Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act

Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act

This bill addresses various programs, benefits, and services provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), including those related to health care, educational assistance, home loans, homelessness, and disability and memorial affairs.

Among other elements, the bill

• modifies the administration of the Veterans Community Care Program, including by providing protections for care agreements between veterans and clinicians;
• increases the expenditure cap for non-institutional care alternatives to nursing home care;
• provides certain support to family caregivers under the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers;
• modifies the administration of certain educational assistance programs and benefits, including by removing the expiration on a surviving spouse’s entitlement under the Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship;
• expands the Native American Direct Loan program by allowing Native American veterans to refinance other existing mortgage loans on the same property if certain conditions are met;
• requires the VA to provide a burial and funeral allowance for certain veterans who die prior to October 1, 2026, in a home or other setting at which the veteran was receiving VA hospice care (if such care was directly preceded by VA hospital or nursing home care);
• temporarily increases the maximum rate of per diem payments provided by the VA to entities that furnish services and transitional housing to homeless veterans;
• authorizes a program to modernize the electronic health record and other relevant health information technology systems of the VA; and
• addresses various oversight and reporting matters.