Native American Veteran PACT Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4909 To amend title 38, United States Code, to prohibit the collection of a health care copayment by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs from a veteran who is a member of an Indian Tribe. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES NOVEMBER 18, 2020 Mr. TESTER (for himself and Mr. MORAN) 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 prohibit the collec- tion of a health care copayment by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs from a veteran who is a member of an Indian Tribe. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Native American Vet- 4 eran Parity in Access to Care Today Act’’ or the ‘‘Native 5 American Veteran PACT Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:47 Nov 25, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4909.IS S4909 ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4909 IS SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON COLLECTION OF A HEALTH CARE 1 COPAYMENT BY THE SECRETARY OF VET- 2 ERANS AFFAIRS FROM A VETERAN WHO IS A 3 MEMBER OF AN INDIAN TRIBE. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1730A of title 38, United 5 States Code, is amended— 6 (1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘catastroph- 7 ically disabled’’ and inserting ‘‘certain’’; 8 (2) by inserting ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION.—’’ before 9 ‘‘Notwithstanding’’; 10 (3) by striking ‘‘a veteran who is catastroph- 11 ically disabled, as defined by the Secretary,’’ and in- 12 serting ‘‘a covered veteran’’; and 13 (4) by adding at the end the following new sub- 14 section: 15 ‘‘(b) COVERED VETERAN DEFINED.—In this section, 16 the term ‘covered veteran’ means a veteran who— 17 ‘‘(1) is catastrophically disabled, as defined by 18 the Secretary; or 19 ‘‘(2) is an Indian or urban Indian (as those 20 terms are defined in section 4 of the Indian Health 21 Care Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. 1603)).’’. 22 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 23 at the beginning of chapter 17 of such title is amended 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:47 Nov 25, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4909.IS S4909 ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4909 IS by striking the item relating to section 1730A and insert- 1 ing the following new item: 2 ‘‘1730A. Prohibition on collection of copayments from certain veterans.’’. (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 3 this section shall take effect on the date that is one year 4 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:47 Nov 25, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4909.IS S4909 ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS