Health care costs

Finn Sawyer Access to Cancer Testing Act

This bill provides for coverage of certain cancer diagnostic and laboratory tests under Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Specifically, the bill provides for coverage of microarray analysis, DNA and RNA sequencing, whole-exome sequencing, and other next-generation sequencing for individuals diagnosed with cancer.

Additionally, the Department of Health and Human Services must establish an education and awareness program for physicians and the public about genomic testing and the role of genetic counselors.

Honor Our Living Donors Act

This bill modifies certain criteria used to determine eligibility under the Living Organ Donation Reimbursement Program, which reimburses organ donors for certain incidental expenses related to organ donation (e.g., travel expenses).

The bill specifies that the organ recipient's income may not be considered in determining whether an organ donor may be reimbursed under the program. (Currently, an organ recipient's income may not be greater than 350% of the federal poverty guidelines.) Additionally, under the bill, organ donors may be reimbursed regardless of whether the organ recipient pays them (or could be expected to pay them) for their expenses.

The Department of Health and Human Services must report on whether the program adequately covers the expenses of organ donors, and if not, the amount of necessary funding.

Second Chance for Moms Act of 2025

This bill requires labeling of the drug mifepristone to include certain information about the hormone progesterone and establishes a related telephone hotline. (Mifepristone is a drug that is approved to end pregnancies through 10 weeks gestation when used in conjunction with the drug misoprostol. The procedure is often referred to as medication abortion or the abortion pill.)

Combat Veterans Pre-Enrollment Act of 2025

This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish a program to carry out all activities necessary to permit certain members of the Armed Forces to elect to enroll in the VA health care system on the date of separation of such members from active service. Specifically, the program is for those who served on active duty in a theater of combat operations during a period of war after the Persian Gulf War or in combat against a hostile force during a period of hostilities after November 11, 1998.

The VA must, in conjunction with the Department of Defense (DOD) and Department of Homeland Security, establish a mechanism to permit a member of the Armed Forces to elect to pre-enroll in the VA health care system during the 180-day period preceding the date of separation of the member from active service.

The VA-DOD Joint Executive Committee must brief Congress on the efforts to implement such a mechanism under the program.

The Government Accountability Office must report on the program and include recommendations with respect to methods to improve the program.

Healthcare Freedom and Choice Act

This bill nullifies a rule regarding short-term, limited-duration health insurance plans. The rule was promulgated by the Internal Revenue Service, Employee Benefits Security Administration, and Department of Health and Human Services; is titled Short-Term, Limited-Duration Insurance and Independent, Noncoordinated Excepted Benefits Coverage; and was published April 3, 2024.

Short-term, limited-duration health insurance plans are plans that may only offer coverage for a limited amount of time and are exempt from the market requirements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (e.g., coverage of individuals with preexisting conditions).

The rule limits the length of the initial contract period for such a plan to no more than three months and, taking into account any renewals or extensions, the maximum coverage period to no more than four months. The rule also includes within the maximum renewal period limitation a new plan sold by the same issuer, or any issuer that is a member of the same controlled group, to the same policyholder within a 12-month period.

Regulations in effect prior to the rule this bill nullifies permitted short-term, limited-duration health insurance plans with an initial contract period of fewer than 12 months and a maximum coverage period of up to 36 months, including renewals and extensions.

Pregnancy Is Not an Illness Act of 2025

This bill prohibits the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from treating pregnancy as an illness for the purposes of approving any abortion drug or imposing a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy for an abortion drug. The bill also nullifies FDA approval of any abortion drug that relied at all on the treatment of pregnancy as an illness, and specifically nullifies the FDA’s approval of the abortion drug mifepristone in effect before the bill is enacted.

Increasing Access to Dental Insurance Act

This bill permits individuals to enroll in a dental benefits plan on a health insurance exchange without also enrolling in a qualified health plan.

CHAMPVA Children's Care Protection Act of 2025

This bill provides that a child shall be eligible for medical care under the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) until the child's 26th birthday, regardless of the child's marital status.

Affordable and Safe Prescription Drug Importation Act of 2025

This bill expands the categories of prescription drugs that may be imported into the United States and the countries from which such drugs may be imported.

Current law allows the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to authorize importation of certain eligible prescription drugs from Canada if HHS certifies that doing so would pose no additional risk to public health and safety, among other requirements. HHS long declined to make the requisite certification, citing safety concerns (e.g., contamination, counterfeiting), but ultimately made the certification in 2020 and has since approved one state plan to import drugs.

The bill removes the certification requirement and requires HHS to issue regulations that permit importation of qualifying prescription drugs from the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and member states of the European Union, in addition to Canada. After one year, if HHS determines that importation of drugs from these countries has been conducted safely, HHS may authorize importation from other countries that meet certain requirements.

The bill also expands the types of prescription drugs eligible for importation to include, for example, biologics such as insulin.

Further, the bill allows individuals to use an eligible licensed foreign pharmacy to fill a U.S.-issued prescription for a qualifying drug for personal use. Currently, an individual seeking to import a prescription drug generally must acquire a waiver from HHS.

Finally, the bill imposes criminal penalties for websites that sell counterfeit drugs or dispense drugs without a required prescription.

Drug-price Transparency for Consumers Act of 2025 or the DTC Act of 2025

This bill requires consumer advertisements for prescription drugs and biological products to include certain price information if the drug or biologic is (1) covered under Medicare or Medicaid, and (2) required to include a risk summary under current law.

Specifically, such advertisements must clearly and conspicuously disclose the wholesale price for a 30-day supply of the drug or biologic and may explain that a consumer may pay a different amount for the drug or biologic depending on the consumer's health insurance coverage.

The requirement does not apply to advertisements for drugs or biologics with a wholesale cost of less than $35 for a one-month supply.

Each violation of this requirement is subject to a civil penalty of not more than $100,000.

Drug-price Transparency for Consumers Act of 2025 or the DTC Act of 2025

This bill requires consumer advertisements for prescription drugs and biological products to include certain price information if the drug or biologic is (1) covered under Medicare or Medicaid, and (2) required to include a risk summary under current law.

Specifically, such advertisements must clearly and conspicuously disclose the wholesale price for a 30-day supply of the drug or biologic and may explain that a consumer may pay a different amount for the drug or biologic depending on the consumer's health insurance coverage.

The requirement does not apply to advertisements for drugs or biologics with a wholesale cost of less than $35 for a one-month supply.

Each violation of this requirement is subject to a civil penalty of not more than $100,000.

Stop Troubling Retroactive Invoices for Veteran Expenses Act of 2025 or the STRIVE Act of 2025

This bill prohibits the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), under certain conditions, from collecting copayments from a veteran for hospital care or medical services more than two years after the veteran receives the care or service.

Specifically, the VA is prohibited from collecting any copayment from a veteran for hospital care or medical services after the end of the two-year period beginning on the date the veteran received the care or service if the VA did not provide the veteran with timely notice of the copay or provide notice that the aggregate copay amount exceeds $2,000, annually adjusted for inflation.

The VA may waive the requirement for a veteran to make any copayment for hospital care or medical services whenever it determines the waiver is appropriate, regardless of whether a veteran submits a request for a waiver.

Finally, the bill extends the limitation on pension amounts for certain hospitalized or institutionalized veterans through February 29, 2032. Currently, the limitation expires on November 30, 2031.

Radiation Exposure Compensation Reauthorization Act

This bill reauthorizes and expands programs that compensate individuals who were exposed to radiation during certain nuclear testing or uranium mining and who subsequently developed medical conditions, including cancers.

Under current law, compensation is payable to individuals based on requirements including the (1) dates when exposure occurred, (2) duration of exposure, (3) type of exposure, and (4) resulting medical condition.

Among other changes to this program, the bill (1) extends the eligible dates when qualifying atmospheric exposure occurred, (2) authorizes compensation to individuals with combined work histories in uranium mining, (3) adds core drilling as an eligible mining occupation, and (4) increases the amount of compensation awarded to qualifying individuals.

The bill also expands this program to compensate individuals located in specified areas in Alaska, Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee associated with waste from the Manhattan Project and who subsequently developed specified types of cancer.

The bill extends until five years after this bill's enactment the statute of limitations for the filing of claims.

The bill also expands eligibility under an existing occupational illness compensation program for former Department of Energy employees.

The bill also establishes a grant program for institutions of higher education to study the epidemiological impacts of uranium mining and milling among individuals without occupational exposure.

The bill directs the Government Accountability Office to study and report to Congress on the unmet medical benefits coverage for individuals who were exposed to radiation in atmospheric nuclear tests conducted by the federal government.

Medicaid Primary Care Improvement Act

This bill specifies that state Medicaid programs are authorized to provide primary care services through direct primary care arrangements (i.e., arrangements in which primary care providers receive a fixed periodic fee for their services).

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services must (1) convene at least one virtual stakeholder meeting and issue related guidance on how state Medicaid programs may implement direct primary care arrangements, and (2) report on the extent to which state Medicaid programs contract with independent providers and on the quality and cost of care under direct primary care arrangements that are offered through Medicaid managed care organizations.

Women’s Protection in Telehealth Act

This bill excludes providers of abortion-inducing drugs from participating in Medicare unless the provider is a physician who physically examines the patient, is physically present when the drug is administered, and schedules an in-person follow-up visit with the patient within 14 days of administering the drug.