune lawsuit?

No, and this is the mix-up worth clearing up before anything else. The Camp Lejeune Justice Act created a legal claim against the federal government for people harmed by the water, handled through the Navy and the federal courts, with its own filing deadline. That deadline was August 10, 2024, and no new claims are being accepted under it.

A VA disability claim is not that. It's a benefits claim, filed directly with the VA, and it has no deadline at all. You can file it today, next year, or twenty years from now, as long as you have the qualifying service dates and a current diagnosis on the presumptive list. The lawsuit closing changes nothing about your ability to file here.

How do you file the claim?

File VA Form 21-526EZ and flag Camp Lejeune water exposure as the claimed condition's cause. You'll need:

1. Service records showing the qualifying time and place — your DD-214 and any orders or personnel records confirming 30-plus days at Camp Lejeune or MCAS New River in the covered window.
2. A current, documented diagnosis of one of the eight conditions, from a VA or private provider. What sinks these claims most often isn't the exposure evidence — it's a diagnosis that's mentioned in a chart note but never formally established.
3. Nothing else on the connection. Because the condition is presumptive, you don't need a nexus letter tying the water to the diagnosis.

Already filed and got denied before your condition was added to a list, or before your service records were fully considered? A Supplemental Claim (VA Form 20-0995) reopens that decision with new evidence.

What if your condition isn't on the list?

You can still file — it becomes a standard claim instead of a presumptive one. That means proving the same three elements as any other VA disability claim: a current diagnosis, the in-service exposure, and a medical nexus connecting them. It's a heavier lift, but it isn't a dead end, and how service connection works covers what that proof actually looks like.

Three names, three different rules

Bottom line

Camp Lejeune VA disability claims run on their own list, their own eligibility window, and their own timeline — none of which are affected by the lawsuit's deadline having passed. If your service matches the dates and your diagnosis is one of the eight, the connection is presumed and the rest of your claim rests on getting the diagnosis and service records into the file. The Presumptive Condition Check cross-checks your service era against this list and the rest of the site's presumptive categories, and the conditions library has the rating criteria for each one once service connection is established.

Sources: VA.gov — Camp Lejeune water contamination, 38 CFR 3.309 — presumptive diseases, 38 CFR 17.400 — Camp Lejeune health care.