Sponsor
Bill Cassidy
Senator · R-LA
Senator · R-LA
The bill creates a limited, multi-site pilot letting veterans with acquired brain injury access mission-driven nonprofit care and generating evaluative data for VA programs, but it narrows eligibility, risks constrained nonprofit capacity, and imposes modest new taxpayer costs.
Veterans with acquired brain injury can use Veteran-Directed Care funds to buy services from mission-driven nonprofit providers at multiple VA medical centers, expanding tailored care options and testing regional scalability.
VA administrators, clinicians, and veterans will get formal evaluation data (clinical outcomes and veteran satisfaction) from the pilot that can inform improvements to VA community care programs.
Veterans who do not have a clinical diagnosis of acquired brain injury are excluded from this pilot, leaving many veterans unable to access nonprofit providers under the program.
If mission-driven nonprofits lack sufficient staffing, infrastructure, or capacity, eligible veterans may still face limited provider availability despite authorization to use funds for nonprofit care.
Taxpayers may incur additional administrative and program costs to run the five-year pilot and produce annual reports required by the legislation.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Allows eligible veterans with acquired brain injury to use Veteran‑Directed Care funds to purchase caregiving from qualifying veteran mission‑driven nonprofits through a five‑year VA pilot.
Official title: Require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out a pilot program to use amounts under the Veteran-Directed Care program to provide care to veterans with acquired brain injury, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 16, 2026 by Bill Cassidy · Last progress July 16, 2026
Establishes a five-year VA pilot program allowing eligible veterans with acquired brain injury to use Veteran‑Directed Care program funds to purchase caregiving services from qualifying veteran mission-driven nonprofit organizations. The pilot must be launched within 180 days, operate at least at five VA medical centers, and include annual reporting to congressional veterans’ committees on participation, clinical outcomes, and veteran satisfaction.