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H.R. 918: Veteran Urgent Access to Mental Healthcare Act

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H.R. 918: Veteran Urgent Access to Mental Healthcare Act

115th Congress · introduced 2017-02-07 · Armed Forces and National Security · Latest: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

federal

Follow this bill, step by step

  1. Where it came from: introduced 2017-02-07 · official record
  2. Who proposed it: Rep. Coffman, Mike [R-CO-6] · what a sponsor is
  3. What happened next: no floor votes in our records yet. Why?
  4. Where it stands now: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Not final yet: this can still change. We check for updates every day.
  5. If it becomes law and spends money: follow the money to money laws, then agencies and contracts and grants.

What does this mean?

Official title

Veteran Urgent Access to Mental Healthcare Act

Plain summary

Veteran Urgent Access to Mental Healthcare Act (Sec. 2) This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to furnish to former members of the Armed Forces: (1) an initial mental health assessment; and (2) the mental health care services required to treat the member's urgent mental health care needs, including risk of suicide or harming others. A former member of the Armed Forces is an individual who: served in the active military, naval, or air service, was discharged or released under a condition less than honorable (except a dishonorable or bad conduct discharge), has applied for a character of service determination that has not yet been made, and is not otherwise eligible to enroll in the VA health care system by reason of such discharge or release; or while serving in the Armed Forces, was deployed in a theater of combat operations or an area at a time during which hostilities occurred in that area, participated in or experienced such combat operations or hostilities (including by controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle from a location other than such theater or area), or was the victim of a physical assault of a sexual nature, battery of a sexual nature, or sexual harassment. The VA may provide such mental health care services at a non-VA facility if: (1) the receipt of mental health care services by an individual in VA facilities would be clinically inadvisable, or (2) VA facilities are not capable of furnishing such mental health care services to that individual economically because of geographical inaccessibility. The VA shall: (1) seek to ensure that such mental health care services are furnished in a therapeutically appropriate setting, and (2) provide referral services to assist former members who are not eligible for such VA services in obtaining services from non-VA sources. (Sec. 3) The VA shall establish a process by which an individual who was discharged from the Armed Forces can seek a VA determination as to whether the discharge was under a condition barring the individual from receiving a VA benefit. If the VA determines that the individual is so barred, the VA shall provide such individual with information regarding his or her ability to address such condition.

Congressional Research Service summary (Passed House amended), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

What a vote does

A “Yea” vote

If it passes both chambers and is signed, it becomes law.

A “Nay” vote

If it is not passed, current law stays as it is.

PSI Sci description of the legislative step (not an opinion).

What does this mean? (plain words)

Official text

Veteran Urgent Access to Mental Healthcare Act

Source: Congressional Research Service summary (Passed House amended)

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The strongest published arguments

Arguments for (supporters)

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Alternatives

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How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes

Officials and money

Sponsor: Rep. Coffman, Mike [R-CO-6] · 40 cosponsors

Cost estimate: CBO cost estimate: H.R. 918, Veteran Urgent Access to Mental Healthcare Act (2017-09-28)

Cosponsors on this site

Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (D-GA), James A. Himes (D-CT), Jack Bergman (R-MI), Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen (R-AS), Joe Courtney (D-CT), Vern Buchanan (R-FL), John H. Rutherford (R-FL), Clay Higgins (R-LA), Gwen Moore (D-WI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Darren Soto (D-FL), Seth Moulton (D-MA), Steve Cohen (D-TN)

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Words on this page, explained (2)
Appropriation
Money a legislature sets aside by law for a specific purpose. Government agencies may spend public money only as it has been appropriated.
Bill
A proposed law. It becomes law only if it passes the legislature and is signed by the president or governor (or a veto is overridden).

Plain meanings written from linked sources. All words.

Sources

Record fed-us-cong115-hr918 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong115 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong115