[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 89 (Friday, May 8, 2026)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 25256-25257]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2026-09144]


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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

38 CFR Part 17

[Docket No. VA-2024-VHA-0031]
RIN 2900-AS25


Updates to Waiver of Charges for Copayments

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs.

ACTION: Proposed rule; withdrawal.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is withdrawing a 
document published in the Federal Register on December 17, 2024, that 
requested public comment on VA's proposal to revise its medical 
regulations to allow VA to initiate a waiver request for debt 
accumulated from health care copayments on behalf of veterans in 
certain circumstances and to remove the requirement that veterans 
submit VA Form 5655 when seeking a waiver of copayment debt. VA is 
withdrawing the proposed rule because VA has determined the proposed 
regulation is no longer necessary.

DATES: The proposed rule published at 89 FR 102031 on December 17, 
2024, is withdrawn as of May 8, 2026.

ADDRESSES: The docket for this withdrawn proposed rule is available at 
www.regulations.gov/docket/VA-2024-VHA-0031.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kevin Johnson, Director, Revenue 
Operations, Office of Finance, Veterans Health Administration, (562) 
480-2890.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In a document published in the Federal 
Register on December 17, 2024, VA proposed to revise its medical 
regulations to allow VA to initiate a waiver request for debt 
accumulated from health care copayments on behalf of veterans in 
certain circumstances and to remove the requirement that veterans 
submit VA Form 5655 when seeking a waiver of copayment debt.
    On November 20, 2025, VA announced it would relieve veterans of 
more than $272 million in potential medical bills that accrued when 
certain copayment claims processing and collections stopped in early 
2023, including the copayments giving rise to this rulemaking.\1\ 
Therefore, VA is withdrawing the proposed rule because it is no longer 
necessary.
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    \1\ https://news.va.gov/press-room/va-provides-veterans-relief-from-biden-era-backlogged-medical-bills/ (last accessed December 3, 
2025).
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Signing Authority

    Douglas A. Collins, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, approved this

[[Page 25257]]

document on April 20, 2026, and authorized the undersigned to sign and 
submit the document to the Office of the Federal Register for 
publication electronically as an official document of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs.

Gabriela DeCuir,
Alternate Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Veterans 
Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2026-09144 Filed 5-7-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8320-01-P