| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 2229 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to improve the ability of veterans |
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| 6 | 6 | | to make appointments for mental health care furnished by the Secretary. |
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| 7 | 7 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 8 | 8 | | MARCH18, 2025 |
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| 9 | 9 | | Mr. S |
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| 10 | 10 | | TEILintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee |
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| 11 | 11 | | on Veterans’ Affairs |
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| 12 | 12 | | A BILL |
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| 13 | 13 | | To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to improve the |
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| 14 | 14 | | ability of veterans to make appointments for mental |
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| 15 | 15 | | health care furnished by the Secretary. |
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| 16 | 16 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 17 | 17 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 18 | 18 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 19 | 19 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Veteran Falls 4 |
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| 20 | 20 | | Through the Cracks Act’’. 5 |
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| 21 | 21 | | SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENTS TO SCHEDULING BY VETERANS OF 6 |
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| 22 | 22 | | MENTAL HEALTH APPOINTMENTS AT DE-7 |
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| 23 | 23 | | PARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 8 |
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| 24 | 24 | | (a) R |
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| 25 | 25 | | ESCHEDULINGCANCELLEDAPPOINTMENTS.— 9 |
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| 26 | 26 | | If a covered veteran cancels an appointment for mental 10 |
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| 27 | 27 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Mar 29, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2229.IH H2229 |
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| 28 | 28 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 |
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| 29 | 29 | | •HR 2229 IH |
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| 30 | 30 | | health care furnished by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, 1 |
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| 31 | 31 | | the Secretary shall seek to reschedule the appointment, 2 |
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| 32 | 32 | | regardless of the method by which the veteran cancelled 3 |
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| 33 | 33 | | the appointment. In seeking to reschedule such appoint-4 |
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| 34 | 34 | | ment, the Secretary shall contact the veteran by telephone. 5 |
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| 35 | 35 | | If the veteran does not reschedule the appointment during 6 |
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| 36 | 36 | | the first telephone call, the Secretary shall contact the vet-7 |
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| 37 | 37 | | eran at least once more by telephone to reschedule the ap-8 |
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| 38 | 38 | | pointment. 9 |
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| 39 | 39 | | (b) C |
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| 40 | 40 | | OVEREDVETERANDEFINED.—In this section, 10 |
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| 41 | 41 | | the term ‘‘covered veteran’’ means a veteran who is en-11 |
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| 42 | 42 | | rolled in the system of patient enrollment established 12 |
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| 43 | 43 | | under section 1705(a) of title 38, United States Code. 13 |
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| 44 | 44 | | Æ |
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| 45 | 45 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Mar 29, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2229.IH H2229 |
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| 46 | 46 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS |
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