HR 10478

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IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

September 17, 2026

Mr. Rose (for himself, Mr. Van Orden, Mr. Burchett, and Mr. Mills) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs

A BILL

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a pilot program to arrange for qualified pension assistance organizations to provide claims development support to veterans and beneficiaries, 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 “Aid and Attendance Assistance for Veterans Act”.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:

(1) Many veterans and surviving spouses who may be eligible for pension benefits and allowances for aid and attendance under chapter 15 of title 38, United States Code, are unaware of such benefits or encounter significant barriers in determining eligibility.

(2) Claims for pension benefits and allowances for aid and attendance frequently require extensive medical, financial, caregiving, and long-term care documentation.

(3) Incomplete or insufficiently developed claims may contribute to delays in adjudication and may limit timely access to benefits and long-term care services for eligible veterans and surviving spouses.

(4) Organizations with demonstrated expertise in pension and aid and attendance benefits may assist claimants in developing complete applications and supporting documentation prior to submission to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

(5) Organizations with extensive demonstrated experience assisting veterans and surviving spouses with non-service- connected pension benefits and aid and attendance claims may possess specialized operational expertise that can improve claimant continuity, evidentiary completeness, and access to earned benefits.

(6) Partnerships between the Department of Veterans Affairs and qualified pension assistance organizations may improve claimant access to benefits, enhance claim development, reduce administrative burdens, and improve program outcomes.

(7) Timely access to pension benefits and aid and attendance allowances may assist eligible veterans and surviving spouses in obtaining necessary long-term care services and may reduce reliance upon Medicaid-funded long-term care services and other public assistance programs.

(8) It is in the interest of Congress to evaluate whether partnerships with qualified pension assistance organizations improve claimant outcomes, increase access to earned benefits, improve administrative efficiency, and reduce reliance on Medicaid-funded long-term care services.

SEC. 3. PILOT PROGRAM OF THE SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS TO ARRANGE FOR QUALIFIED PENSION ASSISTANCE ORGANIZATIONS TO PROVIDE CLAIMS DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT.

(a) Pilot Program.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall carry out a pilot program under which the Secretary enters into contracts or other agreements with one or more qualified pension assistance organizations to provide claimant-support services related to—

(1) non-service-connected pension benefits under chapter 15 of title 38, United States Code, including increased pension payable by reason of the need for regular aid and attendance under section 1521(d) of such title; and

(2) survivor pension benefits payable by reason of the need for regular aid and attendance under section 1541(d) of such title.

(b) Support Provided.—Support provided under the pilot program shall include—

(1) claimant intake and eligibility screening;

(2) collection and organization of medical, financial, dependency, and long-term care documentation;

(3) evidentiary development and application preparation;

(4) coordination of healthcare, caregiving, and financial information relevant to claim adjudication;

(5) preparation and packaging of application materials;

(6) claimant continuity services during the claims- development process;

(7) claimant follow-up services throughout the adjudication process;

(8) assistance with maintaining Fully Developed Claim status when applicable; and

(9) post-submission claimant support and communication assistance.

(c) Locations.—The Secretary shall select one or more Veterans Integrated Services Networks in which to conduct the pilot program.

(d) Limitation.—The Secretary may limit participation based on numerical, geographic, categorical, or other criteria determined appropriate by the Secretary.

(e) Contracts or Other Agreements.—The Secretary shall seek to enter into one or more contracts or other agreements with qualified pension assistance organizations for purposes of carrying out this section.

(f) Qualification Requirements.—To participate in the pilot program, an organization shall meet the requirements specified in subsection (j).

(g) Protections.—The Secretary shall ensure that participating organizations maintain safeguards necessary to—

(1) protect claimant information;

(2) prevent fraud, waste, and abuse;

(3) ensure compliance with Federal privacy laws and regulations;

(4) ensure compliance with section 5904 of title 38, United States Code; and

(5) protect veterans and surviving spouses from inappropriate financial arrangements or conflicts of interest.

(h) Sunset.—The authority under this section shall terminate on December 31, 2031.

(i) Preference.—In selecting participating organizations, the Secretary shall give preference to organizations with substantial demonstrated experience assisting veterans and surviving spouses in obtaining non-service-connected pension benefits and aid and attendance benefits on a nationwide basis.

(j) Qualified Pension Assistance Organization Defined.—In this section, the term “qualified pension assistance organization” means an organization that provides nationwide administrative and claimant- support services exclusively related to Department of Veterans Affairs non-service-connected pension benefits, including pension with aid and attendance, and that—

(1) has maintained continuous operations for not fewer than five years primarily dedicated to assisting veterans and surviving spouses with pension benefit eligibility determinations and claim development;

(2) has documented not fewer than 10,000 verifiable approvals of Department of Veterans Affairs non-service- connected pension claims, including pension with aid and attendance and survivor pension claims;

(3) demonstrates the operational capacity to serve not fewer than 300 claimants per month on a nationwide basis;

(4) maintains a dedicated national infrastructure for claimant intake, case management, evidentiary development, application support, and claimant continuity services;

(5) does not engage in the sale, marketing, referral, or receipt of compensation related to financial products, annuities, insurance products, investment products, trusts, asset-transfer strategies, or Medicaid planning products;

(6) does not charge any fee to a claimant for preparing, presenting, or prosecuting a claim for benefits under laws administered by the Secretary;

(7) is accredited by the Department of Veterans Affairs, or operates under the direct supervision of a Department- accredited attorney or claims agent;

(8) has demonstrated specialized experience assisting veterans and surviving spouses with non-service-connected pension claims on a nationwide basis and has maintained a documented approval history and claimant-support infrastructure sufficient to support large-scale pension claims development operations;

(9) has never, and no affiliated organization, officer, employee, contractor, or agent has ever, directly or indirectly—

(A) been granted signatory authority over, joint ownership of, or access to a claimant’s bank account, financial account, or other financial assets; or

(B) acquired, accepted, held, or been granted any ownership interest, lien, mortgage, deed, title interest, power of attorney, or other legal or equitable interest in a claimant’s primary residence or real property; and

(10) maintains auditable records sufficient to verify compliance with the requirements of this subsection.

SEC. 4. PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT AND PROGRAM EVALUATION.

(a) Data Collection.—The Secretary shall establish a performance measurement framework to evaluate whether the pilot program improves claimant outcomes, administrative efficiency, and access to long-term care services for veterans and surviving spouses applying for non- service-connected pension benefits, including aid and attendance.

(b) Required Performance Measures.—The Secretary shall collect and evaluate, at a minimum—

(1) the number of claimants participating in the pilot program;

(2) the percentage of claims initially submitted as Fully Developed Claims;

(3) the percentage of claims that remain in Fully Developed Claim status through final adjudication;

(4) the rate of incomplete, deficient, or administratively rejected submissions compared to similar claims processed outside the pilot program;

(5) the number and frequency of requests for additional evidence or development actions following submission;

(6) measures of evidentiary completeness, including the presence of required financial, medical, dependency, and long- term care documentation at initial submission;

(7) average claim processing times from submission to final decision compared to non-pilot claims;

(8) claimant continuity measures, including claimant retention and successful completion of the claims-development process;

(9) approval rates for claims processed through the pilot compared to similarly situated claims processed outside the pilot;

(10) claimant access to home care, assisted living, nursing facility care, or other long-term care services following receipt of benefits;

(11) the extent to which receipt of pension benefits through the pilot reduced, delayed, or avoided reliance on Medicaid-funded long-term care services;

(12) claimant satisfaction and program accessibility measures; and

(13) any additional measures the Secretary determines necessary to evaluate operational effectiveness and scalability.

(c) Comparative Analysis.—The Secretary shall compare pilot- program performance against substantially similar non-pilot pension claims to determine whether the pilot improves—

(1) claim quality;

(2) evidentiary completeness;

(3) claimant outcomes;

(4) administrative efficiency;

(5) Fully Developed Claim retention rates;

(6) access to long-term care services; and

(7) reductions in Medicaid-funded long-term care utilization.

(d) Preliminary Report to Congress.—Not later than 30 days after the date that is 18 months after the commencement of the pilot program under section 3, the Secretary shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Senate a preliminary report on the implementation and performance of the pilot program.

(e) Report to Congress.—Not later than 180 days after completion of the pilot program, the Secretary shall submit a report to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Senate containing—

(1) all performance data collected under this section;

(2) an assessment of whether the pilot improved Fully Developed Claim retention, evidentiary completeness, claimant continuity, approval outcomes, and adjudication timelines;

(3) an assessment of reductions in Medicaid-funded long- term care expenditures attributable to benefits obtained through the pilot;

(4) recommendations regarding expansion, continuation, modification, or termination of the pilot; and

(5) an assessment of the feasibility of expanding the pilot to additional jurisdictions or implementing the model on a nationwide basis. <all>