[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1951 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1951

    To amend title 38, United States Code, to expand entitlement of 
    veterans to care from the Department of Veterans Affairs and to 
  guarantee health care benefits for veterans enrolled in the patient 
      enrollment system of the Department, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 13, 2023

Mr. Sanders (for himself and Mr. Welch) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend title 38, United States Code, to expand entitlement of 
    veterans to care from the Department of Veterans Affairs and to 
  guarantee health care benefits for veterans enrolled in the patient 
      enrollment system of the Department, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Department of Veterans Affairs 
Income Eligibility Standardization Act''.

SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF ENTITLEMENT OF VETERANS TO CARE FROM DEPARTMENT OF 
              VETERANS AFFAIRS.

    (a) In General.--Section 1710(a) of title 38, United States Code, 
is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (3)--
                    (A) by striking ``may, to the extent resources and 
                facilities are available and'' and inserting a comma; 
                and
                    (B) by striking ``furnish hospital care, medical 
                services, and nursing home care'' and inserting ``shall 
                furnish hospital care and medical services, and may 
                furnish nursing home care''; and
            (2) in paragraph (4), by striking ``paragraphs (1) and 
        (2)'' and inserting ``paragraphs (1), (2), and (3)''.
    (b) Priority.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall eliminate 
all subcategories of priority for enrollment established by the 
Secretary for veterans eligible for enrollment under paragraph (8) of 
section 1705(a) of title 38, United States Code, and shall ensure that 
all veterans eligible for enrollment under such paragraph may enroll in 
the patient enrollment system of the Department of Veterans Affairs 
under such section.

SEC. 3. GUARANTEE OF HEALTH CARE BENEFITS FOR VETERANS ENROLLED IN 
              PATIENT ENROLLMENT SYSTEM OF DEPARTMENT.

    The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall ensure that all veterans, 
once enrolled in the patient enrollment system of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs under section 1705(a) of title 38, United States Code, 
remain enrolled in such system and may continue receiving health care 
furnished by the Department if they choose, subject to such cost-
sharing requirements as may apply to the veteran under existing 
provisions of law.
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