Looking at this bill, we realize the heart of this legislation is about accessibility and permanence of health care benefits for US veterans. Section 2 of the bill, titled “Expansion of Entitlement of Veterans to Care from Department of Veterans Affairs,” essentially rewrites parts of the existing U.S. law. Particularly, the bill amends Section 1710(a) of title 38, US Code, changing two key phrases in paragraph 3, and making a correction in paragraph 4. The amendment effectively reduces discretion and resource constraints of the Department in providing hospital care, medical services, and nursing home care.
In essence, the Department of Veterans Affairs will now be compelled to provide hospital care and medical services, rather than being permitted to do so based on availability of resources and facilities. Nursing home care remains discretionary but is not reliant on resource availability. It is a shift toward compulsory care for veterans from a system that previously functioned on a may-to-must basis.
Section 3, titled “Guarantee of Health Care Benefits for Veterans Enrolled in Patient Enrollment System of Department,” takes us a step away from the enrollment hiccup that veterans sometimes battle. Once a veteran is enrolled in the patient enrollment system of the Department of Veterans Affairs, they stay enrolled. They can continue to receive health care provided by the Department if they choose to, subject of course, to current cost-sharing requirements under existing provisions of law.
Furthermore, changes in the priority system for enrollment are addressed. It proposes the elimination of all subcategories of priority, ensuring that all veterans eligible for enrollment can access the patient enrollment system of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The legislation, thus far has only been introduced to the Senate, and it must now be referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs for further consideration and discussion. Once passed in the Senate, it’ll head to the House of Representatives before possibly landing on the President’s desk for a signature.
This proposed legislation is highly consequential mainly for veterans and various healthcare service providers tied to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Simultaneously, the proposed legislations are a critical part of the larger national conversation around healthcare, marking a transition towards an even stronger guarantee of medical provisions for veterans.
Details on how these increased obligations will be funded haven’t been explicitly outlined in the bill – a portion, certainly, that bears watching as the draft law moves through the legislative gears.
Still, if ratified, this could signal an important step forward in cementing health care access and continuity for veterans enrolled in the Department of Veterans Affairs patient enrollment system, giving them less to worry about, in terms of their health care entitlements, and thus, more time to focus on living their best possible lives post-service.
