II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2975 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve payment and processing 

of payments or allowances for beneficiary travel, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 28 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 22), 2023 

Mr. MORAN (for himself and Mr. TESTER) 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 improve payment 

and processing of payments or allowances for beneficiary 

travel, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Road to Access Act 

5 of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO DEPARTMENT OF 

7 VETERANS AFFAIRS BENEFICIARY TRAVEL. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 111 of title 38, United 

9 States Code. is amended by adding at the end the fol10 lowing new subsections: 


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1 ‘‘(h) The Secretary shall accept claims for reimburse2 ment for expenses under subsection (a) submitted to the 

3 Secretary on or before the date that is 180 days after the 

4 date of eligible travel, or such later date as the Secretary 

5 considers appropriate. 

6 ‘‘(i) For the first instance of care a person receives 

7 at a Department facility each year or that is authorized 

8 by the Department, the Secretary shall send the veteran 

9 written outreach providing information on the payments 

10 and allowances available under this section and encour11 aging the person to submit a claim for allowance under 

12 this section. Such communication may also include infor13 mation about programs described in section 111A of this 

14 title available through facilities local to the person. 

15 ‘‘(j) For each claim of a person for allowance or reim16 bursement denied under this section, the Secretary shall 

17 inform the person regarding— 

18 ‘‘(1) the reason for the denial; and 

19 ‘‘(2) the options available to the person for— 

20 ‘‘(A) resubmitting the claim; or 

21 ‘‘(B) appealing the denial. 

22 ‘‘(k)(1) To the extent practicable, not later than one 

23 year after the date of the enactment of the Road to Access 

24 Act of 2023, the Secretary shall establish a policy whereby 

25 a veteran described in paragraph (2) who is eligible for 


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1 reimbursement under this section have mileage reimburse2 ment claims submitted on their behalf for review by the 

3 Department for any care provided at a facility of the De4 partment or by the staff of the Department. 

5 ‘‘(2) A veteran described in this paragraph is a vet6 eran— 

7 ‘‘(A) with a service-connected disability rate at 

8 50 percent or more; 

9 ‘‘(B) with a disability as defined in section 3 of 

10 the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 

11 U.S.C. 12102); 

12 ‘‘(C) without reasonable access to the Bene13 ficiary Travel Self Service System, or successor sys14 tem with similar functions, including lack of access 

15 to reliable mobile telephone or internet service or not 

16 in possession of the appropriate technology for ac17 cessing the Beneficiary Travel Self Service System, 

18 or successor system; or 

19 ‘‘(D) reliant upon a caregiver or other resource 

20 to submit a claim on behalf of the veteran due to a 

21 mental or physical limitation. 

22 ‘‘(l) The Secretary shall— 

23 ‘‘(1) allow any person submitting a claim for al24 lowance or payment under this section to submit the 

25 claim in a paper or other format that does not reVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:49 Oct 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2975.IS S2975

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1 quire access to technology devices, mobile telephone 

2 service, or internet service; 

3 ‘‘(2) educate relevant staff of the Department 

4 regarding this access requirement described in para5 graph (1); and 

6 ‘‘(3) provide reasonable and equitable access to 

7 the alternatives offered by paragraph (1).’’. 

8 (b) UPDATES TO CERTAIN TECHNOLOGY SYS9 TEMS.—Not later than two years after the date of the en10 actment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

11 shall complete such updates and modifications to tech12 nology systems of the Department of Veterans Affairs as 

13 the Secretary considers appropriate to carry out sub14 section (k) of section 111 of such title, as added by sub15 section (a) of this section. 

Æ 


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