Veterans Transplant Coverage Act of 2017

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1133) to amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide for an operation on a live donor for purposes of conducting a transplant procedure for a veteran, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill, H.R. 1133, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1133, as amended, the Veterans Transplant Coverage Act of 2017.

This bill is meant to remove an unnecessary barrier to care for veterans in need of transplants involving a living donor.

Last year, Mr. Charles Nelson, a 100 percent service-connected veteran from Texas, sought a kidney transplant through the Department of Veterans Affairs with Mr. Nelson's nonveteran son, Austin, serving as Mr. Nelson's live donor.

Rather than travel from his home in Texas to VA transplant centers in either Nashville, Tennessee, or Portland, Oregon, Mr. Nelson requested to receive his transplant at the University Hospital in San Antonio using the Choice Program. However, his request was denied by VA because Austin was not a veteran, and, therefore, VA did not believe the Department had the authority to pay for this portion of the transplant procedure with Choice funds.

Mr. Nelson eventually received his transplant in San Antonio using his Medicare benefits, private donations, and personal savings to cover the cost of his and Austin's care.

To prevent any other veterans from being unable to access transplant care in the community under Choice, H.R. 1133, as amended, would amend the Choice Program to allow VA to pay for any care or services a live donor may require to carry out a transplant procedure for an eligible veteran, notwithstanding that the live donor may not be eligible for VA healthcare.

I thank my friend from Texas, Congressman Carter, for his dedication to solving this problem for his constituent, Mr. Nelson, and for veterans and families across the country. This is how Congress should work. He is a great representative, and I am really proud to serve with him.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 1133, as amended, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Carter).

Mr. Speaker, in closing, once again, I urge my colleagues to pass this very important bill. I encourage the Senate to pass it as soon as possible so we can get it on the President's desk.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank Mr. Bilirakis and Mr. Walz for rising in support of this.

When Mr. Nelson and his family came to me with this, the first thing I thought was: That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard.

You have a child, waiting to give you a live kidney in a transplant, and he is eliminated as a donor because he is not a veteran. It is hard enough to find live transplants as it is. And common sense by everybody who ever knew anybody who got one knows: the best source is

a family member because it has got the best chance for a match and the best chance for success.

Yet the VA had a limitation that he had to be a veteran. Now, what are the chances of all your family being veterans when all of a sudden you have renal failure and have to have a kidney? They have got to be off the wall, and that is ridiculous.

So, Mr. Speaker, I filed this bill to correct this mess.

My colleague has given a great description of what happened to the Nelsons. But, more importantly, common sense--and I like the mention of that--tells us that you can't eliminate the best pool of donors that a family has because of their lack of being a veteran.

And we all know--we heard Mr. O'Rourke say previously--we are down to about 1 percent of our Nation actually serves in the military anymore.

So this is a commonsense fix for a commonsense problem.

Mr. Speaker, I am really proud of my staff. They have worked really hard on this. They stayed at it and stayed at it. We got the attention of the VA, and I am happy for their cooperation. I want to thank the committee. They were overwhelmingly supportive on both sides of the aisle. I urged my colleagues to fix a commonsense problem and allow a son to give a kidney to his father at a facility that is most convenient to the family, which is all common sense, so that our veterans, who have given their all for us, have the right to have the best healthcare available to American citizens, and that is what this bill will provide.

There was such a good explanation by my colleagues that I didn't go into the details. But I just want to tell you that when you have a constituent come in with a commonsense problem, we have a duty and a responsibility to fix it because common sense is in short supply in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1133.

And, again, the gentleman was very clear: by allowing the VA to provide healthcare to non-VA eligible donors, veterans can more easily receive lifesaving donations from their families and friends. Family members of veterans are often the best match for providing a veteran with a live organ donation and are typically more willing to be a live donor.

Under current law, a veteran can receive only a live organ donation from another veteran receiving the transplant at a VA hospital.

This is one of those pieces of legislation that, I think, when many of us saw it brought forward, makes great common sense. It is the right thing to do. I understand possibly why they put that in there. But all of us know that it is going to be that exact scenario that it is going to be a family member or someone near who is going to want to do the transplant. If the best place to do that for the veteran is at the VA hospital, and they can get them in, it makes great sense to do it.

So I do want to also thank Representative Carter for bringing this forward.

This is, again, improving care, and making sure that we are focusing on the issues that we can make a difference on.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I thank Judge Carter. Everybody make note of this. Common sense is going to prevail. We are in full support of H.R. 1133.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to vote accordingly, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to support H.R. 1133, the Veterans Transplant Coverage Act. This legislation enables the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide organ transplants for veterans, even if the live donor is a non-veteran, at the facility of their choice. Current law restricts coverage for veterans receiving an organ donation from a non-veteran. This policy means that children, siblings, and other non-veteran family members that are matches and willing to donate are not eligible to receive VA care for the operation.

The Veterans Transplant Coverage Act was inspired by the Nelson family from Texas. When veteran Charles Nelson needed a kidney transplant, his son, Austin, was a match. When it came time for the operation, the VA healthcare system denied the Nelsons coverage because Austin was a non-veteran. The VA's decision forced the Nelsons to solicit donations to ensure that Charles could still have this lifesaving transplant surgery. The Veterans Transplant Coverage Act will ensure that no other American hero is denied transplant coverage ever again.

The restrictions set forth by our current law have life or death consequences for the men and women that have bravely served our nation. I fully support H.R. 1133 to allow the VA to provide organ transplants for veterans when the living donor is a non-veteran.