I 118THCONGRESS 1 STSESSION H. R. 234 To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide a burial allowance for certain veterans who die at home while in receipt of hospice care fur- nished by the Department of Veterans Affairs. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY10, 2023 Mr. B ERGMAN(for himself, Mr. ALLRED, Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS, Mr. ELLZEY, Ms. H OULAHAN, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. BACON, and Mr. MAST) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide a burial allowance for certain veterans who die at home while in receipt of hospice care furnished by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Gerald’s Law Act’’. 4 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:45 Jan 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H234.IH H234 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 234 IH SEC. 2. BURIAL ALLOWANCE FOR CERTAIN VETERANS WHO 1 DIE AT HOME WHILE IN RECEIPT OF HOS-2 PICE CARE FURNISHED BY DEPARTMENT OF 3 VETERANS AFFAIRS. 4 (a) I NGENERAL.—Subsection (a)(2)(A) of section 5 2303 of title 38, United States Code, as amended by sec-6 tion 2202 of the Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe, M.D. 7 Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 8 2020 (Public Law 116–315; 134 Stat. 4984), is further 9 amended— 10 (1) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘; or’’ and insert-11 ing a semicolon; 12 (2) in clause (ii)— 13 (A) in subclause (II), by striking ‘‘; or’’ 14 and inserting a semicolon; and 15 (B) in subclause (III), by striking the pe-16 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 17 (3) by adding at the end the following new 18 clause: 19 ‘‘(iii) a home or other setting at which the 20 deceased veteran was, at the time of death, re-21 ceiving hospice care pursuant to section 22 1717(a) of this title if such care was directly 23 preceded by the Secretary furnishing to the vet-24 eran hospital care or nursing home care as de-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:45 Jan 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H234.IH H234 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 234 IH scribed in subclauses (I), (II), or (III) of clause 1 (ii).’’. 2 (b) E FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 3 subsection (a) shall take effect as if included in the enact-4 ment of the Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe, M.D. Vet-5 erans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020 6 (Public Law 116–315). 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:45 Jan 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H234.IH H234 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS