IB 
Union Calendar No. 399 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 3819 
[Report No. 110–638] 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs to reimburse veterans receiving emergency treatment in non- 
Department of Veterans Affairs facilities for such treatment until such 
veterans are transferred to Department facilities, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 10, 2007 
Mr. SPACE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Veterans’ Affairs 
MAY 15, 2008 
Additional sponsors: Mr. HONDA, Mr. ALTMIRE, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr. 
ELLISON, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mr. PETERSON of Min-
nesota, Mrs. SCHMIDT, Ms. SUTTON, Mr. CARNEY, Mr. DONNELLY, Mr. 
ENGLISH of Pennsylvania, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. MORAN of Kansas, Ms. 
JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. PEARCE, Mr. GOODE, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, 
Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. BOSWELL, Mr. COHEN, Mr. FRANK of 
Massachusetts, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. GORDON of Tennessee, Mr. FIL-
NER, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. SESTAK, 
Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. INSLEE, Mr. FORTENBERRY, Mr. 
MCINTYRE, Ms. FOXX, Mr. COSTELLO, Ms. SHEA-PORTER, Mr. MITCH-
ELL, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. ROSS, Mr. WATT, Mr. BU-
CHANAN, Ms. MCCOLLUM
of Minnesota, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. VAN 
HOLLEN, Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida, and Mr. BUYER 
MAY 15, 2008 
Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 
and ordered to be printed 
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A BILL 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Sec-
retary of Veterans Affairs to reimburse veterans receiv-
ing emergency treatment in non-Department of Veterans 
Affairs facilities for such treatment until such veterans 
are transferred to Department facilities, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Emergency 
Care Fairness Act of 2007’’. 
SEC. 2. MANDATORY REIMBURSEMENT OF VETERANS RE-
CEIVING EMERGENCY TREATMENT IN NON- 
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS FACILI-
TIES UNTIL TRANSFER TO DEPARTMENT FA-
CILITIES. 
(a) CERTAIN VETERANS WITHOUT SERVICE-CON-
NECTED DISABILITY.—Section 1725 of title 38, United 
States Code, is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)(1), by striking ‘‘may reim-
burse’’ and inserting ‘‘shall reimburse’’; and 
(2) in subsection (f)(1), by striking subpara-
graph (C) and inserting the following new subpara-
graph (C): 
‘‘(C) until— 
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‘‘(i) such time as the veteran can be 
transferred safely to a Department facility 
or other Federal facility; or 
‘‘(ii) such time as a Department facil-
ity or other Federal facility agrees to ac-
cept such transfer if— 
‘‘(I) at the time described in 
clause (i), no Department facility or 
other Federal facility agrees to accept 
such transfer; and 
‘‘(II) the non-Department facility 
in which such medical care or services 
is furnished makes and documents 
reasonable attempts to transfer the 
veteran to a Department facility or 
other Federal facility.’’. 
(b) CERTAIN VETERANS WITH SERVICE-CONNECTED 
DISABILITY.—Section 1728 of such title is amended— 
(1) by striking subsection (a) and inserting the 
following new subsection (a): 
‘‘(a) The Secretary shall, under such regulations as 
the Secretary shall prescribe, reimburse veterans entitled 
to hospital care or medical services under this chapter for 
the reasonable value of emergency treatment (including 
travel and incidental expenses under the terms and condi-
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(2) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘care or serv-
ices’’ both places it appears and inserting ‘‘emer-
gency treatment’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following new sub-
section: 
‘‘(c) In this section, the term ‘emergency treatment’ 
has the meaning given such term in section 1725(f)(1) of 
this title.’’. 
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Union Calendar No. 399 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 3819 
[Report No. 110–638] 
A BILL 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to require 
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to reimburse 
veterans receiving emergency treatment in non- 
Department of Veterans Affairs facilities for 
such treatment until such veterans are trans-
ferred to Department facilities, and for other 
purposes. 
MAY 15, 2008 
Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
State of the Union and ordered to be printed 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
02:21 May 16, 2008
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PO 00000
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