Sponsors (2)
The bill substantially improves and speeds access to Medicaid, CHIP, Medicare flexibility, and targeted HCBS supports for disaster survivors—reducing immediate gaps in care—while increasing federal spending and imposing administrative, billing, and duration/coverage tradeoffs that may leave some survivors or states with gaps or complications down the road.
Low-income and other disaster survivors receive immediate, fully federally funded Medicaid/CHIP coverage during declared relief periods, reducing uninsured gaps and out‑of‑pocket medical costs.
Disaster survivors gain faster access to care through presumptive eligibility, streamlined applications, expedited provider approvals, and permission to use out‑of‑state providers, reducing care delays during displacement.
Pregnant people and children are protected: continuous postpartum Medicaid eligibility plus fully federally funded CHIP for child and pregnancy services preserves maternal and infant care during disasters.
Federal taxpayers will face substantially higher short‑term federal spending because the federal government shoulders 100% of Medicaid/CHIP and related disaster costs during relief periods.
States, providers, and hospitals will face significant administrative and billing complexity (matching home‑state benefits/rates, enrollment verification, address requirements, out‑of‑state provider billing), increasing operational burden and potential strain on receiving systems.
Limiting relief‑eligible status to a two‑year coverage period (with narrow exceptions) risks leaving survivors with long recovery needs without continued coverage after the relief window ends.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Requires States to provide two years of Medicaid coverage to disaster survivors, with 100% federal funding in impacted areas and a moratorium on redeterminations.
Introduced June 12, 2025 by James Varni Panetta · Last progress June 12, 2025
Requires States to provide Medicaid coverage to people displaced or directly affected by qualifying disasters for a two-year “relief coverage period,” with the federal government paying the full federal match for Medicaid and CHIP services delivered in disaster direct impact areas during that period. It also pauses Medicaid/CHIP eligibility redeterminations in impacted areas, creates a temporary HCBS emergency response corps grant program, directs HHS to issue guidance and technical assistance to states, excludes disaster months from Medicare Part B late-enrollment penalties for survivors, and funds a multi-year independent evaluation of the law’s effects.