SerpApi.Org
U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and other federal Democratic lawmakers reintroduced sweeping healthcare legislation Wednesday, arguing the more than 20-year-old proposal to reduce racial and geographic health disparities has become increasingly urgent following federal funding cuts.
The Health Equity and Accountability Act has been introduced in every Congress since 2003 by the Congressional Tri-Caucus - a coalition of the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. But it has never passed as a single package.
Supporters describe it as a broad roadmap for addressing health disparities, noting that many of its individual provisions have been incorporated into other bills even as the broader proposal has stalled.
Like previous versions, this year’s HEAA would expand language access, diversify the healthcare workforce and invest in maternal and mental health services. New provisions would protect and restore federal health equity initiatives that have been largely dismantled under the Trump administration.
“In recent years our country has made tremendous progress in expanding access to healthcare. Today, this progress is under unprecedented attack,” said Janet Murguía, president of UnidosUS, said at a news conference in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. “The so-called Big Beautiful Bill made the deepest cuts to SNAP, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act coverage in our nation’s history. The communities we all represent are paying the price.”
Supporters of the HEAA point to persistent disparities in healthcare access and outcomes as evidence the legislation is needed.
A December KFF analysis found American Indian or Alaska Native and Hispanic people under 65 were more than twice as likely as white people to be uninsured. It also found Black women were more than three times as likely as white women to die from pregnancy-related causes, while Hispanic, Black and Asian adults with mental illness were less likely to receive treatment than white adults.
“We have to be honest with ourselves about what the state of affairs is today, because where you’re born, the language you speak, the zip code you grew up in, the color of your skin, your gender or who you love should not determine your quality of care or your opportunity to live a full and healthy life,” Padilla said.
The KFF study said the data that is essential for identifying these disparities is the same data the Trump administration is targeting with policies to reduce collection and reporting.
Consistent with those findings, the HEAA would increase demographic data collection across federal health programs and create a task force to study bias in artificial intelligence used in healthcare.
Beyond data collection, the bill seeks to expand access to care by removing documentation requirements for Medicaid applicants to prove citizenship, creating a Medicaid fallback program in states that have not expanded coverage and lowering costs for some low-income Medicare beneficiaries.
The full measure has repeatedly stalled in Congress, though individual proposals in previous versions have been folded into other bills and become law. Lawmakers said Wednesday the HEAA is a blueprint for future health policy.
Over the past decade, more than 150 members of Congress have co-sponsored the bill and over 300 racial and health equity organizations, researchers, provider groups and community-based organizations have contributed to its development, according to Padilla’s office.
“We’ve been doing this every year. We’re going to keep on doing it until it is accomplished,” said U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii. “Because to do otherwise is to deny affordable, available healthcare to millions and millions of people in our country. So we’re going to stand here every year until we get this done.”
