| 1 | 1 | | I |
|---|
| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
|---|
| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
|---|
| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 439 |
|---|
| 5 | 5 | | To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Department of Veterans |
|---|
| 6 | 6 | | Affairs to furnish hospital care and medical services outside a State |
|---|
| 7 | 7 | | to veterans with service-connected disabilities rated as permanent and |
|---|
| 8 | 8 | | total, and for other purposes. |
|---|
| 9 | 9 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
|---|
| 10 | 10 | | JANUARY15, 2025 |
|---|
| 11 | 11 | | Mr. L |
|---|
| 12 | 12 | | ALOTAintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the |
|---|
| 13 | 13 | | Committee on Veterans’ Affairs |
|---|
| 14 | 14 | | A BILL |
|---|
| 15 | 15 | | To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the De- |
|---|
| 16 | 16 | | partment of Veterans Affairs to furnish hospital care |
|---|
| 17 | 17 | | and medical services outside a State to veterans with |
|---|
| 18 | 18 | | service-connected disabilities rated as permanent and |
|---|
| 19 | 19 | | total, and for other purposes. |
|---|
| 20 | 20 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
|---|
| 21 | 21 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
|---|
| 22 | 22 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
|---|
| 23 | 23 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Foreign Med-4 |
|---|
| 24 | 24 | | ical Coverage Equality and Modernization Act of 2025’’. 5 |
|---|
| 25 | 25 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:51 Feb 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H439.IH H439 |
|---|
| 26 | 26 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
|---|
| 27 | 27 | | •HR 439 IH |
|---|
| 28 | 28 | | SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS FURNISHING 1 |
|---|
| 29 | 29 | | OF HOSPITAL CARE AND MEDICAL SERVICES 2 |
|---|
| 30 | 30 | | OUTSIDE A STATE TO VETERANS WITH SERV-3 |
|---|
| 31 | 31 | | ICE-CONNECTED DISABILITIES RATED AS 4 |
|---|
| 32 | 32 | | PERMANENT AND TOTAL. 5 |
|---|
| 33 | 33 | | (a) I |
|---|
| 34 | 34 | | NGENERAL.—Section 1724 of title 38, United 6 |
|---|
| 35 | 35 | | States Code, is amended— 7 |
|---|
| 36 | 36 | | (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘and (f)’’ and 8 |
|---|
| 37 | 37 | | inserting ‘‘(f), and (g)’’; and 9 |
|---|
| 38 | 38 | | (2) by adding at the end the following new sub-10 |
|---|
| 39 | 39 | | sections: 11 |
|---|
| 40 | 40 | | ‘‘(g) The Secretary shall furnish hospital care and 12 |
|---|
| 41 | 41 | | medical services outside a State to a veteran with a serv-13 |
|---|
| 42 | 42 | | ice-connected disability rated as permanent and total who 14 |
|---|
| 43 | 43 | | is otherwise eligible to receive hospital care and medical 15 |
|---|
| 44 | 44 | | services if the Secretary determines that— 16 |
|---|
| 45 | 45 | | ‘‘(1) the hospital care or medical services fur-17 |
|---|
| 46 | 46 | | nished are consistent with the standard medical 18 |
|---|
| 47 | 47 | | practice in the United States; and 19 |
|---|
| 48 | 48 | | ‘‘(2) in the case of any prescription medication 20 |
|---|
| 49 | 49 | | furnished, such medication is approved by the Food 21 |
|---|
| 50 | 50 | | and Drug Administration. 22 |
|---|
| 51 | 51 | | ‘‘(h) In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall 23 |
|---|
| 52 | 52 | | ensure that— 24 |
|---|
| 53 | 53 | | ‘‘(1) reimbursements made to veterans and 25 |
|---|
| 54 | 54 | | medical providers can be made by direct deposit pay-26 |
|---|
| 55 | 55 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:51 Feb 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H439.IH H439 |
|---|
| 56 | 56 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
|---|
| 57 | 57 | | •HR 439 IH |
|---|
| 58 | 58 | | ments in such a manner as to expedite such reim-1 |
|---|
| 59 | 59 | | bursements, improve efficiency, and reduce adminis-2 |
|---|
| 60 | 60 | | trative costs; and 3 |
|---|
| 61 | 61 | | ‘‘(2) the appropriate mobile applications of the 4 |
|---|
| 62 | 62 | | Department provide for— 5 |
|---|
| 63 | 63 | | ‘‘(A) the digital submission and real-time 6 |
|---|
| 64 | 64 | | tracking of any forms and supporting docu-7 |
|---|
| 65 | 65 | | mentation required for the receipt of hospital 8 |
|---|
| 66 | 66 | | care or medical services, or reimbursement for 9 |
|---|
| 67 | 67 | | such care or services, under this section; and 10 |
|---|
| 68 | 68 | | ‘‘(B) the availability of any benefits au-11 |
|---|
| 69 | 69 | | thorization letter, predetermination letter, or 12 |
|---|
| 70 | 70 | | continuity of care document associated with 13 |
|---|
| 71 | 71 | | hospital care or medical services furnished 14 |
|---|
| 72 | 72 | | under this section.’’. 15 |
|---|
| 73 | 73 | | (b) E |
|---|
| 74 | 74 | | FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 16 |
|---|
| 75 | 75 | | subsection (a) shall take effect on the date that is 90 days 17 |
|---|
| 76 | 76 | | after the date of the enactment of this Act and apply with 18 |
|---|
| 77 | 77 | | respect to hospital care or medical services furnished on 19 |
|---|
| 78 | 78 | | or after such date. 20 |
|---|
| 79 | 79 | | (c) R |
|---|
| 80 | 80 | | EPORT.—Not later than two years after the date 21 |
|---|
| 81 | 81 | | of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans 22 |
|---|
| 82 | 82 | | Affairs shall submit to Congress a report on the amend-23 |
|---|
| 83 | 83 | | ments made by this Act. Such report shall include an anal-24 |
|---|
| 84 | 84 | | ysis of the implementation of such amendments, any chal-25 |
|---|
| 85 | 85 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:51 Feb 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H439.IH H439 |
|---|
| 86 | 86 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 |
|---|
| 87 | 87 | | •HR 439 IH |
|---|
| 88 | 88 | | lenges encountered, and the efficacy of the hospital care 1 |
|---|
| 89 | 89 | | and medical services furnished pursuant to such amend-2 |
|---|
| 90 | 90 | | ments. 3 |
|---|
| 91 | 91 | | Æ |
|---|
| 92 | 92 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:51 Feb 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H439.IH H439 |
|---|
| 93 | 93 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
|---|