Supporting Military Families Exposed to Toxic Substances Act

VA care for exposed military families

This bill would create a new VA health program to provide hospital care and medical services to certain family members and others exposed at locations where the VA has a presumption of service-connection. Individuals would be eligible if they lived or worked at, or were in utero while their mother lived or worked at, a location for which the VA has a presumptive service-connection and if they can show exposure to the same condition(s). Care would be limited to illnesses the VA lists as presumptive for that location. The VA would only provide care to the extent and in the amount Congress funds in advance, and care could not be provided if VA medical guidelines find the illness resulted from another cause. The individual or provider would need to exhaust all reasonable third-party payment claims and remedies, including health-plan contracts, before VA care is furnished. The VA would also have to report to Congress by December 31 of 2027, 2028, and 2029 on how many people got care, which illnesses and locations were involved, denials and reasons, and pending applications.