Us Congress 2025 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1644 Introduced / Bill

Filed 03/20/2025

                    I 
119THCONGRESS 
1
STSESSION H. R. 1644 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to eliminate copayments by the 
Department of Veterans Affairs for medicines relating to preventive 
health services, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY27, 2025 
Ms. U
NDERWOOD(for herself, Mr. MOULTON, Mrs. HAYES, and Ms. NORTON) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Veterans’ Affairs 
A BILL 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to eliminate copay-
ments by the Department of Veterans Affairs for medi-
cines relating to preventive health services, and for other 
purposes. 
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 ‘‘Copay Fairness for 4
Veterans Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENT TO PREVENTIVE HEALTH SERVICES 1
FURNISHED BY DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 2
AFFAIRS. 3
(a) E
LIMINATION OFMEDICATIONCOPAYMENTS.— 4
Section 1722A(a)(3) of title 38, United States Code, is 5
amended— 6
(1) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘or’’; 7
(2) in subparagraph (D), by striking the period 8
at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 9
(3) by adding at the end the following new sub-10
paragraph: 11
‘‘(E) to medication that is or is part of a pre-12
ventive health service.’’. 13
(b) E
LIMINATION OFHOSPITALCARE ANDMEDICAL 14
S
ERVICESCOPAYMENTS.—Section 1710 of such title is 15
amended— 16
(1) in subsection (f)— 17
(A) by redesignating paragraph (5) as 18
paragraph (6); and 19
(B) by inserting after paragraph (4) the 20
following new paragraph (5): 21
‘‘(5) A veteran shall not be liable to the United States 22
under this subsection for any amounts for preventive 23
health services.’’; and 24
(2) in subsection (g)(3), by adding at the end 25
the following new subparagraph: 26
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‘‘(C) Preventive health services.’’. 1
(c) D
EFINITION.—Section 1701(9) of such title is 2
amended— 3
(1) in subparagraph (K), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 4
and inserting a semicolon; 5
(2) by redesignating subparagraph (L) as sub-6
paragraph (O); and 7
(3) by inserting after subparagraph (K) the fol-8
lowing new subparagraphs: 9
‘‘(L) evidence-based items or services that have 10
in effect a rating of ‘A’ or ‘B’ in the current rec-11
ommendations of the United States Preventive Serv-12
ices Task Force; 13
‘‘(M) immunizations that have in effect a rec-14
ommendation from the Advisory Committee on Im-15
munization Practices of the Centers for Disease 16
Control and Prevention with respect to the indi-17
vidual involved; 18
‘‘(N) with respect to services for women— 19
‘‘(i) the preventive care, screenings, and 20
contraceptives provided for in the Health Re-21
sources and Services Administration Preventive 22
Services Guidelines in effect as of December 30, 23
2022; and 24
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‘‘(ii) any contraceptive approved, granted, 1
or cleared by the Food and Drug Administra-2
tion, any related contraceptive care, and any re-3
lated services; and’’. 4
Æ 
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