[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2379 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2379

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve access to health care 
              for rural veterans, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 5, 2003

 Mr. Osborne introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve access to health care 
              for rural veterans, 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. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Rural Veterans Access to Care Act of 
2003''.

SEC. 2. IMPROVED ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE FOR RURAL VETERANS.

    (a) In General.--(1) Chapter 17 of title 38, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 1730A. Access to care for rural veterans
    ``(a) The Secretary shall ensure that funds allocated pursuant to 
subsection (b) are used in accordance with that subsection to improve 
access to medical services for highly rural or geographically remote 
veterans by using the contract authority of section 1703 of this title 
and other authorities available to the Secretary to improve such access 
to care.
    ``(b)(1) The Secretary shall provide that, of the amounts made 
available for any fiscal year for the Medical Care appropriation for 
the Department, not less than 5 percent shall be available only for 
treatment of veterans described in subsection (c) for--
            ``(A) acute or chronic symptom management;
            ``(B) nontherapeutic medical services; and
            ``(C) other medical services as determined appropriate in 
        the case of any veteran by the director of the appropriate 
        geographic service region of the Department, after consultation 
        with the Department physician responsible for primary care of 
        the veteran.
    ``(2) In the allocation of such percentage of funds to geographic 
service regions of the Department, such funds for any fiscal year shall 
initially be allocated in an identical percentage to each such service 
region. However, upon a determination by the Secretary that a 
particular service region will not use all of the funds so allocated 
for a fiscal year for highly rural or geographically remote veterans, 
the Secretary shall reallocate those funds to one or more other service 
regions, to be available only for treatment of veterans described in 
subsection (c) for purposes described in paragraph (1).
    ``(c) Veterans referred to in subsection (b)(1) as described in 
this subsection are veterans--
            ``(1) who are enrolled in the veterans health care system 
        under section 1705 of this title or have a service-connected 
        disability; and
            ``(2) who, pursuant to subsection (e), are considered to be 
        highly rural or geographically remote veterans.
    ``(d) After the end of the third fiscal year during which this 
section is in effect, the Secretary shall review the operation of this 
section and, if the Secretary determines that an adjustment in the 
percentage in effect under subsection (b)(1) is necessary, shall 
recommend to Congress an adjustment to such percentage. The Secretary 
shall include with any such recommendation a recommendation as to 
whether the Secretary should have the authority to apply the overall 
percentage through the use of different percentages for the various 
geographic service regions of the Department.
    ``(e) The Secretary shall prescribe by regulation the veterans 
considered to be highly rural or geographically remote veterans for the 
purposes of this section. The Secretary shall include as such a veteran 
any veteran for whom the driving time to reach a Department health-care 
facility is 60 minutes or greater. The Secretary may provide for a 
lesser driving time in the case of any veteran if the Secretary 
determines that a driving time of 60 minutes or greater imposes a 
hardship on such veteran or otherwise is in the best interest of the 
veteran.''.
    (2) The table of sections at the beginning of such chapter is 
amended by adding at the end the following new item:

``1730A. Access to care for rural veterans.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--Section 1730A of title 38, United States Code, 
as added by subsection (a), shall take effect beginning with funds 
appropriated for fiscal year 2005.
                                 <all>