Bipartisan Health Care Act

Key Points

• This bill keeps popular telehealth options available for Medicare patients through 2026, allowing people to see doctors over video or phone from their own homes. It also extends extra funding for rural hospitals and ambulance services to ensure people in small towns can still get emergency care when they need it.
• The plan makes it easier for people with disabilities and seniors to get health care in their own homes instead of being forced into nursing homes. It also removes age limits so that working adults with disabilities can keep their Medicaid coverage as they get older, and it helps military families keep their benefits when they move to new states.
• To help lower medicine prices, the bill requires "pharmacy benefit managers"—the companies that handle drug plans—to be more honest about the discounts they get from drug makers. It forces these companies to pass those savings along to the health plans and forbids them from keeping hidden profits, a practice known as "spread pricing."
• The policy provides billions of dollars for community health centers and programs that fight the opioid crisis. It includes new training for first responders, better education about the dangers of fentanyl, and more support for pregnant women and families struggling with addiction.
• It updates how the government prepares for future health emergencies by improving the national stockpile of medical supplies and using wastewater testing to track diseases. It also continues health funding for 9/11 responders and survivors through the year 2040.

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