; and (D) overall, suicide rates are highest among patients with mental health and substance use disorder diagnoses who are in treatment and lower among those who received a mental health diagnosis but were not at risk enough to require enhanced care from a mental health provider. (2) Pairing a service dog with a veteran costs approximately $25,000, including with respect to training of the service dog as well as training of the veteran with the service dog. (3) New, rigorous scientific research provides persuasive weight to the growing anecdotal evidence that service dogs ameliorate the symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, and in particular, help prevent veteran suicide. (b) Sense of Congress It is the sense of Congress that the Department of Veterans Affairs must be more effective in its approach to reducing the burden of veteran suicide connected to mental health disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder, and a program and study to assess the benefits of pairing service dogs with veterans suffering from mental health disorders would allow the Department to better determine the efficacy of using service dogs as a nontraditional therapy to ensure the well-being of veterans. 3. Department of Veterans Affairs program to award grants for the provision of service dogs to certain veterans with severe post-traumatic stress disorder (a) Grants (1) In general The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall carry out a program under which the Secretary awards grants to eligible organizations for eligible veterans referred to that organization for a service dog pairing. (2) Limitation The amount of the grant for each eligible veteran referred to an eligible organization under paragraph (1) shall not to exceed $25,000. (b) Benefits provided (1) In general An organization that receives a grant under subsection (a) shall provide the following for each service dog and veteran participating in the program: (A) Coverage of a commercially available veterinary health insurance policy to maintain the health