S3999Referred to Committee

Women Veterans Specialty Care Access Act

Share:
Introduced
In Committee
3
Passed One Chamber
4
Passed Both
5
Signed into Law
119th
Congress
2026-03-05
Introduced
2
Cosponsors
S
ⓘ
Type

Sponsor

Marsha Blackburn
Marsha Blackburn
Republican · TN · Senator
Votes with party: 74.8% (813 recorded votes)

Full profile: /officials/B001243

Source: Congress.gov · FEC

Cosponsors (2)

Members who have signed on to support this bill since introduction. Source: Congress.gov.

Latest Action

The most recent step in the bill's legislative path. Committee Activity below shows referrals and reports; the full action-by-action history including floor proceedings lives at Congress.gov →

Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held.

2026-04-29

Source: Congress.gov

Committee Activity

Currently in

Previously

Plain-English Summary

This bill would expand healthcare services available to women veterans by requiring the Department of Veterans Affairs to improve access to specialty care services tailored to women's health needs. The legislation aims to address gaps in medical services for female veterans, such as reproductive health, gynecological care, and other gender-specific treatments that may be harder to find at VA facilities. Women veterans would benefit from better availability of these specialized services either through VA providers or partnerships with private healthcare networks.

AI-assisted summary generated from the official bill metadata (title, subjects, actions) sourced from Congress.gov. Cached and reviewed. Always verify against the official text linked below.

Subjects

Armed Forces and National Security

Full Bill Text

Verbatim text published on Congress.gov via GovInfo. Use Cmd+F / Ctrl+F to search within this excerpt.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [S. 3999 Introduced in Senate (IS)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 3999 To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that women veterans may schedule appointments for women's specialty care under the laws administered by the Secretary without requiring a referral, and for other purposes. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES March 5, 2026 Mrs. Blackburn (for herself and Ms. Hassan) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that women veterans may schedule appointments for women's specialty care under the laws administered by the Secretary without requiring a referral, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Women Veterans Specialty Care Access Act''. SEC. 2. DIRECT SCHEDULING OF WOMEN'S SPECIALTY CARE FOR WOMEN VETERANS. (a) In General.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall ensure that any covered veteran may directly schedule an appointment for women's specialty care, including through the Veterans Community Care Program under section 1703 of title 38, United States Code, without requiring a referral from a primary care provider of the Department of Veterans Affairs. (b) Availability.--The Secretary shall ensure that direct scheduling under subsection (a) is available-- (1) through each medical center or clinic of the Department that offers women's specialty care; and (2) via telephone, online scheduling tools, and any other modality used by the Department for scheduling of specialty care. (c) Prohibition on Additional Administrative Barriers.--The Secretary may not require any additional approval, referral, or screening step as a condition of a covered veteran accessing women's specialty care. (d) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be construed to alter or waive eligibility or access standards for the receipt of care or services under section 1703 of title 38, United States Code. (e) Definitions.--In this section: (1) Covered veteran.--The term ``covered veteran'' means a woman veteran enrolled in the system of annual patient enrollment of the Department of Veterans Affairs established and operated under section 1705(a) of title 38, United States Code, who is eligible for the receipt of women's specialty care under the laws administered by the Secretary. (2) Women's specialty care.--The term ``women's specialty care'' means gynecology care, obstetrics care, maternity care, and postpartum care. <all>
Open clean-text viewRead on Congress.gov →

Related legislation

Bills by the same sponsor or covering overlapping subjects.