Sponsors (10)
The bill expands VA telehealth and mail-order pharmacy access for veterans in the Freely Associated States and delays a pension payment deadline to avoid an abrupt change, improving access and administrative clarity but increasing VA/taxpayer costs and creating short-term implementation and reporting burdens, while some veterans may still be excluded by existing agreements.
Veterans in the Freely Associated States will gain access to VA telehealth services and VA mail-order pharmacy within one year, improving access to care and continuity of medications for those who rely on mailed prescriptions.
Taxpayers, veterans, and VA overseers will have increased transparency and clearer administrative authority because the bill requires quarterly reporting to veterans’ affairs and appropriations committees and clarifies treatment of beneficiary travel payments under the renamed statute.
Veterans receiving pension payments will retain the eligibility for the payment-limit exception for an additional two months (through March 31, 2033), avoiding an abrupt cutoff and giving beneficiaries and administrators more time to adjust.
Taxpayers (and the VA budget) will face added costs from expanding telehealth and mail-order pharmacy services, likely increasing appropriations requests or requiring fund reallocation within the VA.
Veterans and VA staff may experience operational strain and service disruptions because implementing the new services within one year and meeting ongoing quarterly reporting requirements could stretch staffing, IT systems, and administrative capacity.
Some veterans in the Freely Associated States may still face limits on access because existing international or bilateral agreements could constrain who actually receives the new benefits, leaving portions of the target population without full access.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Requires VA to provide telehealth and mail-order pharmacy to eligible veterans in the Freely Associated States within one year, adds quarterly cost/implementation reports, and moves a statutory date to March 31, 2033.
Requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide telehealth and mail-order pharmacy benefits to eligible veterans residing in the Freely Associated States, with the VA to begin furnishing those services no later than one year after enactment. It also renames an existing beneficiary-travel payment authority reference, requires the VA to report quarterly to congressional veterans’ affairs and appropriations committees on implementation status and costs, and moves a statutory cutoff date for a pension-payment limit from January 31, 2033 to March 31, 2033.
Introduced December 11, 2025 by Jerry Moran · Last progress December 18, 2025