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Providing Veterans Essential Medications Act
To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to reimburse State homes for the cost of, or to furnish to State homes, certain costly medications provided to veterans who receive nursing home care in such State homes, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to reimburse state nursing homes for expensive medications provided to veterans or to furnish such medications directly to the homes. A medication is considered expensive if its average monthly cost plus a processing fee exceeds 8.5 percent of what the VA pays the state home for that veteran's monthly care. State nursing homes can elect whether to receive reimbursement for medication costs or have the VA supply the medications directly. The bill modifies the existing payment system for state homes that provide nursing home care to veterans under VA contracts.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
52 cosponsors
- Del. King-Hinds, Kimberlyn [R-MP-At Large] (R-MP)
- Rep. Balint, Becca [D-VT-At Large] (D-VT)
- Rep. Barrett, Tom [R-MI-7] (R-MI)
- Rep. Bergman, Jack [R-MI-1] (R-MI)
- Rep. Bresnahan, Robert P. [R-PA-8] (R-PA)
- Rep. Bynum, Janelle S. [D-OR-5] (D-OR)
- Rep. Conaway, Herbert C. [D-NJ-3] (D-NJ)
- Rep. Crow, Jason [D-CO-6] (D-CO)
- Rep. Davis, Donald G. [D-NC-1] (D-NC)
- Rep. De La Cruz, Monica [R-TX-15] (R-TX)
- Rep. Feenstra, Randy [R-IA-4] (R-IA)
- Rep. Garbarino, Andrew R. [R-NY-2] (R-NY)
- Rep. Gillen, Laura [D-NY-4] (D-NY)
- Rep. Golden, Jared F. [D-ME-2] (D-ME)
- Rep. Goldman, Daniel S. [D-NY-10] (D-NY)
- Rep. Goodlander, Maggie [D-NH-2] (D-NH)
- Rep. Hageman, Harriet M. [R-WY-At Large] (R-WY)
- Rep. Harder, Josh [D-CA-9] (D-CA)
- Rep. Hinson, Ashley [R-IA-2] (R-IA)
- Rep. Hoyer, Steny H. [D-MD-5] (D-MD)
- Rep. Joyce, John [R-PA-13] (R-PA)
- Rep. Kaptur, Marcy [D-OH-9] (D-OH)
- Rep. Kelly, Mike [R-PA-16] (R-PA)
- Rep. Kennedy, Mike [R-UT-3] (R-UT)
- Rep. Kennedy, Timothy M. [D-NY-26] (D-NY)
- Rep. Kiggans, Jennifer A. [R-VA-2] (R-VA)
- Rep. LaLota, Nick [R-NY-1] (R-NY)
- Rep. Lawler, Michael [R-NY-17] (R-NY)
- Rep. Lee, Susie [D-NV-3] (D-NV)
- Rep. Letlow, Julia [R-LA-5] (R-LA)
- Rep. Mace, Nancy [R-SC-1] (R-SC)
- Rep. Magaziner, Seth [D-RI-2] (D-RI)
- Rep. Malliotakis, Nicole [R-NY-11] (R-NY)
- Rep. McClain Delaney, April [D-MD-6] (D-MD)
- Rep. McClain, Lisa C. [R-MI-9] (R-MI)
- Rep. McDowell, Addison P. [R-NC-6] (R-NC)
- Rep. Meeks, Gregory W. [D-NY-5] (D-NY)
- Rep. Meng, Grace [D-NY-6] (D-NY)
- Rep. Nunn, Zachary [R-IA-3] (R-IA)
- Rep. Owens, Burgess [R-UT-4] (R-UT)
- Rep. Pappas, Chris [D-NH-1] (D-NH)
- Rep. Pingree, Chellie [D-ME-1] (D-ME)
- Rep. Riley, Josh [D-NY-19] (D-NY)
- Rep. Rogers, Mike D. [R-AL-3] (R-AL)
- Rep. Scholten, Hillary J. [D-MI-3] (D-MI)
- Rep. Stauber, Pete [R-MN-8] (R-MN)
- Rep. Strickland, Marilyn [D-WA-10] (D-WA)
- Rep. Suozzi, Thomas R. [D-NY-3] (D-NY)
- Rep. Tlaib, Rashida [D-MI-12] (D-MI)
- Rep. Van Orden, Derrick [R-WI-3] (R-WI)
- Rep. Vindman, Eugene Simon [D-VA-7] (D-VA)
- Rescom. Hernández, Pablo Jose [D-PR-At Large] (D-PR)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Mariannette Miller-Meeks’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Mariannette Miller-Meeks → · Outside spending →
Actions (3)
- Mar 27, 2025 Referred to the Subcommittee on Health. · house
- Mar 10, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. · house
- Mar 10, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 10, 2025
Mrs. Miller-Meeks (for herself and Mr. Pappas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to reimburse State homes for the cost of, or to furnish to State homes, certain costly medications provided to veterans who receive nursing home care in such State homes, 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 “Providing Veterans Essential Medications Act”.
SEC. 2. REIMBURSEMENT OF A STATE HOME FOR HIGH COST MEDICATIONS.
Section 1745(a)(3) of title 38, United States Code, is amended—
(1) by striking “Payment” and inserting “(A) Subject to subparagraph (B), payment”; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new subparagraphs:
“(B) In addition to payment described in subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall, at the election of a covered State home—
“(i) reimburse the covered State home for a costly medication; or
“(ii) furnish such costly medication to the covered State home.
“(C) In this paragraph:
“(i) The term ‘costly medication’ means a drug or medicine for which the average wholesale price for one month’s supply, plus a 3 percent transaction fee, exceeds 8.5 percent of the payment under subparagraph (A) by the Secretary to a covered State home for care provided to the veteran who receives such costly medication during such month.
“(ii) The term ‘covered State home’ means a State home that, in the course of nursing home care provided pursuant to a contract (or agreement) under paragraph (1), provides to a veteran a costly medication.”. <all>
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