PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Mar 4, 2025
Supporting Disabled National Guardsmen Act
This bill provides disability pay and medical care for members of the National Guard who were physically disabled as a result of state active duty. State active duty includes training or other duty in service to the governor of a state for which the member is not entitled to federal pay, but excludes required drills and field exercises.
The bill expands eligibility for Department of Defense retired pay to such members who are physically disabled as a result of state active duty after September 23, 1996. Such pay must be reduced if it is determined to duplicate any other federal or state benefit to such members based on disability.
The bill also makes such members eligible for hospital care and medical services from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to treat the disability and any illness or condition arising from the disability. The VA may provide reimbursement for hospital care or medical services provided to such members only after a member or the provider of care has exhausted (without success) all claims and remedies reasonably available against a third party.
People & committees
Rep. Bice, Stephanie I. [R-OK-5] · R–OK
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 Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
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.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Jul 1, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze H.R.1824 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine H.R.1824 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine H.R.1824 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine H.R.1824 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.
PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-03-04 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 would expand military disability-retirement eligibility and Department of Veterans Affairs health care eligibility for National Guard members who incur disabilities while performing State active duty. Retirement pay would be reduced when it duplicates other disability benefits. Health care would cover the disability and resulting conditions, subject to advance funding and restrictions on reimbursement.
Eligibility of a member of the National Guard for retirement from the Armed Forces based on disability incurred while performing State active duty
the Secretary concerned shall reduce retired pay, computed under section 1401 of this title and paid to such member, to the extent that the Secretary concerned determines such retired pay duplicates any other Federal or State benefit to such member based on such disability.
Subject to subsection (b), a member of the National Guard who incurs a disability while performing State active duty shall be eligible for hospital care and medical services furnished by the Secretary to treat such disability and any illness or condition arising from such disability.
The Secretary may only furnish hospital care and medical services under subsection (a) to the extent and in the amount provided in advance in appropriations Acts for such purpose.
The Secretary may provide reimbursement for hospital care or medical services provided to an individual under this section only after the individual or the provider of such care or services has exhausted without success all claims and remedies reasonably available
Section 1 would name the legislation the Supporting Disabled National Guardsmen Act.
This Act may be cited as the Supporting Disabled National Guardsmen Act.
Section 2 would add State active duty alongside active duty and inactive-duty training in the military disability-retirement provision it amends. It would use the definition of State active duty in section 4303 of title 38; the supplied text does not reproduce that definition or the other retirement eligibility requirements.
Section 1204 of title 10, United States Code, is amended— (1) in paragraph (2)(B)(i)— (A) by striking active duty or inactive-duty training; and inserting an em dash; and (B) by inserting before clause (ii) the following new subclauses: (I) active duty; (II) inactive-duty training; or (III) State active duty (as that term is defined in section 4303 of title 38);
For a member retired under the new State active duty provision, the responsible military Secretary would have to reduce retirement pay to the extent the Secretary determines it duplicates another federal or state benefit based on the same disability.
In the case of a member retired under this section based on a disability described in subclause (III) of subsection (a)(2)(B)(i), the Secretary concerned shall reduce retired pay, computed under section 1401 of this title and paid to such member, to the extent that the Secretary concerned determines such retired pay duplicates any other Federal or State benefit to such member based on such disability.
Section 3 would make National Guard members who incur a disability during State active duty eligible for Veterans Affairs hospital care and medical services to treat that disability and any illness or condition arising from it. This eligibility would be subject to the section's funding and reimbursement limits.
Eligibility of a member of the National Guard who incurs a disability while performing State active duty for health care furnished by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Subject to subsection (b), a member of the National Guard who incurs a disability while performing State active duty shall be eligible for hospital care and medical services furnished by the Secretary to treat such disability and any illness or condition arising from such disability.
Veterans Affairs could furnish this care only within the scope and amount funded in advance by appropriations laws—laws that provide spending authority. This provision would condition care on that funding rather than itself provide a funding amount.
The Secretary may only furnish hospital care and medical services under subsection (a) to the extent and in the amount provided in advance in appropriations Acts for such purpose.
Veterans Affairs could reimburse care only after the patient or provider unsuccessfully exhausts all reasonably available claims and remedies for payment against a third party, including claims involving health-plan contracts. Meeting that condition would permit reimbursement; the text does not require it.
The Secretary may provide reimbursement for hospital care or medical services provided to an individual under this section only after the individual or the provider of such care or services has exhausted without success all claims and remedies reasonably available to the individual or provider against a third party (as defined in section 1725(f) of this title) for payment of such care or services, including with respect to health-plan contracts (as defined in such section).
The proposed health care provision would also use the definition of State active duty in section 4303 of title 38.
In this section, the term State active duty has the meaning given that term in section 4303 of this title.
The supplied actions snapshot, updated July 1, 2026, records introduction in the House and referral to the Armed Services and Veterans' Affairs committees on March 4, 2025. It also records referral to the Subcommittee on Health on March 27, 2025.
Source snapshot updated 2026-07-01T08:08:03Z.
2025-03-04: Introduced in House
2025-03-04: Referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
2025-03-27: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-03-04. 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 rider was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
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 a particular recipient or place was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and 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 narrow preferential carve-out beyond the policy's intended beneficiaries was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. Coverage of the intended beneficiary population alone does not qualify as a targeted-benefit finding. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Jul 1, 2026. How PlainBill uses AI