A bipartisan bill to expand and streamline the delivery of various veterans’ health care and benefits programs, broaden caregiver benefits and increase per diem rates for veteran homelessness providers is now law.
President Joe Biden signed the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act into law Jan. 2 after Congress passed it in December.
The comprehensive package contains more than 90 sections making improvements to veterans’ long-term care, caregiver programs, mental health resources, education, job training and the modernization of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“We worked hard to craft this legislation to put veterans — not government bureaucracy — at the core of it,” said Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., the chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, in a Dec. 16 statement.
“The Dole Act will do that by expanding economic opportunities, simplifying the disability claims process, reforming services for aging veterans, opening more doors for mental health support, and a lot more,” he added.
The Dole Act contains several separate bills that went through the legislative process, including the Dole Home Care Act. It will increase veterans’ options for non-institutional care alternatives to nursing homes — including in-home health care — by giving caregivers greater access to support services.
The law is named after former Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., the primary caregiver of late Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., who sustained severe injuries in World War II. Both lawmakers strongly advocated for veterans and disabled rights.
The law also includes the Servicemember Employment Protection Act, a bill modernizing Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act protections to ensure that deployed National Guardsmen and Reservists have adequate employment protections when they return home.
There is a provision requiring the VA to cover 100% — instead of 65% — of the equivalent cost of nursing home care for services or in-kind assistance for noninstitutional care for covered veterans.
However, the final package did not include language explicitly prohibiting the VA from overriding a clinician’s recommendation to provide community care.
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., the incoming chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, praised the bill, but noted it did not address residential care for veterans seeking treatment for mental health or substance use issues.
“As chairman, I will prioritize making certain these veterans receive the support they need to succeed,” he said in a Dec. 12 statement.
The Dole Act’s other highlights include:
- Rural ambulance costs: Through Sept. 30, 2026, the VA would have to pay or reimburse ambulance costs — including air ambulance costs — to transport veterans located in rural areas to a health care provider.
- Veteran burial services: A provision provides burial services to veterans who die at home while in receipt of hospice care provided by VA.
- Denial of caregiver services: This provision requires the VA to provide detailed explanations and information about alternative services to caregivers denied by the Caregiver Program.
- VET-TEC extension: Reauthorizes the VET-TEC pilot program to Sept. 30, 2027 and allows 4,000 veterans to enroll in the program yearly.
A section-by-section summary of the Dole Act is available here.
— By Jennifer Hickey
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