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Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Feb 18, 2025
CHAMPVA Children's Care Protection Act of 2025
This bill provides that a child shall be eligible for medical care under the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) until the child's 26th birthday, regardless of the child's marital status.
People & committees
Rep. Brownley, Julia [D-CA-26] · D–CA
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
Source last updated: Oct 14, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-02-18 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
This bill proposes to let qualifying children receive medical-care benefits through CHAMPVA until their 26th birthday, regardless of whether they are married. It would preserve eligibility for a separate category of children defined in existing law. The proposed change would apply to care provided on or after enactment.
for purposes of this section, a child is eligible for benefits under subsection (a) until the child's 26th birthday, regardless of the child's marital status.
This subsection shall not be construed to limit eligibility for benefits under subsection (a) of a child described in section 101(4)(A)(ii) of this title.
Such subsection, as so amended, shall apply with respect to medical care provided on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.
Section 2 would replace the existing subsection 1781(c) of title 38. Its eligibility rule would apply until a child's 26th birthday regardless of marital status, overriding the referenced clauses 101(4)(A)(i) and (iii), subject to the preserved eligibility exception.
Subsection (c) of section 1781 of title 38, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
Notwithstanding clauses (i) and (iii) of section 101(4)(A) of this title and except as provided in paragraph (2), for purposes of this section, a child is eligible for benefits under subsection (a) until the child's 26th birthday, regardless of the child's marital status.
The proposed age rule could not be used to limit eligibility for children covered by section 101(4)(A)(ii). The supplied bill does not reproduce the definition of that category.
This subsection shall not be construed to limit eligibility for benefits under subsection (a) of a child described in section 101(4)(A)(ii) of this title.
If enacted, the amendment would apply to medical care provided on or after enactment. This provision does not extend the change to earlier care.
Such subsection, as so amended, shall apply with respect to medical care provided on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.
The supplied action snapshot, updated October 14, 2026, records introduction and referral to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs on February 18, 2025, followed by referral to the Subcommittee on Health on December 19, 2025.
Source snapshot updated 2026-10-14T08:05:33Z. 2025-12-19: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health. 2025-02-18: Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. 2025-02-18: Introduced in House
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-02-18. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision or policy attached to appropriations was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
None identified in the reviewed text
No materially narrow preferential benefit was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. Broad eligibility changes for a program's intended beneficiaries do not alone constitute such a benefit. This conclusion is limited to that version and the supplied statutory context.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Oct 14, 2026. How PlainBill uses AI