Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB961 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 961
5	5	To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a pilot program
6	6	to provide veteran health savings accounts to allow veterans to receive
7	7	primary care furnished under non-Department direct primary care service
8	8	arrangements, and for other purposes.
9	9	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
10	10	FEBRUARY4, 2025
11	11	Mr. R
12	12	OY(for himself and Mr. CRANE) introduced the following bill; which was
13	13	referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a
16	16	pilot program to provide veteran health savings accounts
17	17	to allow veterans to receive primary care furnished under
18	18	non-Department direct primary care service arrange-
19	19	ments, 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 Access to 4
24	24	Direct Primary Care Act’’. 5
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27	27	•HR 961 IH
28	28	SEC. 2. PILOT PROGRAM ON ESTABLISHMENT OF VETERAN 1
29	29	HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS TO ALLOW VET-2
30	30	ERANS TO ACCESS DIRECT PRIMARY CARE 3
31	31	SERVICE ARRANGEMENTS. 4
32	32	(a) E
33	33	STABLISHMENT.—Beginning one year after the 5
34	34	date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet-6
35	35	erans Affairs shall carry out a five-year pilot program 7
36	36	under which the Secretary shall provide eligible veterans 8
37	37	with the option to choose to receive primary care services 9
38	38	furnished by a non-Department of Veterans Affairs health 10
39	39	care provider under a direct primary care service arrange-11
40	40	ment through the use of a veteran health savings account 12
41	41	described in subsection (c). The pilot program shall be 13
42	42	conducted under the Center for Innovation for Care and 14
43	43	Payment under section 1703E of title 38, United States 15
44	44	Code. 16
45	45	(b) E
46	46	LIGIBLEVETERAN.—For purposes of the pilot 17
47	47	program under this section, an eligible veteran is a veteran 18
48	48	who is enrolled in the patient enrollment system of the 19
49	49	Department of Veterans Affairs under section 1705 of 20
50	50	title 38, United States Code. 21
51	51	(c) V
52	52	ETERANHEALTHSAVINGSACCOUNTS.—The 22
53	53	Secretary shall provide to an eligible veteran who partici-23
54	54	pates in the pilot program a veterans health savings ac-24
55	55	count that may be used— 25
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58	58	•HR 961 IH
59	59	(1) to purchase primary care services furnished 1
60	60	through a non-Department direct primary care serv-2
61	61	ice arrangement; and 3
62	62	(2) for associated costs, including— 4
63	63	(A) periodic fees paid to a physician for a 5
64	64	defined set of medical services or for the right 6
65	65	to receive medical services on an as-needed 7
66	66	basis; 8
67	67	(B) amounts paid or prepaid for medical 9
68	68	services designed to screen for, diagnose, cure, 10
69	69	mitigate, treat, or prevent disease and promote 11
70	70	wellness; and 12
71	71	(C) prescription or non-prescription medi-13
72	72	cines or drugs. 14
73	73	(d) E
74	74	LIGIBILITY FOR DEPARTMENT MEDICAL 15
75	75	C
76	76	ARE.—A veteran who chooses to receive a veteran health 16
77	77	savings account described under subsection (c) may not 17
78	78	receive medical care furnished by the Department of Vet-18
79	79	erans Affairs that is included in the direct primary care 19
80	80	service arrangement described in such subsection during 20
81	81	the period the veteran participates in the pilot program. 21
82	82	(e) P
83	83	REVENTION OF FRAUDULENTACTIVITY.—The 22
84	84	Secretary shall establish a mechanism to prevent fraudu-23
85	85	lent activity in connection with payments made under this 24
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88	88	•HR 961 IH
89	89	section and to ensure participating veterans use health 1
90	90	savings accounts only as authorized under this section. 2
91	91	(f) A
92	92	MOUNTSDEPOSITED INACCOUNTS.—The Sec-3
93	93	retary of Veterans Affairs shall— 4
94	94	(1) determine the annual amount to be depos-5
95	95	ited in a veteran health savings account described in 6
96	96	subsection (c) using calculations conducted by the 7
97	97	Secretary and in consultation with an actuarial serv-8
98	98	ice; and 9
99	99	(2) ensure that each participating eligible vet-10
100	100	eran receives such amount on an annual basis dur-11
101	101	ing the period the veteran participates in the pilot 12
102	102	program. 13
103	103	(g) D
104	104	IRECTPRIMARYCARESERVICEARRANGE-14
105	105	MENT.—In this section, the term ‘‘direct primary care 15
106	106	service arrangement’’ means an agreement under which 16
107	107	a defined set of medical services are provided to a patient 17
108	108	by a physician for fixed periodic fees. 18
109	109	(h) R
110	110	EPORTS.— 19
111	111	(1) I
112	112	MPLEMENTATION REPORTS .—For each cal-20
113	113	endar quarter during the two-year period beginning 21
114	114	on the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-22
115	115	retary shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ 23
116	116	Affairs of the Senate and House of Representatives 24
117	117	a report on the implementation of this section. One 25
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120	120	•HR 961 IH
121	121	such report shall include a description of the final 1
122	122	design of the pilot program. 2
123	123	(2) A
124	124	NNUAL REPORTS .—Not later than one 3
125	125	year after the date on which the final implementa-4
126	126	tion report required by paragraph (1) is submitted, 5
127	127	and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit 6
128	128	to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Sen-7
129	129	ate and House of Representatives a report on the re-8
130	130	sults of the pilot program under this section. 9
131	131	(i) N
132	132	OADDITIONALAPPROPRIATIONS.—Amounts re-10
133	133	quired to carry out this section shall be made available 11
134	134	from amounts otherwise authorized to be appropriated for 12
135	135	the Veterans Health Administration. 13
136	136	(j) T
137	137	ERMINATION.—The authority of the Secretary to 14
138	138	deposit funds in a veteran health savings account under 15
139	139	this section shall terminate on the date that is five years 16
140	140	after the date of the enactment of this Act. 17
141	141	Æ
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