Take Care of America’s Veterans Act Proposes Broad Benefits Changes
Lawmakers have introduced a sweeping bill expanding financial support for combat-injured personnel and surviving spouses. The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act (H.R. 9237) was introduced on June 10 in the House and Senate, creating a larger bill from over 60 smaller military benefits proposals.
The proposed law alters healthcare, housing, and compensation programs across the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs, but faces pushback over proposed cuts to future disability payouts to fund the legislation.
Take Care of America’s Veterans Act Proposes Broad Benefits Changes
One important feature of the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act is the inclusion of the Major Richard Star Act, which allows some 54,000 combat-injured personnel who were medically retired before reaching 20 years of service to receive both their full military retirement pay and VA disability compensation. Current law requires a dollar-for-dollar reduction in retirement pay for this group.
Love Lives On Act
The bill includes the Love Lives On Act, which removes the remarriage penalty for surviving spouses. Spouses of those killed on active duty or from service-connected disabilities will keep their Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) and Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuities regardless of remarriage age.
Rules at press time halt these benefits if a spouse remarries before age 55.
Guard and Reserve Home Loans
The package eases active-duty service time requirements for National Guard and Reserve members to qualify for VA home loans. It also raises monthly educational assistance and stipends for Gold Star families and dependents of severely injured veterans.
VA Healthcare and Community Care Expansion
The Veterans’ ACCESS Act expands the VA community care program, letting more veterans use private, local healthcare providers. The bill also funds a $200 million transition for VA scheduling and database systems to a zero-trust cybersecurity architecture.
Why the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act Faces Opposition
The Congressional Budget Office estimates the Major Richard Star Act alone will cost $78 billion over 10 years. To meet federal budget rules, the package uses a funding offset that has drawn opposition from veterans groups and labor unions.
The bill codifies proposed changes to the VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities for future claimants, including changes to independent disability ratings for tinnitus and tighter criteria for sleep apnea. Some lawmakers believe the changes would save an estimated $38 billion to $57 billion over a decade.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Disabled American Veterans (DAV), and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) oppose the legislation. These groups state that the provision forces future disabled veterans to pay for the benefits of others. The rating changes could affect up to 1.5 million future claimants.
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) also opposes the bill. The union objects to expanding private healthcare options and a provision that moves 5,000 VA psychologists to a different federal personnel system, which the union states limits collective bargaining rights.
Military Benefits Affected by the Proposed Legislation
Every military, veteran, and survivor benefit change proposed under the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act (H.R. 9237 / S. 4744) includes the following provisions:
- Concurrent Receipt Expansion (Major Richard Star Act). Eliminates the financial offset for approximately 54,000 to 59,000 combat-injured troops medically retired before reaching 20 years in uniform. This allows them to receive full military retirement pay alongside their VA disability compensation without a dollar-for-dollar reduction.
- Survivor Remarriage Penalty Elimination (Love Lives On Act). Permits surviving spouses of personnel killed on active duty or from service-connected disabilities to remarry without losing Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) or Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuities.
- TRICARE Restorations. Restores access to TRICARE healthcare coverage for surviving spouses if a subsequent marriage ends due to death, divorce, or annulment.
- ALS Survivor Benefit Increase. Extends increased dependency and indemnity compensation to surviving spouses of veterans who die from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
- Catastrophically Disabled & Gold Star Payouts (Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson Act). Increases monthly Special Monthly Compensation (SMC) payouts for the most severely, catastrophically disabled veterans, and raises baseline financial benefits for Gold Star families and survivors.
- Guard and Reserve Housing Access (Home Affordability for Guard and Reserve Act). Lowers the active-duty service time barriers required for National Guard and Reserve personnel to qualify for VA home loans.
- Online Student Housing Baseline (GI Bill Benefits Expansion). Increases the monthly housing allowance (MHA) for student veterans enrolled in online education programs or participating in apprenticeships and on-the-job training.
- Paid-In GI Bill Reimbursement. Establishes a mechanism to reimburse service members for funds they personally paid into legacy GI Bill programs.
- Tech Career Training Expansion. Broadens access to veteran funding for in-demand technology career fields and licensing or certification tests.
- Healthcare Outsourcing (Veterans’ ACCESS Act). Expands the Veterans Community Care Program, loosening wait-time and drive-time rules to allow more veterans to opt out of the core VA system and receive medical care from private, local healthcare providers.
- Unified Scheduling Interface. Mandates the deployment of a single, standardized scheduling platform to help VA staff book both internal VA and external private community care appointments simultaneously.
- Medical Vehicle Modification Payouts (CRUISE & ASSIST Acts). Streamlines timelines for disabled veterans’ vehicle modifications, clears backlogs on certain overdue payments, and covers a wider range of medically necessary vehicle alterations.
- Tinnitus Disability Pay Elimination (Funding Offset). Eliminates independent, compensable disability ratings for future claimants suffering from service-connected tinnitus.
- Sleep Apnea Pay Reductions (Funding Offset). Restructures the VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities to sharply reduce future disability compensation percentages for veterans who manage sleep apnea with a CPAP machine.
- Transition Assistance Program (TAP Expansion & TAP Promotion Act). Broadens mandatory TAP counseling and access to resources for military personnel transitioning out of active duty across all ranks.
- Caregiver Support Enhancements. Mandates that the VA evaluate continuity of care and the explicit need for a caregiver or attendant when processing claims under the Community Care Program.
- Digital Communication Options (Delivering Digitally to Our Veterans Act). Gives veterans the explicit option to select faster digital communication channels for their benefits, claims processing, and notices, rather than relying on paper mail.
- Claims Adjudication Rules. Prohibits the VA from denying disability benefits claims solely due to missing steps or specific administrative omissions if service-connection evidence exists.
What is the Timeline for the Bill?
The bill is now with the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs committees. Leadership in both chambers has announced a negotiated plan to vote on the package as part of a legislative push ahead of the United States’ 250th anniversary. This is an ongoing story.
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About the author
Editor-in-Chief Joe Wallace is a 13-year veteran of the United States Air Force and a former reporter/editor for Air Force Television News and the Pentagon Channel. His freelance work includes contract work for Motorola, VALoans.com, and Credit Karma. He is co-founder of Dim Art House in Springfield, Illinois, and spends his non-writing time as an abstract painter, independent publisher, and occasional filmmaker.
