Veterans win free contraception—VA copays capped or eliminated
H.R. 211 — Equal Access to Contraception for Veterans Act · Filed by Julia Brownley (D-CA) · 88 cosponsors · Introduced Jan 6, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends veterans' healthcare law to cap copayments for contraception provided by the VA. Veterans can no longer be charged more than the VA's actual cost for contraceptive medications, and for contraceptives that federal health insurance law requires to be free (no copay), the VA must provide them at no cost to veterans.
Why we flagged it
The bill directly expands veterans' access to contraception by removing financial barriers (copayment caps and cost-sharing prohibitions). It is a straightforward healthcare benefit expansion for a defined beneficiary population.
What the text implies
- Aligns VA contraception coverage with federal health insurance standards (ACA/PHS Act § 2713), creating parity between VA and civilian insurance beneficiaries.
- May increase VA pharmaceutical costs if copayment elimination drives higher utilization of contraceptive methods; fiscal impact depends on uptake rates and VA's cost basis.
- Removes discretionary copayment authority from VA, shifting contraception from a revenue-generating service to a mandated zero-cost benefit.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Veterans gain direct financial relief and improved access to contraception by eliminating or capping copayments. The bill removes a cost barrier to preventive healthcare, benefiting veterans' reproductive autonomy and health outcomes without imposing new costs on the public.
Named in the bill
Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans, Public Health Service Act § 2713, Title 38 U.S.C. § 1722A
Where it stands
88 cosponsors: 88 Democrats.
- Jan 6, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jan 6, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Veterans' Affairs · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
4 lobbying clients named this bill on 6 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $533,902 in lobbying spend. A filing names 40 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 72% of bills with at least one filing.
Julia Brownley, the sponsor, reported $296,500 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Disabled American Veterans — $310,451 on 2 filings
- Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America Inc — $120,000 on 1 filing
- Center for Reproductive Rights — $70,000 on 1 filing
- Power to Decide — $33,451 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 21, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (675 characters) on Aug 31, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 21, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
- H.R. 211 on Congress.gov
- Actions and status history
- Cosponsors (88)
- Bill text the analysis read
- Disabled American Veterans — LDA filing, 2025 Q4
- Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America Inc — LDA filing, 2026 Q2
- Center for Reproductive Rights — LDA filing, 2026 Q2
- Julia Brownley — FEC candidate receipts, 2026 cycle
“Veterans win free contraception—VA copays capped or eliminated” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr211 Report an error
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