YourVoice.Now Summary
Your MoneyTargeted & Unrelated ProvisionsTroops on active duty and their families could stay in VA lodging when they travel far for care.
Your Money
Today this lodging is meant for veterans and the family who come with them. The bill adds troops on active duty, their families, and care given at a hospital outside the VA.
Right now, a stay has to be tied to the veteran's own care. The bill would also cover the trip when the one who is sick is a spouse or child.
A veteran with no spouse or children gets no more than $90 a month in VA pension once Medicaid is paying for their nursing home. That limit was written to expire January 31, 2033, and the bill moves that date to July 31, 2033.
Targeted & Unrelated Provisions
The pension change sits in Section 3, separate from the lodging sections the bill is named for. It affects a different group of veterans, and no one would feel it until 2033.
More about this bill
If you are on active duty and travel far for medical care, you and your family could stay in VA lodging nearby. Today that option mostly goes to veterans. The bill adds another case: a veteran or service member who travels because a spouse or child is the patient. These new stays depend on open rooms. There is no guaranteed spot. The VA would set the rules for who gets priority. Most of this lodging sits in Fisher Houses near VA medical centers. Guest families there pay no room fee today. One part of the bill has nothing to do with lodging. Federal law now caps the VA pension at $90 a month for some veterans in nursing homes. It applies when the veteran has no spouse or children and Medicaid pays for the care. That cap was set to end in January 2033. The bill would keep it six months longer, through July 2033. The House passed the bill in May 2026. The Senate has not acted on it.
Congressional Summary
Fisher House Availability Act of 2026This bill expands eligibility for temporary lodging at a Fisher House to additional individuals receiving medical care or treatment at a Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) or non-VA facility or those accompanying individuals receiving such treatment. (Fisher Houses are where the VA furnishes no-cost lodging to veterans and other eligible individuals when receiving treatment or accompanying an individual receiving treatment.)Specifically, the bill authorizes the VA to provide lodging at a Fisher House on a space-available basis tomembers of the uniformed services performing active duty (i.e., covered beneficiaries) who must travel a significant distance to receive care or services;family members and others accompanying such covered beneficiaries to receive care or services;veterans, members of a veteran's family, and others who must travel a significant distance for a member of a veteran's family to receive care or services; andcovered beneficiaries, members of a covered beneficiary’s family, and others who must travel a significant distance for a member of a beneficiary’s family to receive care or services.Finally, the bill extends the limitation on pension amounts for certain hospitalized or institutionalized veterans through July 31, 2033.
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Reported to House
- Action Date
- 2026-04-30
- Date Added
- 2026-05-16
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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