Sponsors (14)
The bill strengthens recognition, outreach, and procedural protections for veterans who suffered MST — including tech‑enabled incidents — and creates a near‑term VA study and possible policy fixes, but it will likely increase VA workload and costs, could slow some claim and care timelines, and raises transparency and privacy tradeoffs.
Veterans who experienced military sexual trauma (including tech‑enabled or online MST) will be more clearly recognized and able to access VA health care and disability coverage as the VA studies digital‑era MST and may update policies to close coverage gaps.
Veterans filing MST‑related disability claims will receive MST‑specific claim standards, consideration of mental‑health diagnoses and corroborating evidence, and an opportunity to submit additional corroboration before denial, improving chances of service‑connection and reducing wrongful denials.
Veterans who report MST will get timely, actionable outreach: clear information about VA counseling/treatment (within 14 days) plus contact details for MST coordinators, Vet Centers, VHA facilities, and the Veterans Crisis Line, improving access to support and crisis care.
Expanding coverage, specialized reviews, outreach, and requirements for additional evaluations could substantially increase VA workload and spending, straining capacity, creating longer wait times for care and claims adjudication, and raising costs for taxpayers.
Requiring specialized team reviews, extra evaluations, and referrals may lengthen claim decision timelines and delay access to benefits and care for some claimants while they await medical opinions or reprocessing.
Broader definitions of covered trauma (including possible recommendations to cover non‑sexual online trauma) and strengthened procedural protections are likely to increase appeals, reprocessing, and adjudication complexity, producing uncertainty and administrative backlogs.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Clarifies and expands VA definitions and procedures for military sexual trauma (including online incidents), strengthens MST claims handling and notice rules, and requires a digital‑age MST report.
Introduced April 1, 2025 by Richard Blumenthal · Last progress April 1, 2025
Expands how the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) defines and handles military sexual trauma (MST), including incidents involving online or technological communications, strengthens the rules for evaluating MST-related disability claims, and requires a one-year VA report on how MST works in the digital age. It also requires faster notice to veterans who file MST-related disability claims and gives people who leave service academies options to get records about alleged MST. The changes direct VA to adopt clearer definitions, use specialized claims teams, consider broader types of corroborating evidence (including non-DoD records and behavior changes), and consult veterans groups when preparing the digital-age report. The aim is to improve access to care and compensation for veterans who experienced sexual trauma during service, including incidents that happened through modern communications technology.