Federal health programs would stop using measures that value some patients' lives less for care decisions
This bill would stop federal and state health programs, like Medicare and Medicaid, from using certain measures in health care coverage and payment decisions. These measures value the lives of elderly, disabled, or terminally ill people as less important. The bill would expand current protections to cover more programs and prevent these rules from being bypassed. The changes would take effect starting January 1, 2027.
Today, only the Secretary of Health and Human Services is prohibited from using quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) or similar measures in Medicare decisions based on disability. This bill would expand that prohibition to all federal agencies and states. It would prevent them from using such measures across all federal health care programs, including Medicaid, CHIP, and federal employee health plans. It would also explicitly ban these measures if they treat the lives of elderly, disabled, or terminally ill individuals as less valuable, and would prevent these rules from being bypassed by waivers. Additionally, funding for the Prevention and Public Health Fund would be updated for budget years 2026-2031.
HR 3864 · 119th Congress · June 10, 2025 · AI Summary by gemini-2.5-flash · 8/10
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Amounts reflect total quarterly lobbying spend reported to the Senate, not bill-specific spending. Source: Senate LDA filings.