Sponsor
Martin Heinrich
Senator · D-NM
The bill secures higher, more predictable pay for homemaker and home health aides and increases transparency and oversight to improve veteran access, while raising VA costs and adding reporting burdens on VA staff.
Veterans who receive homemaker and home health aide services (and the aides who serve them) will get restored, higher reimbursement rates and a 90-day notice requirement before rates can be cut, giving caregivers more stable pay and providers more predictability to continue serving veterans.
Congress and the public will get clearer information through VA disclosures of rate-setting methods and annual reports on provider adequacy and geographic gaps, improving oversight and enabling targeted action to fix access shortfalls for veterans.
Locking in higher reimbursement rates increases VA spending, which could strain the VA budget or force trade-offs with other VA programs and services (a cost ultimately borne by taxpayers or reallocated within VA).
New disclosure and annual reporting requirements create additional administrative work for the VA, diverting staff time and resources to prepare detailed analyses and reports.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Senator · D-NM
Restores VA homemaker/home health aide reimbursement rates to Dec 31, 2025 levels, limits future cuts without 90 days' notice, and requires methodological and provider-adequacy reports to Congress.
Official title: Amend title 38, United States Code, to ensure fair reimbursement rates for home and community-based services furnished by the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 16, 2026 by Martin Heinrich · Last progress July 16, 2026
Restores and protects VA reimbursement rates for the Homemaker and Home Health Aide program at the levels in effect on December 31, 2025, unless Congress is given at least 90 days' notice before any later reduction. Requires the VA Secretary to provide detailed transparency about how those reimbursement rates are set and to report regularly on provider adequacy and geographic gaps in participation. The bill also mandates an initial, detailed methodological report within 90 days on the data, models, contractor roles, and adjustments used to set rates, plus an initial and annual provider adequacy report to Congress describing gaps and plans to ensure adequate participation by home-based care providers, especially in rural areas.