New Bill on the Block: 'CHOICE for Veterans Act' Could Let You Pay for Initial VA Claim Help – With Strings Attached

The 'CHOICE for Veterans Act of 2025' is looking to shake up how veterans get help with their benefit claims. The big change? It could allow accredited agents and attorneys to charge fees for helping with initial and supplemental claims for VA benefits – services that have largely been free through Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs) or had fee restrictions until an appeal stage. This bill aims to create more options for veterans seeking paid professional assistance right from the start, while also beefing up regulations for these paid representatives and ensuring veterans know about available free help.

So, What's the Deal with Paying for Claim Help?

If this bill becomes reality, here’s the lowdown on fees, as outlined in Section 3. Accredited agents and attorneys could charge for helping with your initial or supplemental claim, but only if you get a favorable decision. The total fee can't be more than $12,500 (this cap will be adjusted for inflation annually) or five times the monthly increase in benefits you're awarded, whichever amount is less. Think of it like this: if your claim for disability benefits is approved and your monthly payment goes up by $500, the maximum fee would be $2,500, even if the $12,500 cap is higher.

What if the fee is more than the back pay you receive? The bill says the agent or attorney has to offer you a payment plan in monthly installments, and those installments can't be more than your monthly benefit increase. So, you wouldn't pay it all at once out of pocket if the lump sum isn't there. The VA is also tasked with creating a standard form for these fee agreements, which must include a notice about the free services available from VSOs and similar groups recognized under section 5902. Importantly, Section 3 also specifies that agents or attorneys cannot charge fees if your disability is presumed to be service-connected (like certain conditions related to Agent Orange exposure) or if the claim is filed while you're still on active duty.

More Eyes on Your Helpers: New Safeguards and Info for Vets

Beyond just allowing fees, the CHOICE Act wants to make sure veterans are informed and protected. Section 2 requires the VA to actively promote the availability of free assistance. This means notifying claimants who don't have a representative that accredited folks (like those from VSOs under section 5902) are available to help at no cost. The VA will also have to keep an up-to-date public list of all accredited individuals on its website – updated at least quarterly – and create a system for reporting unaccredited individuals who are charging fees.

Furthermore, any VA web portal for filing claims will need to display a clear warning about the potential fees that agents or attorneys recognized under section 5904 might charge, along with links to find those free accredited helpers. Section 3 also expands the reasons an agent or attorney can be suspended or barred from representing veterans. This includes serious misconduct like failing to protect your private health information (as required by HIPAA), selling your personal data, referring you to a medical professional with whom they have a business relationship for claim purposes, or using overseas call centers for claim assistance. If someone violates VA regulations, Section 4 lays out hefty penalties: their conditional recognition can be revoked, they can face a $50,000 fine, and be banned from representing vets for one year after a first violation, and ten years for subsequent ones.

Keeping the System Honest: Oversight and Getting Qualified

To ensure that the people offering paid help are actually qualified and the system is working, the bill introduces several oversight mechanisms. Under Section 3, individuals seeking to become recognized agents or attorneys must apply to the VA. If their qualifications can't be immediately verified, the VA can grant a conditional, temporary recognition for one year (extendable in 180-day increments). Those who do charge fees for initial or supplemental claims might also have to pay an assessment up to $500 to the VA, which goes into a fund to administer these new rules.

Looking at the bigger picture of oversight, Section 5 directs the Comptroller General (the nation's top auditor) to review the VA's entire process for recognizing these agents and attorneys within a year of the Act's passage and report back to Congress with any recommended improvements. And for transparency, Section 6 requires the VA to publish the knowledge test required for agents and attorneys on a public website within 180 days. The VA also has a year to update and increase continuing legal education requirements for these representatives, with reviews of those requirements every two years thereafter.

The Legal Landscape: Federal Rules Take Charge (And a Quick Pension Note)

This legislation intends to set a national standard. Section 7 states that this federal Act will preempt, or override, any state or local laws that conflict with the rights and rules it establishes. So, if a state has different regulations about who can charge for VA claim assistance or how much, this federal law would take precedence.

Finally, there's a smaller administrative change in Section 8. It extends a current limitation on certain pension payments for veterans in Medicaid-covered nursing homes without a spouse or child from November 30, 2031, to April 30, 2032. Most of the bill's significant changes, particularly those in Section 3 related to fees and agent recognition, and the penalties in Section 4, are set to take effect 180 days after the Secretary of Veterans Affairs prescribes the necessary implementing regulations, which they are required to do within 180 days of the bill's enactment for the fee agreement rules (as per Section 3).