S 3999 Re-checks Congress.gov for new actions and updates the bill's status, and fills in any sponsors, committees, or related bills that are missing. It does not re-pull sponsors/cosponsors/committees/related — those rarely change — and it skips all work if nothing has changed upstream, so it's cheap to click.
Women Veterans Specialty Care Access Act
To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that women veterans may schedule appointments for women's specialty care under the laws administered by the Secretary without requiring a referral, and for other purposes.
Summary
- The bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to allow eligible women veterans to directly schedule appointments for women's specialty care without requiring a referral from a primary care provider.
- Women's specialty care is defined as gynecology, obstetrics, maternity, and postpartum care.
- Direct scheduling must be available through all VA medical centers and clinics offering these services via telephone, online scheduling tools, and any other scheduling methods used by the VA.
- The Secretary of Veterans Affairs may not impose any additional approval, referral, or screening steps as conditions for women veterans to access women's specialty care.
- The bill does not change existing eligibility or access standards for VA care and services.
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)
-
![Sen. Blackburn, Marsha [R-TN]](https://media.civicgate.org/people/d/politicians/B001243.thumb.jpg)
Sen. Blackburn, Marsha (R-TN)
2 cosponsors
-
![Sen. Hassan, Margaret Wood [D-NH]](https://media.civicgate.org/people/d/politicians/H001076.thumb.jpg)
Sen. Hassan, Margaret Wood (D-NH) -
![Sen. Heinrich, Martin [D-NM]](https://media.civicgate.org/people/d/politicians/H001046.thumb.jpg)
Sen. Heinrich, Martin (D-NM)
Actions (3)
- Apr 29, 2026 Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held. · senate
- Mar 5, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. · senate
- Mar 5, 2026 Introduced in Senate
More bills on these subjects (8)
Other bills that carry the most legislative subjects in common with this one (topical discovery — distinct from the procedural related bills above).
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.
Committee action
What happened to this bill in committee — the meetings where it was considered and every recorded vote taken on it.
Meetings where this bill was on the agenda
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 5, 2026
Mrs. Blackburn (for herself and Ms. Hassan) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that women veterans may schedule appointments for women’s specialty care under the laws administered by the Secretary without requiring a referral, 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 “Women Veterans Specialty Care Access Act”.
SEC. 2. DIRECT SCHEDULING OF WOMEN’S SPECIALTY CARE FOR WOMEN VETERANS.
(a) In General.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall ensure that any covered veteran may directly schedule an appointment for women’s specialty care, including through the Veterans Community Care Program under section 1703 of title 38, United States Code, without requiring a referral from a primary care provider of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
(b) Availability.—The Secretary shall ensure that direct scheduling under subsection (a) is available—
(1) through each medical center or clinic of the Department that offers women’s specialty care; and
(2) via telephone, online scheduling tools, and any other modality used by the Department for scheduling of specialty care.
(c) Prohibition on Additional Administrative Barriers.—The Secretary may not require any additional approval, referral, or screening step as a condition of a covered veteran accessing women’s specialty care.
(d) Rule of Construction.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to alter or waive eligibility or access standards for the receipt of care or services under section 1703 of title 38, United States Code.
(e) Definitions.—In this section:
(1) Covered veteran.—The term “covered veteran” means a woman veteran enrolled in the system of annual patient enrollment of the Department of Veterans Affairs established and operated under section 1705(a) of title 38, United States Code, who is eligible for the receipt of women’s specialty care under the laws administered by the Secretary.
(2) Women’s specialty care.—The term “women’s specialty care” means gynecology care, obstetrics care, maternity care, and postpartum care. <all>
Comments