United States Code

38 U.S.C. § 5503

Hospitalized veterans and estates of incompetent institutionalized veterans

Statute Watch

Get an alert when any bill in Congress would change this law — and every time it moves.

Sign in to follow →

Bills that would change it 46

  • HR 6047 Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson Veterans Benefits Expansion Act of 2026 Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 3726 Fisher House Availability Act of 2026 Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 3482 Veterans Community Care Scheduling Improvement Act Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 7083 CRUISE Act Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 2137 Review Every Veterans Claim Act of 2025 Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • S 1726 ASSIST Act of 2025 Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • S 2683 VSAFE Act of 2025 Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 980 Veterans Readiness and Employment Improvement Act of 2025 Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 1458 VETS Opportunity Act of 2025 Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 3123 Ernest Peltz Accrued Veterans Benefits Act Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 1663 VSAFE Act of 2025 Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • S 3436 Caring for Veterans and Strengthening National Security Act Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • S 2737 Veterans National Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment Act Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 2701 Fallen Servicemembers Religious Heritage Restoration Act Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 695 Medal of Honor Act Amends 5503(d)(7) · enacted · 119th Congress
  • S 2296 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 3812 STRIVE Act of 2025 Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 3483 FRAUD Act of 2025 Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 3834 Protecting Veteran’s Claim Options Act Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 647 Ensuring Veterans’ Final Resting Place Act of 2025 Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 1336 Veterans National Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment Act Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 2605 SAVES Act Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 3481 Delivering Digitally to Our Veterans Act of 2025 Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 2721 Honoring Our Heroes Act of 2025 Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 3494 VA Hospital Inventory Management System Authorization Act Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 1860 Women Veterans Cancer Care Coordination Act Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 2034 Edith Nourse Rogers STEM Scholarship Opportunity Act Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 3400 TRAVEL Act of 2025 Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • S 2501 VSAFE Act of 2025 Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 1969 No Wrong Door for Veterans Act Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 1364 Automotive Support Services to Improve Safe Transportation Act of 2025 Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 1147 Veterans Accessibility Advisory Committee Act of 2025 Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 1286 Simplifying Forms for Veterans Claims Act Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 1578 Veterans Claims Education Act of 2025 Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 3132 CHOICE for Veterans Act of 2025 Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 530 ACES Act Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 1039 Clear Communication for Veterans Claims Act Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 877 Deliver for Veterans Act Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 586 Vietnam Veterans Liver Fluke Cancer Study Act Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 119th Congress
  • HR 7816 Clear Communication for Veterans Claims Act Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 118th Congress
  • HR 7939 Veterans Auto and Education Improvement Act of 2022 Amends 5503(d)(7) · enacted · 117th Congress
  • S 2372 VA MISSION Act of 2018 Amends 5503(d)(7) · enacted · 115th Congress
  • HR 5674 VA MISSION Act of 2018 Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 115th Congress
  • S 114 VA Choice and Quality Employment Act of 2017 Amends 5503(d)(7) · enacted · 115th Congress
  • HR 95 Veterans' Access to Child Care Act Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 115th Congress
  • HR 1058 VA Provider Equity Act Amends 5503(d)(7) · introduced · 115th Congress

The law today

From the official United States Code, current through Public Law 119-124.

(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 January 31, 2033.
Official text at uscode.house.gov ↗