{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-fellow-senators-urge-va-comply-2010-law-protecting-veterans-exorbitant", "Grassley, Fellow Senators Urge the VA to Comply with 2010 Law Protecting Veterans from Exorbitant Emergency Room Bills", "2016-12-09", "2016", "2016-12", "Republican", "House", "IA", "Charles Grassley", "G000386", "www.grassley.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Please note: \u00a0Senator Grassley has heard from Iowans who have had this problem where the Department of Veterans Affairs won\u2019t pay for emergency care because the veterans have Medicare even though Medicare doesn\u2019t cover all of the cost, whereas veterans with no other insurance would have it fully covered. \u00a0\u201cCommon sense dictates that the VA fix this. \u00a0That\u2019s what Congress directed the VA to do in enacting legislation in 2010,\u201d Senator Grassley said. \u00a0WASHINGTON\u2014 Led by U.S. Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), 22 senators, including six from the Senate Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee, wrote to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Robert McDonald to urge him to comply with the Emergency Care Fairness Act (ECFA). The ECFA was enacted in 2010 and directed the VA to cover veterans with private health insurance when that insurance doesn\u2019t cover the full amount of non-VA emergency care. Yet since 2010, the VA has not complied with the law, denying hundreds of thousands of veterans\u2019 reimbursement claims for emergency care.\u00a0Earlier this year, a federal court ordered the VA to write regulations that comply with the ECFA. In addition to urging the VA to comply with the law, the senators also requested that the agency fix its mistake and re-open all previously-denied claims.\u00a0\u201cCongress\u2019s clear intent in passing the ECFA was to expand veteran eligibility for reimbursement for emergency treatment furnished to veterans in non-department facilities,\u201d wrote the senators. \u201cSpecifically, congressional intent was to require the VA to act as a secondary payer for emergency treatment costs not covered by the veteran\u2019s third-party insurance. It is evident that the VA has ignored congressional intent. Most troubling is the fact that those who are most affected by the VA\u2019s non-compliance with the ECFA are our elderly veterans, many of whom are living on fixed incomes and have limited resources to pay medical bills.\u201dIn addition to Rounds and Klobuchar, the letter was signed by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). The letter is supported by The American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans and the Paralyzed Veterans of America.Full text of the letter is below:The Honorable Robert McDonald  Secretary of Veterans Affairs  Department of Veterans Affairs  810 Vermont Avenue, NW  Washington, D.C. 20420Dear Secretary McDonald:We write today to express our support for the Veterans Emergency Care Fairness Act of 2009 (ECFA). Six years after enactment of the ECFA, our nation\u2019s veterans continue to bear the burden of emergency treatment costs not covered by veterans\u2019 third-party insurance. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs\u2019 (VA) continued denial of these claims is deeply troubling.\u00a0Congress\u2019s clear intent in passing the ECFA was to expand veteran eligibility for reimbursement for emergency treatment furnished to veterans in non-department facilities. Specifically, congressional intent was to require the VA to act as a secondary payer for emergency treatment costs not covered by the veteran\u2019s third-party insurance. It is evident that the VA has ignored congressional intent. Most troubling is the fact that those who are most affected by the VA\u2019s non-compliance with the ECFA are our elderly veterans, many of whom are living on fixed incomes and have limited resources to pay medical bills. Often, these veterans find themselves dealing with collection agencies as a result of emergency care received in the community. This potentially increases stress for these veterans, causes them to lose faith in the VA and keeps them from seeking future medical attention out of fear of acquiring additional medical bills for which they would be financially responsible. \u00a0As you are aware, on April 8, 2016, in the case of \u201cStaab v. Secretary McDonald,\u201d the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims \u00a0agreed with the appellant\u2019s contention that the VA\u2019s application of 38 U.S.C. \u00a7 1725 frustrates the intent of Congress to reimburse veterans who are not wholly covered by a health-plan contract or other third-party recourse. In its decision, the court ruled that \u201cCongress clearly intended that the VA be responsible for the cost of the emergency treatment which exceeds the amount payable or paid by the third-party insurer.\u201d The court further found the VA\u2019s regulations regarding the ECFA to be invalid and wholly inconsistent with the statute. As a result, the court ruled that 38 C.F.R. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a7 17.1002(f) is held invalid and directed it to be set aside.\u00a0Based upon this ruling, we strongly urge you to bring the VA into compliance with P.L. 111-137 and to amend any policy, regulation or other barrier that results in denial of veterans\u2019 claims for reimbursement for non-department emergency care. \u00a0We further urge you to re-open all previous claims of veterans that were denied because of the VA\u2019s non-compliance with congressional intent and the law. \u00a0Thank you for your attention to our concerns regarding this important issue. We look forward to working closely with you to fully serve the veterans of our great nation. \u00a0Sincerely,\u00a0-30-", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-fellow-senators-urge-va-comply-2010-law-protecting-veterans-exorbitant"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6803700234740973, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}