Congress Proposes Bill to Expand Medicare Coverage for Nursing Home Care After Hospital Stays
This bill is currently sitting in the House Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce committees. It has not moved forward since June 2025, and no action has been taken on it for 12 months. The bill is stalled because the committees have not held a vote or scheduled any meetings to discuss it.
No action since June 2025
This bill’s path across every version that has carried it.
Reintroduced
Reintroduced from H.R. 5138 (118th), which died when its Congress ended.
H.R. 5138 (118th) →Scores run from -100 (strongly harmful) to +100 (strongly beneficial) for each group, combining impact, certainty, scope, and duration ratings of 1-5. How impact scoring works
This bill amends the Social Security Act (Title XVIII, which governs Medicare). While it doesn't change cash Social Security benefits, many Social Security recipients are also Medicare beneficiaries. Seniors on Social Security who need hospital and post-hospital nursing care would benefit from the expanded coverage rules, since observation days would now count toward the 3-day inpatient requirement for skilled nursing facility coverage.
Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.
Introduced in House
The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.
A bipartisan group of House lawmakers has reintroduced the Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act of 2025. The bill would update Medicare's 60-year-old three-day requirement by counting time spent in the hospital under observation status toward the threshold for nursing home coverage.
A study in JAMA Internal Medicine found that reinstating the Medicare 3-day rule led to longer hospital stays without reducing nursing home use. Advocates point to the Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act of 2025 as a solution to count observation days toward this requirement.
The Medicare 3-day rule requires a three-day inpatient stay for nursing home coverage. The rule is increasingly problematic due to 'observation status,' where hospitals treat patients as outpatients, leaving seniors with massive bills for follow-up care that Medicare refuses to cover.
No votes recorded for this bill yet.
Document Type
Congressional Bill
Official Title
Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act of 2025
Analysis generated by AI. Always verify with official sources.