On December 13, the Senate approved, by voice vote, the Women Veterans and Other Health Care Improvement Act of 2012 (S. 3313). The Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee advanced the legislation on September 12 (see The Source, 9/14/12).
Sponsored by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the bill would authorize the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide fertility counseling and treatment to severely wounded veterans. Spouses or surrogates of severely wounded veterans also would be eligible for the services. VA also would be authorized to provide adoption assistance to any veteran with a service-connected infertility condition and would be required to cover the costs of such adoptions.
The bill would require VA to collaborate with the Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health to conduct research on the long-term reproductive health care needs of veterans; the findings would be reported to the Veterans Health Administration. VA also would be required to expand the capabilities of the women veterans call center to improve outreach and support.
The legislation would extend and expand VA’s pilot program to provide readjustment counseling to women veterans in retreat settings. The measure also would create a pilot program to provide child care to veterans seeking readjustment counseling or other mental health services at a VA Vet Center; $1 million would be authorized annually for FY2014 through FY2015 for the new program.
During the consideration of the bill, the Senate agreed to the following amendment, by voice vote:
