Kentucky Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Veterans with TBI or PTSD

This is the newest Kentucky veteran benefit and the one most likely to be misread, because what the statute creates is access rather than coverage. The framework is the Colonel Ron Ray Veterans Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment Act, enacted in 2018, at KRS 217.930 to 217.942. House Bill 369 of the 2026 regular session, enacted as 2026 Ky. Acts ch. 110 and effective July 15, 2026, added post-traumatic stress disorder to it. Until that date the scheme covered traumatic brain injury only; PTSD is the new part. Who qualifies. Under KRS 217.934 a veteran is an eligible patient if they have a diagnosis of traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress disorder attested to by their treating health care provider, a prescription for hyperbaric oxygen therapy written by that provider, and have given written informed consent under KRS 217.936. No disability rating is required anywhere in the scheme, and the PTSD or TBI need not be service-connected on the statute's face - "veteran" takes its meaning from KRS 40.010. PTSD is defined in KRS 217.930(5) as a condition diagnosed by a qualified mental health care provider using the criteria in the current DSM. What the statute does. KRS 217.932(1) requires a health care provider or health facility to make hyperbaric oxygen therapy available to an eligible patient who has requested it. That is a real duty and it is the point of the law: a provider cannot simply refuse a qualifying veteran's prescribed request. What the statute does not do, and this is the sentence to read before making plans. KRS 217.932(2) lets the provider either furnish the therapy without compensation or require the eligible patient to pay the costs of, or the costs associated with, the therapy. And KRS 217.938(1) says the scheme shall not expand the coverage required of an insurer, shall not affect insurance coverage requirements for routine patient costs, shall not require a health plan, third-party administrator, or governmental agency to pay costs associated with the therapy, and shall not require a hospital or health facility to provide new or additional services. Subsection (2) permits a health plan or governmental agency to cover the cost; nothing compels it. Subsection (3) permits a hospital to approve use of the therapy in its facility; nothing compels it. So the honest description is this: Kentucky guarantees a qualifying veteran access to hyperbaric oxygen therapy on prescription, and guarantees nothing about who pays for it. A veteran who reads "Kentucky provides hyperbaric oxygen therapy for PTSD" and expects a funded course of treatment is going to be presented with a bill unless their own insurer has chosen to cover it or the provider has chosen to absorb it. There is state money in the picture, but it is not a personal entitlement. The Kentucky Commission on Military Affairs records that $1.5 million was appropriated for this project in the 2024 budget session, with the use of those funds pending the authorization that HB 369 supplies. That is program funding whose distribution is not set by KRS 217.930 to 217.942, and a veteran cannot claim against it directly. Two protective provisions round out the scheme. KRS 217.940 prohibits specified actions against a health care provider in connection with hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and KRS 217.942 prohibits a state official, employee, or agent from blocking access to it. Written informed consent under KRS 217.936 is mandatory before treatment.