Bill > S294

This bill, known as the Ruth Moore Act of 2013, aims to improve how the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) handles disability claims for veterans experiencing mental health conditions stemming from military sexual trauma (MST). MST refers to psychological harm resulting from sexual assault, battery, or harassment during active service. The bill mandates that if a veteran claims a "covered mental health condition"—which includes PTSD, anxiety, depression, or other diagnoses the VA deems related to MST—was incurred or worsened by MST, the VA must accept a mental health professional's diagnosis, along with lay evidence of the trauma and the professional's opinion linking the condition to the trauma, as sufficient proof of service-connection. This applies even if there's no official record of the trauma, and the VA must resolve any reasonable doubt in the veteran's favor, with claims only being denied if there's clear and convincing evidence to the contrary. Furthermore, the bill requires the VA Secretary to submit annual reports to Congress from 2014 through 2018 detailing the number of these claims, their approval and denial rates by sex, reasons for denial, and processing times, among other statistics.