Ensuring Vaccination and Treatment Affordability Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 722 To amend titles XIX and XXI of the Social Security Act to require coverage under the Medicaid program and Children’s Health Insurance Program for vaccines and treatment for COVID–19 without the imposition of cost sharing requirements, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 2, 2021 Mr. PAPPAS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend titles XIX and XXI of the Social Security Act to require coverage under the Medicaid program and Children’s Health Insurance Program for vaccines and treatment for COVID–19 without the imposition of cost sharing requirements, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ensuring Vaccination 4 and Treatment Affordability Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:56 Feb 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H722.IH H722 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 722 IH SEC. 2. COVERAGE AT NO COST SHARING OF COVID–19 VAC- 1 CINE AND TREATMENT. 2 (a) MEDICAID.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1905(a)(4) of the 4 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396d(a)(4)) is 5 amended— 6 (A) by striking ‘‘and (D)’’ and inserting 7 ‘‘(D)’’; and 8 (B) by striking the semicolon at the end 9 and inserting ‘‘; (E) a COVID–19 vaccine li- 10 censed under section 351 of the Public Health 11 Service Act and the administration of such vac- 12 cine; and (F) items and services furnished for 13 the treatment of COVID–19 or a condition that 14 may complicate the treatment of COVID–19;’’. 15 (2) PROHIBITION OF COST SHARING.— 16 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subsections (a)(2) and 17 (b)(2) of section 1916 of the Social Security 18 Act (42 U.S.C. 1396o) are each amended— 19 (i) in subparagraph (F), by striking 20 ‘‘or’’ at the end; 21 (ii) in subparagraph (G), by striking 22 ‘‘; and’’ and inserting ‘‘, or’’; and 23 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 24 lowing subparagraphs: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:56 Feb 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H722.IH H722 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 722 IH ‘‘(H) a COVID–19 vaccine licensed under 1 section 351 of the Public Health Service Act 2 and the administration of such vaccine, or 3 ‘‘(I) any item or service furnished for the 4 treatment of COVID–19 or a condition that 5 may complicate the treatment of COVID–19; 6 and’’. 7 (B) APPLICATION TO ALTERNATIVE COST 8 SHARING.—Section 1916A(b)(3)(B) of the So- 9 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396o–1(b)(3)(B)) 10 is amended— 11 (i) in clause (xi), by striking ‘‘any 12 visit’’ and inserting ‘‘any service’’; and 13 (ii) by adding at the end the following 14 clauses: 15 ‘‘(xii) A COVID–19 vaccine licensed 16 under section 351 of the Public Health 17 Service Act and the administration of such 18 vaccine. 19 ‘‘(xiii) An item or service furnished 20 for the treatment of COVID–19 or a con- 21 dition that may complicate the treatment 22 of COVID–19.’’. 23 (C) CLARIFICATION.—The amendments 24 made this subsection shall apply with respect to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:56 Feb 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H722.IH H722 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 722 IH a State plan of a territory in the same manner 1 as a State plan of one of the 50 States. 2 (b) STATE PEDIATRIC VACCINE DISTRIBUTION PRO- 3 GRAM.—Section 1928 of the Social Security Act (42 4 U.S.C. 1396s) is amended— 5 (1) in subsection (a)(1)— 6 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘; 7 and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 8 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the 9 period and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 10 (C) by adding at the end the following sub- 11 paragraph: 12 ‘‘(C) each vaccine-eligible child (as defined 13 in subsection (b)) is entitled to receive a 14 COVID–19 vaccine from a program-registered 15 provider (as defined in subsection (h)(8)) with- 16 out charge for— 17 ‘‘(i) the cost of such vaccine; or 18 ‘‘(ii) the administration of such vac- 19 cine.’’; 20 (2) in subsection (c)(2)— 21 (A) in subparagraph (C)(ii), by inserting ‘‘, 22 but may not impose a fee for the administration 23 of a COVID–19 vaccine’’ before the period; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:56 Feb 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H722.IH H722 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 722 IH (B) by adding at the end the following sub- 1 paragraph: 2 ‘‘(D) The provider will provide and admin- 3 ister an approved COVID–19 vaccine to a vac- 4 cine-eligible child in accordance with the same 5 requirements as apply under the preceding sub- 6 paragraphs to the provision and administration 7 of a qualified pediatric vaccine to such a 8 child.’’; and 9 (3) in subsection (d)(1), in the first sentence, 10 by inserting ‘‘, including with respect to a COVID– 11 19 vaccine licensed under section 351 of the Public 12 Health Service Act’’ before the period. 13 (c) CHIP.— 14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 2103(c) of the So- 15 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1397cc(c)) is amended 16 by adding at the end the following paragraph: 17 ‘‘(11) COVERAGE OF COVID–19 VACCINES AND 18 TREATMENT.—The child health assistance provided 19 to a targeted low-income child shall include coverage 20 of— 21 ‘‘(A) any COVID–19 vaccine licensed 22 under section 351 of the Public Health Service 23 Act and the administration of such vaccine; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:56 Feb 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H722.IH H722 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 722 IH ‘‘(B) any item or service furnished for the 1 treatment of COVID–19 or a condition that 2 may complicate the treatment of COVID–19.’’. 3 (2) PROHIBITION OF COST SHARING.—Section 4 2103(e)(2) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 5 1397cc(e)(2)), as amended by section 6004(b)(3) of 6 the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, is 7 amended— 8 (A) in the paragraph header, by inserting 9 ‘‘A COVID–19 VACCINE, COVID–19 TREATMENT,’’ 10 before ‘‘OR PREGNANCY-RELATED ASSISTANCE’’; 11 and 12 (B) by striking ‘‘visits described in section 13 1916(a)(2)(G), or’’ and inserting ‘‘services de- 14 scribed in section 1916(a)(2)(G), vaccines de- 15 scribed in section 1916(a)(2)(H), items or serv- 16 ices described in section 1916(a)(2)(I), or’’. 17 (d) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 1937 of 18 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396u–7) is amend- 19 ed— 20 (1) in subsection (a)(1)(B), by inserting ‘‘, 21 under subclause (XXIII) of section 22 1902(a)(10)(A)(ii),’’ after ‘‘section 23 1902(a)(10)(A)(i)’’; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:56 Feb 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H722.IH H722 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 722 IH (2) in subsection (b)(5), by adding before the 1 period the following: ‘‘, and, effective on the date of 2 the enactment of the Ensuring Vaccination and 3 Treatment Affordability Act, must comply with sub- 4 paragraphs (F) through (I) of subsections (a)(2) 5 and (b)(2) of sections 1916 and 1916A’’. 6 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 7 this section shall take effect on the date of enactment of 8 this Act and shall apply with respect to a COVID–19 vac- 9 cine beginning on the date that such vaccine is licensed 10 under section 351 of the Public Health Service Act (42 11 U.S.C. 262). 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:56 Feb 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H722.IH H722 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS