NOPAIN for Veterans Act

This bill makes the Department of Veterans Affairs add certain non-opioid pain medicines to its main drug list so veterans can get them more easily. These are FDA‑approved drugs or biologics that relieve pain after surgery without using the body’s opioid receptors. The VA must add them within a year once they qualify for certain Medicare extra-payment status and must include them on its drug standardization list as well. Money from the Cost of War Toxic Exposures Fund cannot be used for this, and the VA has to put the changes into action within 90 days after the law is passed.

Key points:

• Who is affected: Veterans using VA health care; the VA’s pharmacy system.
• What changes: Required coverage of qualifying non-opioid, post-surgery pain treatments in the VA’s national formulary and standardization list; a definition of these products is added to law.
• Limits on funding: No use of the Cost of War Toxic Exposures Fund for this purpose.
• When: VA must implement the changes within 90 days of enactment; new qualifying drugs must be added within one year of meeting Medicare-related criteria.