Sponsors (2)
The bill expands and speeds Medicaid/CHIP, HCBS, and provider flexibilities to protect disaster-affected people and reduce state budget strain, but it shifts substantial costs to the federal budget, creates significant administrative complexity, risks uneven state implementation, and may weaken some regulatory protections during emergency flexibilities.
Low-income disaster survivors (including children, pregnant people, and people with chronic conditions) gain guaranteed Medicaid/CHIP coverage and continuity protections for the disaster relief period (up to two years), reducing immediate loss of care after disasters.
States receive full federal funding (100% FMAP) for covered services for eligible disaster-affected Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries during relief periods, substantially lowering state budgetary burden for disaster response.
Relief-eligible people can get presumptive and continuous eligibility without documentation and HHS must issue guidance to expedite provider approvals and use out-of-State providers, speeding access to care immediately after disasters.
Taxpayers face materially higher federal spending (100% FMAP, expanded waivers, evaluation contracts, and other relief costs) during disasters, which could increase deficits or require offsetting funds.
States and federal agencies will face substantial new administrative burdens — implementing new eligibility/enrollment/verification/reporting processes, projected-allotment reconciliations, and CMS/agency verifications — creating short-term costs, staffing needs, and operational complexity.
Coverage protections are time-limited (relief period up to two years) and implementation delays or state-level postponements could leave some survivors without sustained coverage once relief ends, producing gaps for people with ongoing needs.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Requires State Medicaid coverage for qualifying disaster survivors for up to two years, provides 100% FMAP for residents in disaster areas, funds HCBS response grants, and directs HHS guidance and evaluation.
Introduced June 12, 2025 by James Varni Panetta · Last progress June 12, 2025
Requires State Medicaid plans, starting January 1, 2027, to provide Medicaid coverage to certain disaster survivors for the period from a qualifying disaster declaration through two years after that date. The bill sets income limits for eligibility (generally 133% of the federal poverty level, higher for pregnant people, children, and some disability beneficiaries), directs HHS to issue guidance and provide technical assistance, and funds a small grant program to support home- and community-based disaster response. Pays Medicaid and CHIP costs for residents of a disaster's direct impact area at 100% FMAP during the relief coverage period, prevents eligibility redeterminations in those areas during that time, adjusts CHIP allotments, expands emergency waiver geography to areas hosting evacuees, excludes disaster months from Medicare Part B late-enrollment penalties for survivors, and requires a multi-year independent evaluation of the program's effects.