[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 116 (Wednesday, June 24, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3268-S3269]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 1777. Mr. BLUMENTHAL submitted an amendment intended to be 
proposed by him to the bill S. 4049, to authorize appropriations for 
fiscal year 2021 for military activities of the Department of Defense, 
for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department 
of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal 
year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as 
follows:

       At the end of subtitle G of title X, add the following:

     SEC. 1085. REMOVAL OF LIMITATION ON REIMBURSEMENT FOR 
                   EMERGENCY TREATMENT OF AMOUNTS OWED TO A THIRD 
                   PARTY OR FOR WHICH THE VETERAN IS RESPONSIBLE 
                   UNDER A HEALTH-PLAN CONTRACT.

       (a) In General.--Subsection (c)(4) of section 1725 of title 
     38, United States Code, is amended by striking subparagraph 
     (D).
       (b) Application of Amendment.--The amendment made by 
     subsection (a) shall apply with respect to any reimbursement 
     request under section 1725 of such title submitted to the 
     Department of Veterans Affairs for emergency treatment 
     furnished on or after February 1, 2010.
       (c) Impact on Existing Court Case.--Nothing in this section 
     or the amendment made by this section shall limit the rights 
     of any member of the Wolfe class seeking relief in Wolfe v. 
     Wilkie, No. 18-6091 (Vet. App. filed October 30, 2018).
       (d) Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) Emergency treatment; health-plan contract.--The terms 
     ``emergency treatment'' and ``health-plan contract'' have the 
     meanings given those terms in section 1725(f) of title 38, 
     United States Code.
       (2) Reimbursement request.--The term ``reimbursement 
     request'' includes any claim by a veteran for reimbursement 
     of a copayment, deductible, coinsurance, or similar

[[Page S3269]]

     payment for emergency treatment furnished to the veteran in a 
     non-Department of Veterans Affairs facility and made by a 
     veteran who had coverage under a health-plan contract, 
     including any claim for the reasonable value of emergency 
     treatment that was rejected or denied by the Department of 
     Veterans Affairs, whether the rejection or denial was final 
     or not.
                                 ______