ALS Better Care Act
Senate Bill Would Create $800-Per-Visit Medicare Benefit for ALS Patients, Waive All Cost-Sharing
Legislative Progress
Key Points
- This bill creates a new Medicare benefit specifically for people with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). Starting in 2027, Medicare would pay specialized clinics a flat fee of $800 per visit to cover a full team of experts, including physical therapists, speech pathologists, and nutritionists, all in one appointment.
- Patients with ALS would be able to get this specialized care without paying any out-of-pocket costs. The bill removes the usual co-pays or deductibles for these team-based clinic visits to make sure cost isn't a barrier to treatment.
- The policy aims to fix a problem where clinics currently lose money providing complex care. By increasing payments, the bill encourages clinics to stay open, reduce wait times, and use telehealth to reach patients living in rural areas who cannot travel easily.
- To help find a cure, the bill gives extra funding to clinics that participate in clinical trials. It also requires a government report within 90 days to identify why research trials are often understaffed and how to speed up the development of new treatments.
Impact Analysis
Personal Impact
Programs
This bill creates an entirely new Medicare benefit category for ALS-related services, including physician support, occupational therapy, speech pathology, physical therapy, dietary support, respiratory support, nursing, and durable medical equipment coordination. Starting in 2027, Medicare would make a single $800 payment per visit to qualified providers on top of existing payments, with no cost-sharing required from patients. However, only ALS patients (roughly 30,000 people in the U.S.) would benefit, making this a very small slice of the total Medicare population.
Disabilities
State Impacts
Milestones
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.
Introduced in Senate
The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.
Votes
No votes have been recorded for this legislation yet.
Source Information
Document Type
Congressional Bill
Official Title
ALS Better Care Act
Data Sources
Sponsor
Cosponsors
(1)Analysis generated by AI. Always verify with official sources.