Duckworth, Collins Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Eliminate Unfair Out-of-Pocket Health Care Costs for Veterans

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—a member of the U.S. Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee (SVAC)—and U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced bipartisan legislation that would eliminate out-of-pocket costs that Veterans are disproportionately forced to pay for preventative health care services they’ve earned through their military service. The Senators’ bipartisan Copay Fairness for Veterans Act would align the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) preventive health requirements with industry standards by removing the harmful copayment requirements for preventive health services. Under current law, Veterans covered by the VA are virtually the only group in the country who must pay out-of-pocket copayments for their preventative health care.

“After all they’ve done to serve our nation, it’s unacceptable that Veterans covered by the VA are uniquely singled out and forced to pay out-of-pocket for preventative health care,” said Duckworth. “There’s no reason these copayments should be covered for nearly every ACA patient but not for our heroes. Our bipartisan legislation would eliminate these costs and help ensure VA patients are treated more fairly in the health care market.”

“Preventive care helps veterans stay healthy and catch serious conditions early, before they become more difficult and costly to treat,” said Senator Collins. “This bipartisan legislation would eliminate unnecessary copayments for preventive services and make it easier for veterans to access the high-quality health care they have earned through their service to our country.”

Current law requires patients of the VA to make copayments for certain preventative health services and prescription drugs. In contrast, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires most private insurers to pay for preventative services without any out-of-pocket costs to the patient—and servicemembers and military retirees who use TRICARE also don’t have to pay these fees. Veterans covered by the VA are uniquely singled out and forced to foot the bill for these costs.

The Copay Fairness for Veterans Act would address this problem by:

• Eliminating Veteran copays for preventative health medications and services;
• Aligning prescription copayment standards for Veterans with private industry and military-retiree standards; and
• Ensuring access to any contraceptive approved, granted or cleared by the Food and Drug Administration without a copay.

The legislation is endorsed by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), American Legion and Disabled American Veterans.

The full text of the legislation is available on Senator Duckworth’s website.

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