S.Amdt. 1777

SA 1777. Mr. BLUMENTHAL submitted an amendment intended to be
proposed by him to the bill S. 4049, to authorize appropriations for
fiscal year 2021 for military activities of the Department of Defense,
for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department
of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal
year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as
follows:

At the end of subtitle G of title X, add the following:

SEC. 1085. 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

[[Page S3269]]

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.
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