US Congress Senate Bill 2988 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum:
Status: Introduced on December 5 2019 - 25% progression, died in committee
Action: 2019-12-05 - Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Pending: Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Introduced) [PDF]

Requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) to implement methods and systems to address potential financial exploitation of individuals who receive VA pensions for non-service-connected disability, death, or service. Specifically, the bill requires the VA to develop a method for soliciting and collecting information on complaints received, referrals made, and actions taken by the VA pension management centers in cases of potential financial exploitation. The VA must also (1) develop a plan to regularly assess the collected information to identify trends of potential financial exploitation, (2) and outline actions it can take to improve education and training to address those trends. The bill requires the VBA to update guidance and training curriculum for claims processors regarding the evaluation of questionable medical expenses on pension applications, develop a method for identifying and tracking the number of individuals who have received pension overpayments, conduct an evaluation of the feasibility and advisability of requiring claims processors to take additional actions to verify direct deposit information, identify legislative or administrative actions that would ensure pension payments are provided to the correct recipients, ensure that specified pension documents include a notice that the VA does not charge a fee in connection with the filing of a pension application, and develop a plan for educating vulnerable individuals about potential financial exploitation relating to the receipt of the specified pensions.

Veteran Pension Protection Act of 2019

Sen. Jon Tester [D-MT]	Sen. Susan Collins [R-ME]	Sen. Robert Casey [D-PA]	Sen. Steve Daines [R-MT]
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema [I-AZ]

Date	Chamber	Action
2019-12-05	Senate	Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

SB4511 (Related) 2020-12-08 - Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 603.
HB7952 (Related) 2020-10-06 - Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
HB7105 (Related) 2021-01-05 - Became Public Law No: 116-315.

Type	Source
Summary	https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/2988/all-info
Text	https://www.congress.gov/116/bills/s2988/BILLS-116s2988is.pdf