Emergency Care Reimbursement Act of 2020

Bill: 116-s-4149
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT]
Introduced: 2020-07-01
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Emergency medical services and trauma care

Health care costs and insurance

Veterans' medical care
Latest action: action_date: 2020-07-01
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Summaries:
action_date: 2020-07-01
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><b>Emergency Care Reimbursement Act of 2020 </b></p> <p>This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to reimburse a veteran for a co-payment owed for emergency treatment furnished at a non-VA facility if such veteran is enrolled in VA health care and is personally liable for such emergency treatment. Such reimbursements shall apply for emergency treatment furnished on or after February 1, 2010. </p> <p>This bill shall not limit the rights of those certified as a class in the case of <i>Wolfe v. Wilkie</i> (i.e., all claimants whose claims for reimbursement of emergency medical expenses incurred at non-VA facilities).</p>

tv_txt: II 116th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 4149 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES July 1, 2020 Mr. Blumenthal (for himself, Ms. Baldwin , Mr. Brown , Ms. Hirono , 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 remove the limitation on reimbursement for emergency treatment of amounts owed to a third party or for which the veteran is responsible under a health-plan contract.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Emergency Care Reimbursement Act of 2020 . 2. Removal of limitation on reimbursement for emergency treatment of amounts owed to a third party or for which the veteran is responsible under a health-plan contract (a) In general Subsection (c)(4) of section 1725 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking subparagraph (D). (b) Application of amendment The amendment made by subsection (a) shall apply with respect to any reimbursement request under section 1725 of such title submitted to the Department of Veterans Affairs for emergency treatment furnished on or after February 1, 2010. (c) Impact on existing court case Nothing in this section or the amendment made by this section shall limit the rights of any member of the Wolfe class seeking relief in Wolfe v. Wilkie, No. 18–6091 (Vet. App. filed October 30, 2018). (d) Definitions In this section: (1) Emergency treatment; health-plan contract The terms emergency treatment and health-plan contract have the meanings given those terms in section 1725(f) of title 38, United States Code. (2) Reimbursement request The term reimbursement request includes any claim by a veteran for reimbursement of a copayment, deductible, coinsurance, or similar payment for emergency treatment furnished to the veteran in a non-Department of Veterans Affairs facility and made by a veteran who had coverage under a health-plan contract, including any claim for the reasonable value of emergency treatment that was rejected or denied by the Department of Veterans Affairs, whether the rejection or denial was final or not.