I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2734 

To amend section 1781 of title 38, United States Code, to provide medical 

care to family members of disabled veterans who serve as caregivers 

to such veterans. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 4, 2009 

Mr. PERRIELLO introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend section 1781 of title 38, United States Code, 

to provide medical care to family members of disabled 

veterans who serve as caregivers to such veterans. 

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 ‘‘Health Care for Fam5 ily Caregivers Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MEDICAL CARE FOR FAMILY MEMBERS OF DIS2 ABLED VETERANS WHO SERVE AS CARE3 GIVERS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1781 of title 38, United 

5 States Code, is amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (a)— 

7 (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

8 the end; 

9 (B) in paragraph (3), by inserting ‘‘and’’ 

10 at the end; and 

11 (C) by inserting after paragraph (3) the 

12 following new paragraph: 

13 ‘‘(4) a family caregiver as described in sub14 section (e)(2),’’; 

15 (2) in the third sentence of subsection (b), by 

16 striking ‘‘dependent or survivor’’ and inserting ‘‘de17 pendent, survivor, or family caregiver’’; and 

18 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub19 section: 

20 ‘‘(e)(1) A family caregiver shall not be subject to 

21 deductibles, premiums, co-payments, cost sharing, or other 

22 fees for medical care provided to such caregiver under this 

23 section. 

24 ‘‘(2) A family caregiver described in this paragraph 

25 is an individual who— 


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1 ‘‘(A) with respect to a veteran, meets the defini2 tion of the term ‘family caregiver’ under section 

3 1701(11); 

4 ‘‘(B) is the primary family caregiver for such 

5 veteran and such veteran receives compensation 

6 under subsections (r) or (s) of section 1114; and 

7 ‘‘(C) has no entitlement to care or services 

8 under a health-plan contract as defined under sec9 tion 1725(f)(2) (determined, in the case of a health10 plan contract as defined in subsection (f)(2)(B) or 

11 (f)(2)(C) of such section, without regard to any re12 quirement or limitation relating to eligibility for care 

13 or services from any department or agency of the 

14 United States).’’. 

15 (b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 1701 of title 38, United 

16 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol17 lowing new paragraphs: 

18 ‘‘(10) The term ‘caregiver services’ means non19 institutional extended care (as used in section 

20 1701(6) of this title), including homemaker and 

21 home health aid services. 

22 ‘‘(11) The term ‘family caregiver’ means an in23 dividual who— 

24 ‘‘(A) is a member of the family (including 

25 parents, spouses, children, siblings, step-family 


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1 members, and extended family members) of a 

2 disabled veteran; 

3 ‘‘(B) provides caregiver services to such 

4 veteran for such disability; and 

5 ‘‘(C) may or may not reside with such vet6 eran.’’. 

Æ 


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