Veteran Fraud Reimbursement Act of 2025
The Veteran Fraud Reimbursement Act of 2025 would modify how the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) handles benefits that a fiduciary misuses. If a fiduciary misuses all or part of a veteran’s benefits, the VA would be required to reissue (pay back) the misused amount to the veteran or the veteran’s successor fiduciary, and then attempt to recoup those funds from the fiduciary. Any recovered funds would be returned to the veteran or successor fiduciary to the extent not already paid out. The bill also sets rules for how payments should be handled if the veteran dies, and creates a process to assess whether any misused benefits were caused by VA negligence (without delaying the initial reissuance). The total amount paid under this provision cannot exceed the amount misused.
Key Points
- 1Reissuance of misused benefits: If a fiduciary misuses all or part of a veteran’s benefits, the VA must pay that amount back to the affected veteran or the veteran’s successor fiduciary.
- 2Recoupment: After reissuing the payment, the VA must make a good faith effort to recoup the misused funds from the fiduciary who originally received them.
- 3Net recovery: Any amounts recouped from the fiduciary must be promptly returned to the veteran or successor fiduciary, as applicable, to the extent they have not already been paid under the reissuance.
- 4Handling after death: If the veteran dies after a misused payment, the VA must pay the amount to an appropriate recipient under existing law (section 5121), but cannot pay to a fiduciary who misused the benefits.
- 5Cap on total payments: The total amount paid under this provision cannot exceed the total benefit amount misused by the fiduciary for that veteran.
- 6Oversight of negligence: The VA must establish methods to determine whether misuse was caused by VA negligence, may not delay reissuance while such a determination is pending, and is not required to determine negligence for every case.