Removing Net Worth Requirement From Health Care Enrollment, 63480-63482 [2015-26606]
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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 202 / Tuesday, October 20, 2015 / Proposed Rules
Session 1: January 12–14, 2016
Session 2: February 17–19, 2016
Session 3: March 16–18, 2016
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RIN 2900–AP37
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Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1098a.
Dated: October 15, 2015.
Jamienne S. Studley,
Deputy Under Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015–26626 Filed 10–19–15; 8:45 am]
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38 CFR Part 17
Removing Net Worth Requirement
From Health Care Enrollment
Department of Veterans Affairs.
Proposed rule.
AGENCY:
ACTION:
This rulemaking proposes to
remove the regulatory provision
regarding consideration by the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) of
the net worth of a veteran’s assets as a
factor in determining the veteran’s
eligibility for lower-cost VA health care.
Prior to January 1, 2015, VA considered
both the net worth of a veteran’s assets
and the veteran’s annual income when
determining a veteran’s eligibility.
Because of that, certain veterans who
would have been eligible for VA health
care based on their annual income alone
were ineligible for care because the net
value of their assets was too high, or
they were placed in a less favorable
eligibility category. Reporting asset
information imposed a significant
paperwork burden on veterans, and VA
dedicated significant administrative
resources to verifying reported
information. VA changed its policy to
improve access to health care to lowerincome veterans and remove the
reporting burden from veterans by
discontinuing collection of asset
information. This rulemaking would
amend the regulation to remove the
reference to VA’s discretionary statutory
authority to consider net worth.
DATES: Comment Date: Comments must
be received on or before December 21,
2015.
ADDRESSES: Written comments may be
submitted through
www.Regulations.gov; by mail or handdelivery to Director, Regulation Policy
and Management (02REG), Department
of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont
Avenue NW., Room 1068, Washington,
DC 20420; or by fax to (202) 273–9026.
Comments should indicate that they are
submitted in response to ‘‘RIN 2900–
AP37—Removing Net Worth
Requirement from Health Care
Enrollment.’’ Copies of comments
received will be available for public
inspection in the Office of Regulation
Policy and Management, Room 1068,
between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30
p.m., Monday through Friday (except
holidays). Please call (202) 461–4902 for
an appointment. (This is not a toll-free
number.) In addition, during the
comment period, comments may be
SUMMARY:
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viewed online through the Federal
Docket Management System (FDMS) at
www.Regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Kristin J. Cunningham, Director,
Business Policy, Chief Business Office,
(10NB6), Department of Veterans
Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue NW.,
Washington, DC 20420; (202) 382–2508.
(This is not a toll-free number.)
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This
rulemaking proposes to amend VA’s
regulations governing enrollment in the
VA health care system by removing the
regulatory provision restating VA’s
discretionary authority to consider the
net worth of a veteran’s assets when
determining eligibility for lower-cost
health care.
Pursuant to 38 U.S.C. 1705, VA has
established a health care enrollment
system with implementing regulations
at 38 CFR 17.36. When veterans apply
for health care benefits, VA assigns a
priority category that reflects the basis
for that veteran’s eligibility, such as
whether the veteran has been rated as
having a service-connected disability or
would be unable to defray the costs of
necessary expenses because of low
income. The veteran is placed in the
highest priority category possible. These
categories are described in § 17.36(b).
Priority categories are used by VA to
determine which veterans are eligible to
enroll in the VA health care system,
which VA does on an annual basis, in
accordance with § 17.36(c). The priority
category is also used to determine the
amount of copayments veterans must
pay to receive VA medical benefits.
Veterans who are not eligible for
enrollment in priority categories 1
through 4 but who are unable to defray
the expenses of necessary care under 38
U.S.C. 1722(a) are placed in priority
category 5. 38 CFR 17.36(b)(5). This
rulemaking would affect a regulatory
provision related to that category.
Veterans are considered to be unable to
defray the costs of necessary care if they
have a low annual income, qualify for
VA pension benefits, or meet other
criteria under 38 U.S.C. 1722(a) and 38
CFR 17.47(d). VA has the authority to
use net worth asset values to determine
whether a veteran is unable to defray
the cost of care at 38 U.S.C. 1722(d)(1),
but this authority is not mandatory; i.e.,
VA is not required to consider the value
of the estate of a veteran for this
purpose. 38 U.S.C. 1722(d)(1)
(‘‘Notwithstanding the attributable
income of a veteran,’’ VA may
determine that such veteran is not
eligible ‘‘if the corpus of the estate of the
veteran is such that under all the
circumstances it is reasonable that some
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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 202 / Tuesday, October 20, 2015 / Proposed Rules
part of the corpus of the estate of the
veteran be consumed for the veteran’s
maintenance’’).
In 2013, VA informed the public of its
intent to discontinue annual financial
assessment reporting by veterans. 78 FR
64065 (Oct. 25, 2013), 78 FR 79564 (Dec.
30, 2013). VA notified the public that it
would no longer request annual
financial assessments from veterans
enrolled in income-based priority
categories, and would only request
financial assessments for the initial
health care enrollment process. Because
we received no adverse responses to
those notices and for the reasons that
follow, as VA announced in March
2015, VA used its discretion under 38
U.S.C. 1722(d)(1) to cease consideration
of the net worth of veterans’ assets to
determine whether they are able to
defray the expenses of necessary care
and qualify for inclusion in priority
category 5, effective January 1, 2015. To
avoid potential confusion, this
rulemaking would remove the
regulatory provision referencing VA’s
discretionary authority to consider net
worth for purposes of priority category
5.
By eliminating consideration of the
net worth of a veteran’s assets for
purposes of health care enrollment,
more veterans would qualify for VA
health care in a higher priority category,
improving access and affordability of
health care for many lower-income
veterans. VA estimates that in the first
year of implementation of this policy,
53,000 veterans would be moved to
category 5 from a lower priority category
and would be able to make lower
copayments for VA care. Over five
years, VA expects that 135,000 veterans
who previously were ineligible would
be able to enroll in the VA health care
system because of this change. This
change also reduces administrative
burdens for veterans and VA. The
burden on veterans to supply asset
information to VA on an annual basis
was considerable. In contrast, the
burden is much lower for veterans to
provide only an initial report of annual
income during the enrollment process
and future verification only in those
cases where VA identifies a change to
the veteran’s income that would result
in a change to the veteran’s priority
group status. In past years, VA had
expended significant resources on
verifying the reported figures because
asset values are subjective and difficult
to verify. Through established practices
with the Internal Revenue Service and
Social Security Administration, VA can
verify veterans’ reported annual income
far more efficiently than reported assets.
Therefore, this policy has eliminated the
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significant burden on veterans to report
the worth of their assets, and also
eliminated the need for VA to use
resources to verify that information.
In light of the preceding discussion,
we propose to remove § 17.47(d)(5) in
its entirety and renumber current
§ 17.47(d)(6) as § 17.47(d)(5). Current
paragraph (d)(5) restates VA’s
discretionary statutory authority to use
the value of a veteran’s estate to
determine whether he is able to defray
the costs of care. By removing the
regulatory restatement of VA’s
discretionary statutory authority to
consider a veteran’s net worth, VA
removes language in the regulation that
could be perceived as inconsistent with
the policy change, which is favorable to
veterans.
Effect of Rulemaking
The Code of Federal Regulations, as
proposed to be revised by this proposed
rulemaking, represents the exclusive
legal authority on this subject. No
contrary rules or procedures would be
authorized. All existing or subsequent
VA guidance would be read to conform
with this rulemaking if possible or, if
not possible, such guidance would be
superseded by this rulemaking.
Paperwork Reduction Act
This proposed rule contains no
provisions constituting a collection of
information under the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501–
3521).
Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Secretary hereby certifies that
this proposed rule would not have a
significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities as
they are defined in the Regulatory
Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601–612. This
proposed rule would directly affect only
individuals and would not directly
affect small entities. Therefore, pursuant
to 5 U.S.C. 605(b), this rulemaking is
exempt from the initial and final
regulatory flexibility analysis
requirements of 5 U.S.C. 603 and 604.
Executive Orders 12866 and 13563
Executive Orders 12866 and 13563
direct agencies to assess the costs and
benefits of available regulatory
alternatives and, when regulation is
necessary, to select regulatory
approaches that maximize net benefits
(including potential economic,
environmental, public health and safety
effects, and other advantages;
distributive impacts; and equity).
Executive Order 13563 (Improving
Regulation and Regulatory Review)
emphasizes the importance of
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63481
quantifying both costs and benefits,
reducing costs, harmonizing rules, and
promoting flexibility. Executive Order
12866 (Regulatory Planning and
Review) defines a ‘‘significant
regulatory action,’’ requiring review by
the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB), unless OMB waives such
review, as ‘‘any regulatory action that is
likely to result in a rule that may: (1)
Have an annual effect on the economy
of $100 million or more or adversely
affect in a material way the economy, a
sector of the economy, productivity,
competition, jobs, the environment,
public health or safety, or State, local,
or tribal governments or communities;
(2) Create a serious inconsistency or
otherwise interfere with an action taken
or planned by another agency; (3)
Materially alter the budgetary impact of
entitlements, grants, user fees, or loan
programs or the rights and obligations of
recipients thereof; or (4) Raise novel
legal or policy issues arising out of legal
mandates, the President’s priorities, or
the principles set forth in this Executive
Order.’’
The economic, interagency,
budgetary, legal, and policy
implications of this regulatory action
have been examined, and it has been
determined not to be a significant
regulatory action under Executive Order
12866. VA’s impact analysis can be
found as a supporting document at
https://www.regulations.gov, usually
within 48 hours after the rulemaking
document is published. Additionally, a
copy of the rulemaking and its impact
analysis are available on VA’s Web site
at https://www.va.gov/orpm/, by
following the link for ‘‘VA Regulations
Published From FY 2004 Through Fiscal
Year to Date.’’
Unfunded Mandates
The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
of 1995 requires, at 2 U.S.C. 1532, that
agencies prepare an assessment of
anticipated costs and benefits before
issuing any rule that may result in the
expenditure by State, local, and tribal
governments, in the aggregate, or by the
private sector, of $100 million or more
(adjusted annually for inflation) in any
one year. This proposed rule would
have no such effect on State, local, and
tribal governments, or on the private
sector.
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
The Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance numbers and titles for the
programs affected by this document are
64.007, Blind Rehabilitation Centers;
64.008, Veterans Domiciliary Care;
64.009, Veterans Medical Care Benefits;
64.010, Veterans Nursing Home Care;
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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 202 / Tuesday, October 20, 2015 / Proposed Rules
64.011, Veterans Dental Care; 64.012,
Veterans Prescription Service; 64.013,
Veterans Prosthetic Appliances; 64.014,
Veterans State Domiciliary Care; 64.015,
Veterans State Nursing Home Care;
64.018, Sharing Specialized Medical
Resources; 64.019, Veterans
Rehabilitation Alcohol and Drug
Dependence; 64.022, Veterans Home
Based Primary Care; and 64.024, VA
Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem
Program.
Signing Authority
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, or
designee, approved this document and
authorized the undersigned to sign and
submit the document to the Office of the
Federal Register for publication
electronically as an official document of
the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Robert L. Nabors II, Chief of Staff,
Department of Veterans Affairs,
approved this document on October 9.
2015, for publication.
List of Subjects in 38 CFR Part 17
Administrative practice and
procedure, Alcohol abuse, Alcoholism,
Claims, Day care, Dental health, Drug
abuse, Government contracts, Grant
programs—health, Grant programs—
veterans, Health care, Health facilities,
Health professions, Health records,
Homeless, Medical and dental schools,
Medical devices, Medical research,
Mental health programs, Nursing
homes, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements, Travel and transportation
expenses, Veterans.
Dated: October 15, 2015,
William F. Russo,
Director, Office of Regulation Policy &
Management, Office of the General Counsel,
Department of Veterans Affairs.
For the reasons stated in the
preamble, the Department of Veterans
Affairs proposes to amend 38 CFR part
17 as follows:
PART 17—MEDICAL
1. The authority citation for part 17
continues to read as follows:
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■
Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501, and as noted in
specific sections.
§ 17.47
[Amended]
2. Amend § 17.47 by removing
paragraph (d)(5) and redesignating
paragraph (d)(6) as new paragraph
(d)(5).
■
[FR Doc. 2015–26606 Filed 10–19–15; 8:45 am]
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POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION
39 CFR Part 3050
[Docket No. RM2016–1; Order No. 2752]
II. Summary of Proposal
Periodic Reporting
Postal Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.
AGENCY:
The Commission is noticing a
recent Postal Service filing requesting
that the Commission initiate an informal
rulemaking proceeding to consider a
proposed change to analytical principles
relating to periodic reports (Proposal
Eleven). This notice informs the public
of the filing, invites public comment,
and takes other administrative steps.
DATES: Comments are due: November
24, 2015. Reply Comments are due:
December 7, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments
electronically via the Commission’s
Filing Online system at https://
www.prc.gov. Those who cannot submit
comments electronically should contact
the person identified in the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section by
telephone for advice on filing
alternatives.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
David A. Trissell, General Counsel, at
202–789–6820.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
SUMMARY:
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. Summary of Proposal
III. Initial Commission Action
IV. Ordering Paragraphs
I. Introduction
On October 7, 2015, the Postal Service
filed a petition pursuant to 39 CFR
3050.11 requesting that the Commission
initiate an informal rulemaking
proceeding to consider a proposed
change in analytical principles relating
to periodic reports.1 A description of
Proposal Eleven is attached to the
Petition. Id. at 1. The Petition seeks a
change in the statistical point and
variance estimation methodology for the
Origin-Destination Information
System—revenue, pieces, and weight
(ODIS–RPW) system 2 estimates used in
the ‘‘Revenue, Pieces and Weight By
1 Petition of the United States Postal Service
Requesting Initiation of a Proceeding to Consider a
Proposed Change in Analytical Principles (Proposal
Eleven), October 7, 2015 (Petition).
2 ‘‘The ODIS–RPW system is a probability-based
destinating mail sampling system used to support
the Postal Service’s many and varied business
needs for mail revenue and volume information.
ODIS–RPW primarily supplies official RPW
estimates of revenue, volume and weight for singlepiece stamped and metered indicia mail.’’ Petition
at 4.
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Class and Special Services (RPW) report
relating to letter and card mailpieces
that will be sampled digitally.’’ Petition
at 3.
Sfmt 4702
Under Proposal Eleven, beginning Q2
FY2016 (January 1, 2016), the Postal
Service seeks to replace the direct
expansion estimator for the population
of digitally sampled First-Class letter
and card mail,3 within ODIS–RPW, with
a ratio estimator that utilizes national
End-of-Run machine counts. Petition at
1–2. ‘‘The digital letter mail estimates
utilizing the ratio estimator applied to
the digital letter mail sampling frame
would be combined with direct
expansion estimates from the nondigital sampling frame.’’ Id. at 2. The
Postal Service contends the proposed
ratio estimator for the letter mail digital
sampling frame mathematically
outperforms the direct expansion
estimator for First-Class Mail singlepiece volume and revenue. Id.
The Postal Service plans to
implement the change described in
Proposal Eleven on January 1, 2016. Id.
at 3. The Postal Service asserts that the
proposed estimation methodology of the
ratio estimator is an improvement over
the direct expansion estimator and will
improve the product estimates used for
RPW by reducing bias and significantly
lowering the calculated coefficient of
variation for the same sample size. Id.
The Postal Service states that ‘‘[t]he only
significant category affected is FirstClass Mail single piece letters and
cards.’’ Id. at 4.
III. Initial Commission Action
The Commission establishes Docket
No. RM2016–1 for consideration of
matters raised by the Petition.
Additional information concerning the
Petition may be accessed via the
Commission’s Web site at https://
www.prc.gov. Interested persons may
submit comments on the Petition and
Proposal Eleven no later than November
24, 2015. Reply comments are due no
later than December 7, 2015. Pursuant to
39 U.S.C. 505, Lyudmila Y.
Bzhilyanskaya is designated as an
officer of the Commission to represent
the interests of the general public
(Public Representative) in this
proceeding.
IV. Ordering Paragraphs
It is ordered:
1. The Commission establishes Docket
No. RM2016–1 for consideration of the
3 Docket No. RM2015–11, Order on Analytical
Principles Used in Periodic Reporting (Proposal
Three) September 30, 2015 (Order No. 2739).
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Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 202 (Tuesday, October 20, 2015)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 63480-63482]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-26606]
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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
38 CFR Part 17
RIN 2900-AP37
Removing Net Worth Requirement From Health Care Enrollment
AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs.
ACTION: Proposed rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This rulemaking proposes to remove the regulatory provision
regarding consideration by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) of
the net worth of a veteran's assets as a factor in determining the
veteran's eligibility for lower-cost VA health care. Prior to January
1, 2015, VA considered both the net worth of a veteran's assets and the
veteran's annual income when determining a veteran's eligibility.
Because of that, certain veterans who would have been eligible for VA
health care based on their annual income alone were ineligible for care
because the net value of their assets was too high, or they were placed
in a less favorable eligibility category. Reporting asset information
imposed a significant paperwork burden on veterans, and VA dedicated
significant administrative resources to verifying reported information.
VA changed its policy to improve access to health care to lower-income
veterans and remove the reporting burden from veterans by discontinuing
collection of asset information. This rulemaking would amend the
regulation to remove the reference to VA's discretionary statutory
authority to consider net worth.
DATES: Comment Date: Comments must be received on or before December
21, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Written comments may be submitted through
www.Regulations.gov; by mail or hand-delivery to Director, Regulation
Policy and Management (02REG), Department of Veterans Affairs, 810
Vermont Avenue NW., Room 1068, Washington, DC 20420; or by fax to (202)
273-9026. Comments should indicate that they are submitted in response
to ``RIN 2900-AP37--Removing Net Worth Requirement from Health Care
Enrollment.'' Copies of comments received will be available for public
inspection in the Office of Regulation Policy and Management, Room
1068, between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through
Friday (except holidays). Please call (202) 461-4902 for an
appointment. (This is not a toll-free number.) In addition, during the
comment period, comments may be viewed online through the Federal
Docket Management System (FDMS) at www.Regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kristin J. Cunningham, Director,
Business Policy, Chief Business Office, (10NB6), Department of Veterans
Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20420; (202) 382-2508.
(This is not a toll-free number.)
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This rulemaking proposes to amend VA's
regulations governing enrollment in the VA health care system by
removing the regulatory provision restating VA's discretionary
authority to consider the net worth of a veteran's assets when
determining eligibility for lower-cost health care.
Pursuant to 38 U.S.C. 1705, VA has established a health care
enrollment system with implementing regulations at 38 CFR 17.36. When
veterans apply for health care benefits, VA assigns a priority category
that reflects the basis for that veteran's eligibility, such as whether
the veteran has been rated as having a service-connected disability or
would be unable to defray the costs of necessary expenses because of
low income. The veteran is placed in the highest priority category
possible. These categories are described in Sec. 17.36(b). Priority
categories are used by VA to determine which veterans are eligible to
enroll in the VA health care system, which VA does on an annual basis,
in accordance with Sec. 17.36(c). The priority category is also used
to determine the amount of copayments veterans must pay to receive VA
medical benefits. Veterans who are not eligible for enrollment in
priority categories 1 through 4 but who are unable to defray the
expenses of necessary care under 38 U.S.C. 1722(a) are placed in
priority category 5. 38 CFR 17.36(b)(5). This rulemaking would affect a
regulatory provision related to that category. Veterans are considered
to be unable to defray the costs of necessary care if they have a low
annual income, qualify for VA pension benefits, or meet other criteria
under 38 U.S.C. 1722(a) and 38 CFR 17.47(d). VA has the authority to
use net worth asset values to determine whether a veteran is unable to
defray the cost of care at 38 U.S.C. 1722(d)(1), but this authority is
not mandatory; i.e., VA is not required to consider the value of the
estate of a veteran for this purpose. 38 U.S.C. 1722(d)(1)
(``Notwithstanding the attributable income of a veteran,'' VA may
determine that such veteran is not eligible ``if the corpus of the
estate of the veteran is such that under all the circumstances it is
reasonable that some
[[Page 63481]]
part of the corpus of the estate of the veteran be consumed for the
veteran's maintenance'').
In 2013, VA informed the public of its intent to discontinue annual
financial assessment reporting by veterans. 78 FR 64065 (Oct. 25,
2013), 78 FR 79564 (Dec. 30, 2013). VA notified the public that it
would no longer request annual financial assessments from veterans
enrolled in income-based priority categories, and would only request
financial assessments for the initial health care enrollment process.
Because we received no adverse responses to those notices and for the
reasons that follow, as VA announced in March 2015, VA used its
discretion under 38 U.S.C. 1722(d)(1) to cease consideration of the net
worth of veterans' assets to determine whether they are able to defray
the expenses of necessary care and qualify for inclusion in priority
category 5, effective January 1, 2015. To avoid potential confusion,
this rulemaking would remove the regulatory provision referencing VA's
discretionary authority to consider net worth for purposes of priority
category 5.
By eliminating consideration of the net worth of a veteran's assets
for purposes of health care enrollment, more veterans would qualify for
VA health care in a higher priority category, improving access and
affordability of health care for many lower-income veterans. VA
estimates that in the first year of implementation of this policy,
53,000 veterans would be moved to category 5 from a lower priority
category and would be able to make lower copayments for VA care. Over
five years, VA expects that 135,000 veterans who previously were
ineligible would be able to enroll in the VA health care system because
of this change. This change also reduces administrative burdens for
veterans and VA. The burden on veterans to supply asset information to
VA on an annual basis was considerable. In contrast, the burden is much
lower for veterans to provide only an initial report of annual income
during the enrollment process and future verification only in those
cases where VA identifies a change to the veteran's income that would
result in a change to the veteran's priority group status. In past
years, VA had expended significant resources on verifying the reported
figures because asset values are subjective and difficult to verify.
Through established practices with the Internal Revenue Service and
Social Security Administration, VA can verify veterans' reported annual
income far more efficiently than reported assets. Therefore, this
policy has eliminated the significant burden on veterans to report the
worth of their assets, and also eliminated the need for VA to use
resources to verify that information.
In light of the preceding discussion, we propose to remove Sec.
17.47(d)(5) in its entirety and renumber current Sec. 17.47(d)(6) as
Sec. 17.47(d)(5). Current paragraph (d)(5) restates VA's discretionary
statutory authority to use the value of a veteran's estate to determine
whether he is able to defray the costs of care. By removing the
regulatory restatement of VA's discretionary statutory authority to
consider a veteran's net worth, VA removes language in the regulation
that could be perceived as inconsistent with the policy change, which
is favorable to veterans.
Effect of Rulemaking
The Code of Federal Regulations, as proposed to be revised by this
proposed rulemaking, represents the exclusive legal authority on this
subject. No contrary rules or procedures would be authorized. All
existing or subsequent VA guidance would be read to conform with this
rulemaking if possible or, if not possible, such guidance would be
superseded by this rulemaking.
Paperwork Reduction Act
This proposed rule contains no provisions constituting a collection
of information under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.
3501-3521).
Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Secretary hereby certifies that this proposed rule would not
have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small
entities as they are defined in the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5
U.S.C. 601-612. This proposed rule would directly affect only
individuals and would not directly affect small entities. Therefore,
pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 605(b), this rulemaking is exempt from the initial
and final regulatory flexibility analysis requirements of 5 U.S.C. 603
and 604.
Executive Orders 12866 and 13563
Executive Orders 12866 and 13563 direct agencies to assess the
costs and benefits of available regulatory alternatives and, when
regulation is necessary, to select regulatory approaches that maximize
net benefits (including potential economic, environmental, public
health and safety effects, and other advantages; distributive impacts;
and equity). Executive Order 13563 (Improving Regulation and Regulatory
Review) emphasizes the importance of quantifying both costs and
benefits, reducing costs, harmonizing rules, and promoting flexibility.
Executive Order 12866 (Regulatory Planning and Review) defines a
``significant regulatory action,'' requiring review by the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB), unless OMB waives such review, as ``any
regulatory action that is likely to result in a rule that may: (1) Have
an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more or adversely
affect in a material way the economy, a sector of the economy,
productivity, competition, jobs, the environment, public health or
safety, or State, local, or tribal governments or communities; (2)
Create a serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with an action
taken or planned by another agency; (3) Materially alter the budgetary
impact of entitlements, grants, user fees, or loan programs or the
rights and obligations of recipients thereof; or (4) Raise novel legal
or policy issues arising out of legal mandates, the President's
priorities, or the principles set forth in this Executive Order.''
The economic, interagency, budgetary, legal, and policy
implications of this regulatory action have been examined, and it has
been determined not to be a significant regulatory action under
Executive Order 12866. VA's impact analysis can be found as a
supporting document at https://www.regulations.gov, usually within 48
hours after the rulemaking document is published. Additionally, a copy
of the rulemaking and its impact analysis are available on VA's Web
site at https://www.va.gov/orpm/, by following the link for ``VA
Regulations Published From FY 2004 Through Fiscal Year to Date.''
Unfunded Mandates
The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 requires, at 2 U.S.C.
1532, that agencies prepare an assessment of anticipated costs and
benefits before issuing any rule that may result in the expenditure by
State, local, and tribal governments, in the aggregate, or by the
private sector, of $100 million or more (adjusted annually for
inflation) in any one year. This proposed rule would have no such
effect on State, local, and tribal governments, or on the private
sector.
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance numbers and titles for
the programs affected by this document are 64.007, Blind Rehabilitation
Centers; 64.008, Veterans Domiciliary Care; 64.009, Veterans Medical
Care Benefits; 64.010, Veterans Nursing Home Care;
[[Page 63482]]
64.011, Veterans Dental Care; 64.012, Veterans Prescription Service;
64.013, Veterans Prosthetic Appliances; 64.014, Veterans State
Domiciliary Care; 64.015, Veterans State Nursing Home Care; 64.018,
Sharing Specialized Medical Resources; 64.019, Veterans Rehabilitation
Alcohol and Drug Dependence; 64.022, Veterans Home Based Primary Care;
and 64.024, VA Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program.
Signing Authority
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, or designee, approved this
document and authorized the undersigned to sign and submit the document
to the Office of the Federal Register for publication electronically as
an official document of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Robert L.
Nabors II, Chief of Staff, Department of Veterans Affairs, approved
this document on October 9. 2015, for publication.
List of Subjects in 38 CFR Part 17
Administrative practice and procedure, Alcohol abuse, Alcoholism,
Claims, Day care, Dental health, Drug abuse, Government contracts,
Grant programs--health, Grant programs--veterans, Health care, Health
facilities, Health professions, Health records, Homeless, Medical and
dental schools, Medical devices, Medical research, Mental health
programs, Nursing homes, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements,
Travel and transportation expenses, Veterans.
Dated: October 15, 2015,
William F. Russo,
Director, Office of Regulation Policy & Management, Office of the
General Counsel, Department of Veterans Affairs.
For the reasons stated in the preamble, the Department of Veterans
Affairs proposes to amend 38 CFR part 17 as follows:
PART 17--MEDICAL
0
1. The authority citation for part 17 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501, and as noted in specific sections.
Sec. 17.47 [Amended]
0
2. Amend Sec. 17.47 by removing paragraph (d)(5) and redesignating
paragraph (d)(6) as new paragraph (d)(5).
[FR Doc. 2015-26606 Filed 10-19-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8320-01-P