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To amend title 38, United States Code, to ensure that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs furnishes certain non-opioid pain medications to veterans, and for other purposes.
Summary
S 3209 would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to add certain non-opioid pain medications to its national formulary of approved medications for veterans. The bill defines eligible non-opioid pain medications as drugs approved by the FDA to treat postoperative, postsurgical, regional, or acute pain without acting on opioid receptors. The VA must include qualifying non-opioid pain medications in its formulary within either one year after the drug becomes eligible for certain Medicare payments or within 18 months after FDA approval, whichever comes first. The bill requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to implement these changes within 90 days of the bill's enactment and specifies that implementation cannot be funded through the Cost of War Toxic Exposures Fund.
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)
27 cosponsors
- Sen. Banks, Jim [R-IN] (R-IN)
- Sen. Bennet, Michael F. [D-CO] (D-CO)
- Sen. Blackburn, Marsha [R-TN] (R-TN)
- Sen. Booker, Cory A. [D-NJ] (D-NJ)
- Sen. Boozman, John [R-AR] (R-AR)
- Sen. Britt, Katie Boyd [R-AL] (R-AL)
- Sen. Cornyn, John [R-TX] (R-TX)
- Sen. Cortez Masto, Catherine [D-NV] (D-NV)
- Sen. Cramer, Kevin [R-ND] (R-ND)
- Sen. Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [D-NY] (D-NY)
- Sen. Hagerty, Bill [R-TN] (R-TN)
- Sen. Hickenlooper, John W. [D-CO] (D-CO)
- Sen. Hoeven, John [R-ND] (R-ND)
- Sen. Hyde-Smith, Cindy [R-MS] (R-MS)
- Sen. Justice, James C. [R-WV] (R-WV)
- Sen. Kaine, Tim [D-VA] (D-VA)
- Sen. Kelly, Mark [D-AZ] (D-AZ)
- Sen. King, Angus S., Jr. [I-ME] (I-ME)
- Sen. Klobuchar, Amy [D-MN] (D-MN)
- Sen. Marshall, Roger [R-KS] (R-KS)
- Sen. Ossoff, Jon [D-GA] (D-GA)
- Sen. Ricketts, Pete [R-NE] (R-NE)
- Sen. Rosen, Jacky [D-NV] (D-NV)
- Sen. Scott, Tim [R-SC] (R-SC)
- Sen. Shaheen, Jeanne [D-NH] (D-NH)
- Sen. Van Hollen, Chris [D-MD] (D-MD)
- Sen. Warnock, Raphael G. [D-GA] (D-GA)
Actions (2)
- Nov 19, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. · senate
- Nov 19, 2025 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
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Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
November 19, 2025
Mrs. Capito (for herself, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Cramer, Mr. King, Mr. Hoeven, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Ricketts, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Justice, Mr. Kaine, Mrs. Britt, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Hagerty, Mr. Kelly, Mr. Scott of South Carolina, Ms. Cortez Masto, and Ms. Rosen) 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 ensure that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs furnishes certain non-opioid pain medications to veterans, 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 “Non-Opioids Prevent Addiction in the Nation for Veterans Act” or the “NOPAIN for Veterans Act”.
SEC. 2. INCLUSION OF CERTAIN NON-OPIOID PAIN MEDICATIONS IN THE NATIONAL FORMULARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.
(a) In General.—Section 8125 of title 38, United States Code, is amended—
(1) in subsection (d), by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
“(4) The term ‘non-opioid pain management drug or biological product’ means a drug or biological product approved, granted, or cleared by the Food and Drug Administration to reduce postoperative pain, to produce postsurgical or regional analgesia, or to treat acute pain, without acting upon the body’s opioid receptors.”;
(2) by redesignating subsection (d), as so amended, as subsection (e); and
(3) by inserting after subsection (c) the following new subsection (d):
“(d) The Secretary shall include a non-opioid pain management drug or biological product in the national formulary of the Department not later than the earlier of—
“(1) one year after the date on which the non-opioid pain management drug or biological product becomes eligible for temporary additional payment under section 1833(t)(16)(G) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395l(t)(16)(G)) or eligible for separate payment under section 416.174 of title 42, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor regulations); or
“(2) 18 months after the date on which the non-opioid pain management drug or biological product is approved by the Food and Drug Administration.”.
(b) Limitation.—None of the funds in the Cost of War Toxic Exposures Fund under section 324 of title 38, United States Code, may be used to carry out the amendments made by this section.
(c) Implementation.—Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall implement the amendments made by this section. <all>
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