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Veterans Emergency Care Reimbursement Act of 2025
To amend title 38, United States Code, to modify the limitation on reimbursement for emergency treatment of amounts owed to a third party or for which the veteran is responsible under a health-plan contract.
Summary
This bill would modify how the Department of Veterans Affairs reimburses veterans for emergency medical treatment received at non-Department facilities. The bill would allow the VA to reimburse veterans for copayments of less than $100, and clarifies that copayments are separate from deductibles and coinsurance. The bill would apply retroactively to any reimbursement claims submitted to the VA for emergency treatment furnished since February 1, 2012, which would affect veterans who had prior claims rejected or denied. The bill would also expand the definition of reimbursement claims to include deductibles, coinsurance, and other cost-sharing amounts for emergency treatment.
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)
Actions (3)
- Sep 22, 2025 Referred to the Subcommittee on Health. · house
- Sep 10, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. · house
- Sep 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)
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Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 10, 2025
Mrs. Dingell introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to modify the limitation on reimbursement for emergency treatment of amounts owed to a third party or for which the veteran is responsible under a health-plan contract.
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 “Veterans Emergency Care Reimbursement Act of 2025”.
SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF LIMITATION ON REIMBURSEMENT FOR EMERGENCY TREATMENT OF AMOUNTS OWED TO A THIRD PARTY OR FOR WHICH THE VETERAN IS RESPONSIBLE UNDER A HEALTH-PLAN CONTRACT.
(a) In General.—Section 1725(c)(4)(D) of title 38, United States Code, is amended—
(1) by striking “The Secretary” and inserting “(i) The Secretary”;
(2) in clause (i), as designated by paragraph (1), by striking “or similar payment” and inserting “of less than $100”; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new clause:
“(ii) In this subparagraph, the term ‘copayment’ means a fixed amount paid by an individual for a covered health service received by the individual and does not include any amount paid for a deductible or coinsurance.”.
(b) Application of Amendment.—The amendments made by subsection
(a) shall apply with respect to any reimbursement claim under section 1725 of such title submitted to the Department of Veterans Affairs for emergency treatment furnished on or after February 1, 2012, including any such claim submitted by a member of the certified class seeking relief in Wolfe v. McDonough, No. 18-6091 (U.S. Vet. App.).
(c) Definitions.—In this section:
(1) The terms “emergency treatment” and “health-plan contract” have the meanings given those terms in section 1725(f) of title 38, United States Code.
(2) The term “reimbursement claim” includes any claim by a veteran for reimbursement of a copayment, deductible, coinsurance, or any other type of cost share for emergency treatment furnished to the veteran in a non-Department of Veterans Affairs facility and made by a veteran who had coverage under a health-plan contract, including any claim for the reasonable value of emergency treatment that was rejected or denied by the Department of Veterans Affairs, whether the rejection or denial was final or not. <all>
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