To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to furnish dental care in the same manner as any other medical service, and for other purposes.

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 96 To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to furnish dental care in the same manner as any other medical service, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 3, 2019 Ms. BROWNLEY of California (for herself and Mr. DEFAZIO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Sec- retary of Veterans Affairs to furnish dental care in the same manner as any other medical service, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. REQUIREMENT THAT SECRETARY OF VET- 3 ERANS AFFAIRS FURNISH DENTAL CARE IN 4 THE SAME MANNER AS ANY OTHER MEDICAL 5 SERVICE. 6 (a) DENTAL BENEFITS.— 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Jan 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H96.IH H96 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 96 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—Title 38, United States 1 Code, is amended— 2 (A) in section 1701(6), by striking ‘‘as de- 3 scribed in sections 1710 and 1712 of this title’’; 4 (B) in section 1710(c), by striking the sec- 5 ond sentence; 6 (C) in section 1712— 7 (i) by striking subsections (a) and (b); 8 (ii) by redesignating subsections (c), 9 (d), (e), and (f) as subsections (a), (b), (c), 10 and (d), respectively; and 11 (iii) in subsection (a), as redesignated 12 by subparagraph (B)— 13 (I) by striking ‘‘Dental appli- 14 ances’’ and inserting ‘‘The Secretary 15 may furnish dentures, dental appli- 16 ances’’; and 17 (II) by striking ‘‘to be furnished 18 by the Secretary under this section 19 may be procured by the Secretary’’ 20 and inserting ‘‘under this section and 21 may procure such appliances’’; and 22 (D) by striking section 2062. 23 (2) PHASED ELIGIBILITY.—The amendments 24 made by paragraph (1) shall apply as follows: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Jan 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H96.IH H96 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 96 IH (A) In the case of an individual who is eli- 1 gible for dental services and appliances fur- 2 nished by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 3 under chapter 17 of title 38, United States 4 Code, on the date of the enactment of this Act, 5 beginning on the date of the enactment of this 6 Act. 7 (B) In the case of a veteran who is not so 8 eligible on the date of the enactment of this Act 9 and who is described in paragraph (1) or (2) of 10 subsection (a) of section 1705 of such title, be- 11 ginning on the date that is one year after the 12 date of the enactment of this Act. 13 (C) In the case of a veteran who is not so 14 eligible on the date of the enactment of this Act 15 and who is described in paragraph (3) or (4) of 16 subsection (a) of section 1705 of such title, be- 17 ginning on the date that is two years after the 18 date of the enactment of this Act. 19 (D) In the case of a veteran who is not so 20 eligible on the date of the enactment of this Act 21 and who is described in paragraph (5) or (6) of 22 subsection (a) of section 1705 of such title, be- 23 ginning on the date that is three years after the 24 date of the enactment of this Act. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Jan 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H96.IH H96 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 96 IH (E) In the case of a veteran who is not so 1 eligible on the date of the enactment of this Act 2 and who is described in paragraph (7) or (8) of 3 subsection (a) of section 1705 of such title, be- 4 ginning on the date that is four years after the 5 date of the enactment of this Act. 6 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Title 38, United 7 States Code, is further amended— 8 (1) in section 1525(a), by striking ‘‘medicines 9 under section 1712(d)’’ and inserting ‘‘medicines 10 under section 1712(b)’’; and 11 (2) in section 1703(a)(7), by striking ‘‘, for a 12 veteran described in section 1712(a)(1)(F) of this 13 title’’. 14 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.—Such title is further 15 amended— 16 (1) in section 1712, in the heading for such sec- 17 tion, by striking ‘‘Dental care’’ and inserting 18 ‘‘Appliances’’; 19 (2) in the table of sections at the beginning of 20 chapter 17, by striking the item relating to section 21 1712 and inserting the following new item: 22 ‘‘1712. Appliances; drugs and medicines for certain disabled veterans; vac- cines.’’; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Jan 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H96.IH H96 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 96 IH (3) in the table of sections at the beginning of 1 chapter 20, by striking the item relating to section 2 2062. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Jan 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H96.IH H96 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS