[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2741 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2741

 To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve procedures for the 
   determination of the inability of veterans to defray expenses of 
            necessary medical care, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 17, 2002

 Mr. Grassley (for himself, and Mr. Nelson of Nebraska) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                           Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve procedures for the 
   determination of the inability of veterans to defray expenses of 
            necessary medical care, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. IMPROVEMENT OF PROCEDURES FOR DETERMINATION OF INABILITY TO 
              DEFRAY EXPENSES OF NECESSARY MEDICAL CARE.

    (a) Exclusion of Certain Assets From Attributable Income and Corpus 
of Estates.--Subsection (f) of section 1722 of title 38, United States 
Code, is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting before the period at the 
        end the following: ``, except that such income shall not 
        include the value of any real property of the veteran or the 
        veteran's spouse or dependent children, if any, or any income 
        of the veteran's dependent children, if any''; and
            (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ``the estates'' and all 
        that follows and inserting ``the estate of the veteran's 
        spouse, if any, but does not include any real property of the 
        veteran, the veteran's spouse, or any dependent children of the 
        veteran, nor any income of dependent children of the 
        veteran.''.
    (b) Alternative Year for Determination of Attributable Income.--
That section is further amended by adding at the end the following new 
subsection:
    ``(h) For purposes of determining the attributable income of a 
veteran under this section, the Secretary may determine the 
attributable income of the veteran for the year preceding the previous 
year, rather than for the previous year, if the Secretary finds that 
available data do not permit a timely determination of the attributable 
income of the veteran for the previous year for such purposes.''.
    (c) Use of Income Information From Certain Other Federal 
Agencies.--Section 5317 of that title is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsections (f) and (g) as subsections 
        (g) and (h), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the following new 
        subsection (f):
    ``(f) In addition to any other activities under this section, the 
Secretary may utilize income information obtained under this section 
from the Secretary of Health and Human Services or the Secretary of the 
Treasury for the purpose of determining the attributable income of a 
veteran under section 1722 of this title, in lieu of obtaining income 
information directly from the veteran for that purpose.''.
    (d) Permanent Authority To Obtain Information.--(1) Section 5317 of 
that title, as amended by subsection (c), is further amended by 
striking subsection (h).
    (2) Section 6103(l)(7)(D) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 
U.S.C. 6103(l)(7)(D)) is amended in the flush matter at the end by 
striking the second sentence.
                                 <all>