United States 115th Congress Status: In Committee 1 D cosponsors

S 706 — Quicker Veterans Benefits Delivery Act of 2017

Last action — Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

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  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. 2
    In Committee
  3. 3
    Passed Senate
  4. 4
    Passed House
  5. 5
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill died with 115th Congress. It reached “In Committee” and never advanced before the session ended, so it can no longer move — a new version would have to be reintroduced in the current session.

This bill is no longer active — its legislative session has ended, so there is no live prognosis. It would have to be reintroduced in the current session to move again.

Summary

Quicker Veterans Benefits Delivery Act of 2017 This bill requires (current law authorizes) the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to accept, for purposes of establishing a claim for veterans disability benefits, a report of a medical examination administered by a private physician without requiring confirmation by a Veterans Health Administration physician if the report is sufficiently complete (defined as competent, credible, probative, and containing such information as required to make a decision on the claim for which the report is provided). The VA is required to submit: (1) a report on the progress of the VA's Acceptable Clinical Evidence initiative in reducing the necessity for in-person disability examinations, and (2) an annual report for each VA regional office regarding claims for which private medical evidence was determined to be unacceptable.

Bill Text

How this bill changes current law

3 changes Share ↗

Compared against current U.S. Code AI-generated reading aid — verify against the official bill.

The bill amends 38 U.S.C. § 5125 to require the acceptance of complete medical reports from private physicians and defines what 'sufficiently complete' means.

  • 38 U.S.C. § 5125

    For purposes → (a) In General.--For purposes

    It adds a designation to clarify that this section includes a general provision.

  • 38 U.S.C. § 5125

    may → shall

    It changes the requirement for accepting medical reports from 'may' to 'shall', making it mandatory.

  • 38 U.S.C. § 5125

    (b) Sufficiently Complete Defined.--For purposes of a report described in subsection (a), the term 'sufficiently complete' means competent, credible, probative, and containing such information as may be required to make a decision on the claim for which the report is provided.

    It adds a new definition for what constitutes a 'sufficiently complete' medical report.

Action History

  1. Introduced in Senate

  2. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

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1 sponsors · 0 co-sponsors · 546 not signed on

Sponsors (1)

Co-sponsors (0)

None.

Not signed on (546)

546 members have not signed on to this bill.

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"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Subjects

veterans
Cross-referencing the record. Reading this bill against every other bill in the corpus by meaning, not keywords. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Matching · Ranking · Engrossing

Frequently asked questions

What does S 706 do?
Quicker Veterans Benefits Delivery Act of 2017 This bill requires (current law authorizes) the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to accept, for purposes of establishing a claim for veterans disability benefits, a report of a medical examination administered by a private physician without requiring confirmation by a Veterans Health Administration physician if the report is sufficiently complete (defined as competent, credible, probative, and containing such information as required to make a decision on the claim for which the report is provided). The VA is required to submit: (1) a report on the progress of the VA's Acceptable Clinical Evidence initiative in reducing the necessity for in-person disability examinations, and (2) an annual report for each VA regional office regarding claims for which private medical evidence was determined to be unacceptable.
Who sponsors S 706?
S 706 is sponsored by Franken, Al (Democratic).
What is the current status of S 706?
This bill died with 115th Congress. It reached “In Committee” and never advanced before the session ended, so it can no longer move — a new version would have to be reintroduced in the current session.
Where can I track S 706?
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Last checked for changes 3 months ago · updated continuously

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