Green New Deal for Health Act

Key Points

• The bill creates new federal offices and a national plan to prepare the health system for climate change, and authorizes 100 billion dollars to help hospitals and clinics install backup power, cooling, air filtration, and flood protection so they can stay open during disasters.
• Hospitals would have to give the government at least 90 days notice before closing or cutting essential services, submit a mitigation plan, and go through public comment. Violators could be blocked from Medicare enrollment for up to three years.
• The bill puts 130 billion dollars into community health centers for 2027 through 2031, and requires at least half of that money to go to projects in environmental justice communities with high pollution or low income.
• The bill funds a major expansion of the health workforce, aiming to add 150,000 community health workers by 2031, spends 9 billion dollars to train health professionals on climate health risks, and offers up to 13 dollars per hour in hazard pay for essential health workers during disasters.
• Starting in 2027, Medicare would cover home resiliency items like heat pumps, solar batteries for medical equipment, and cold storage for medicine for people medically at risk during disasters, paid at 100 percent of the allowed amount.
• Drug and device makers would face mandatory climate risk and emissions disclosure rules, and a federal council would work to move medical supply manufacturing to the United States using clean energy and strong labor standards.