HR 1336 — Veterans National Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment Act

changes in existing law made by 
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law 
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new 
matter is printed in italics, and existing law in which no 
change is proposed is shown in roman):

 TITLE 38, UNITED STATES CODE

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 PART IV--GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS

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 CHAPTER 55--MINORS, INCOMPETENTS, AND OTHER WARDS

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Sec. 5503. Hospitalized veterans and estates of incompetent 
 institutionalized veterans

 (a)(1)(A) Where any veteran having neither spouse nor child 
is being furnished domiciliary care by the Department, no 
pension in excess of $90 per month shall be paid to or for the 
veteran for any period after the end of the third full calendar 
month following the month of admission for such care.
 (B) Except as provided in subparagraph (D) of this paragraph, 
where any veteran having neither spouse nor child is being 
furnished nursing home care by the Department, no pension in 
excess of $90 per month shall be paid to or for the veteran for 
any period after the end of the third full calendar month 
following the month of admission for such care. Any amount in 
excess of $90 per month to which the veteran would be entitled 
but for the application of the preceding sentence shall be 
deposited in a revolving fund at the Department medical 
facility which furnished the veteran nursing care, and such 
amount shall be available for obligation without fiscal year 
limitation to help defray operating expenses of that facility.
 (C) No pension in excess of $90 per month shall be paid to or 
for a veteran having neither spouse nor child for any period 
after the month in which such veteran is readmitted for care 
described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of this paragraph and 
furnished by the Department if such veteran is readmitted 
within six months of a period of care in connection with which 
pension was reduced pursuant to subparagraph (A) or (B) of this 
paragraph.
 (D) In the case of a veteran being furnished nursing home 
care by the Department and with respect to whom subparagraph 
(B) of this paragraph requires a reduction in pension, such 
reduction shall not be made for a period of up to three 
additional calendar months after the last day of the third 
month referred to in such subparagraph if the Secretary 
determines that the primary purpose for the furnishing of such 
care during such additional period is for the Department to 
provide such veteran with a prescribed program of 
rehabilitation services, under chapter 17 of this title, 
designed to restore such veteran's ability to function within 
such veteran's family and community. If the Secretary 
determines that it is necessary, after such period, for the 
veteran to continue such program of rehabilitation services in 
order to achieve the purposes of such program and that the 
primary purpose of furnishing nursing home care to the veteran 
continues to be the provision of such program to the veteran, 
the reduction in pension required by subparagraph (B) of this 
paragraph shall not be made for the number of calendar months 
that the Secretary determines is necessary for the veteran to 
achieve the purposes of such program.
 (2) The provisions of paragraph (1) shall also apply to a 
veteran being furnished such care who has a spouse but whose 
pension is payable under section 1521(b) of this title. In such 
a case, the Secretary may apportion and pay to the spouse, upon 
an affirmative showing of hardship, all or any part of the 
amounts in excess of the amount payable to the veteran while 
being furnished such care which would be payable to the veteran 
if pension were payable under section 1521(c) of this title.
 (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section or 
any other provision of law, no reduction shall be made in the 
pension of any veteran for any part of the period during which 
the veteran is furnished hospital treatment, or institutional 
or domiciliary care, for Hansen's disease, by the United States 
or any political subdivision thereof.
 (c) Where any veteran in receipt of an aid and attendance 
allowance described in subsection (r) or (t) of section 1114 of 
this title is hospitalized at Government expense, such 
allowance shall be discontinued from the first day of the 
second calendar month which begins after the date of the 
veteran's admission for such hospitalization for so long as 
such hospitalization continues. Any discontinuance required by 
administrative regulation, during hospitalization of a veteran 
by the Department, of increased pension based on need of 
regular aid and attendance or additional compensation based on 
need of regular aid and attendance as described in subsection 
(l) or (m) of section 1114 of this title, shall not be 
effective earlier than the first day of the second calendar 
month which begins after the date of the veteran's admission 
for hospitalization. In case a veteran affected by this 
subsection leaves a hospital against medical advice and is 
thereafter admitted to hospitalization within six months from 
the date of such departure, such allowance, increased pension, 
or additional compensation, as the case may be, shall be 
discontinued from the date of such readmission for so long as 
such hospitalization continues.
 (d)(1) For the purposes of this subsection--
 (A) the term ``Medicaid plan'' means a State plan for 
 medical assistance referred to in section 1902(a) of 
 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396a(a)); and
 (B) the term ``nursing facility'' means a nursing 
 facility described in section 1919 of such Act (42 
 U.S.C. 1396r), other than a facility that is a State 
 home with respect to which the Secretary makes per diem 
 payments for nursing home care pursuant to section 
 1741(a) of this title.
 (2) If a veteran having neither spouse nor child is covered 
by a Medicaid plan for services furnished such veteran by a 
nursing facility, no pension in excess of $90 per month shall 
be paid to or for the veteran for any period after the month of 
admission to such nursing facility.
 (3) Notwithstanding any provision of title XIX of the Social 
Security Act, the amount of the payment paid a nursing facility 
pursuant to a Medicaid plan for services furnished a veteran 
may not be reduced by any amount of pension permitted to be 
paid such veteran under paragraph (2) of this subsection.
 (4) A veteran is not liable to the United States for any 
payment of pension in excess of the amount permitted under this 
subsection that is paid to or for the veteran by reason of the 
inability or failure of the Secretary to reduce the veteran's 
pension under this subsection unless such inability or failure 
is the result of a willful concealment by the veteran of 
information necessary to make a reduction in pension under this 
subsection.
 (5)(A) The provisions of this subsection shall apply with 
respect to a surviving spouse having no child in the same 
manner as they apply to a veteran having neither spouse nor 
child.
 (B) The provisions of this subsection shall apply with 
respect to a child entitled to pension under section 1542 of 
this title in the same manner as they apply to a veteran having 
neither spouse nor child.
 (6) The costs of administering this subsection shall be paid 
for from amounts available to the Department of Veterans 
Affairs for the payment of compensation and pension.
 (7) This subsection expires on [November 30, 2031] October 
30, 2034.

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