[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3999 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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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.
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