TRAVEL Act of 2025
TRAVEL Act of 2025
Plain Language Summary
# TRAVEL Act of 2025 Summary **What the bill does:** The TRAVEL Act would allow the Department of Veterans Affairs to send doctors from its main healthcare system to work temporarily in U.S. territories—including Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands—for up to one year at a time. These traveling physicians would provide medical care to veterans in these areas.
To encourage doctors to take these assignments, the VA would offer them special bonuses for relocating or staying in these positions. The bill also requires these traveling doctors to work with local non-VA doctors when needed to make sure veterans receive quality, coordinated care. **Who it affects:** The primary beneficiaries are veterans living in U.S. territories who may have limited access to VA healthcare services. VA physicians would be the ones recruited for these assignments, and the bill would increase their compensation through relocation or retention bonuses. **Current status:** The bill has passed the House of Representatives and is moving through the legislative process.
CRS Official Summary
The Territorial Response and Access to Veterans' Essential Lifecare Act or the TRAVEL Act of 2025This bill authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to assign a physician who has been appointed in the Veterans Health Administration to serve as a traveling physician for a period of not more than one year. Such physician must provide health care to veterans at VA facilities located in American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and any other territory or possession of the United States.Traveling physicians must coordinate with non-VA providers when necessary to ensure high quality and coordinated care for veterans receiving hospital care and medical services.The VA must provide a relocation or retention bonus to traveling physicians.
Latest Action
Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.