Automotive Support Services to Improve Safe Transportation Act of 2025
Key claim: The ASSIST Act of 2025 expands the VA definition of medical services so the Department may fund additional medically necessary automobile adaptations for veterans, including ramp and kneeling systems, lowered floors, mobility device lifts, non-articulating trailers, and ingress/egress accessibility modifications.
Abstract
(HR1364 · 119th Congress) Automotive Support Services to Improve Safe Transportation Act of 2025 or the ASSIST Act of 2025 This bill expands the definition of medical services for purposes of veterans’ benefits to include additional medically necessary automobile adaptations. Under the bill, the Department of Veterans Affairs may provide funding for ramp and kneeling systems, lowered floors, mobility device lifts, non-articulating trailers, and ingress or egress accessibility modifications. Latest action (2025-05-20): Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
Why this matters
For disabled veterans who rely on adaptive vehicles for independence, the range of modifications VA will pay for directly determines whether a usable vehicle is financially attainable. By folding additional adaptations — ramps, kneeling systems, lowered floors, lifts, trailers, and ingress/egress modifications — into the VA’s definition of medical services, the ASSIST Act would close gaps where veterans currently must self-fund equipment their disabilities require. The change is incremental rather than structural, but expands practical access under an existing benefit.