Sponsors (18)
Official title: To address the health of cancer survivors and unmet needs that survivors face through the entire continuum of care from diagnosis through active treatment and posttreatment, in order to improve survivorship, treatment, transition to recovery and beyond, quality of life and palliative care, and long-term health outcomes, including by developing a minimum standard of care for cancer survivorship, irrespective of the type of cancer, a survivor's background, or forthcoming survivorship needs, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 14, 2026 by Debbie Wasserman Schultz · Last progress May 14, 2026
The bill substantially expands survivorship care, research, and support services—improving access, coordination, and equity for many cancer survivors—at the cost of higher federal/state spending, notable implementation and provider burden, and potential uneven access or privacy risks during rollout.
Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries with current or prior cancer (and other survivors) will gain standardized survivorship services—written/electronic care plans, routine follow-up visits, navigation, mental‑health/genetic counseling, and prevention/surveillance—improving continuity and long‑term health outcomes.
Low‑income Medicaid and CHIP enrollees (including eligible children and pregnant people where elected) gain guaranteed coverage of fertility preservation and long‑term storage, improving access to reproductive options after cancer.
Federal investment in survivorship research, an NCI‑coordinated office, clinician education, and GAO assessment will improve evidence on late effects, spread best practices, and identify disparities to guide better care.
Federal and state costs will rise substantially—expanded Medicaid/CHIP/Medicare benefits, long‑term fertility storage, research, grants, and program administration—potentially requiring offsets, higher taxes, or tradeoffs with other programs.
Implementation will create significant administrative and provider burden—new care‑plan documentation, reporting, billing changes, EHR updates, training, and coordination—that could strain clinics, hospitals, and state Medicaid agencies.
Coverage and benefit variation across states, optional territory rules, insurers, and payment models risks uneven access—families who move, residents of territories, or those with certain private plans may face patchy or incomplete services.
Based on analysis of 11 sections of legislative text.
Expands Medicaid/CHIP coverage for survivorship transition and cancer fertility services, creates an NCI survivorship office, new Medicare benefit/payment, APM development, grants, stakeholder guidance, and a GAO study.
Requires Medicaid and CHIP to cover specified survivorship transition services and cancer-related fertility services (with protections against cost‑sharing) and creates new federal programs to improve survivorship research, care coordination, payment, and supportive services. Establishes an Office of Cancer Survivorship at NCI, a new Medicare benefit and payment for cancer care planning, grants for supportive services and workforce reentry, an alternative payment model for survivorship, stakeholder/IT guidance, and a GAO study of survivorship progress. The bill changes Medicaid comparability rules to permit targeted coverage of pediatric/adolescent survivorship transition services and makes cancer fertility services a mandatory Medicaid/CHIP benefit (subject to specified timing and limited territorial opt-out). It also directs HHS and Labor to run grant programs, develop payment models, and publish resources to improve coordination, equity, and long‑term follow-up for people living with and after cancer.