HR3627-119

What This Bill Does

The Justice for America's Veterans and Survivors Act creates a VA mortality-reporting requirement in title 38. The Veterans Affairs Secretary must submit an annual report to the House and Senate Veterans' Affairs Committees containing data and information on causes of death among veterans. For each veteran who died during the reporting period, VA must identify whether the veteran had a service-connected disability rated as total, the primary cause of death, any secondary cause of death, and whether the veteran died by suicide secondary to a service-connected disability rated as total. For each primary cause identified, VA must also report the total number of veterans who died from that cause. The bill gives congressional overseers and survivor advocates more structured data on veteran mortality and the relationship between total service-connected disability and suicide.

Who Benefits and How

Veterans' families benefit from better congressional visibility into causes of death among veterans. Veteran suicide-prevention advocates benefit from annual data on suicide secondary to total service-connected disabilities. Congressional veterans committees benefit from structured mortality data for oversight and legislation. Veterans health researchers benefit from primary and secondary cause-of-death information tied to service-connected disability status.

Who Bears the Burden and How

VA data staff must compile individual and aggregate cause-of-death information each year. Veterans Benefits Administration staff must connect mortality data with total service-connected disability ratings. VA privacy and records offices must manage sensitive death, disability, and suicide information. Congressional staff must interpret the annual reports and decide whether follow-up policy changes are needed.

Key Provisions

• Requires VA to submit an annual report on causes of death among veterans.
• Requires identification of total service-connected disability status for each deceased veteran.
• Requires primary and secondary cause-of-death information.
• Requires reporting on suicide secondary to a total service-connected disability.
• Requires aggregate totals by each primary cause of death.