II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1219 To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide health equity for people with disabilities. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 19, 2023 Mr. CASEY (for himself, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. WELCH, Mr. KAINE, Mrs. GILLI- BRAND, and Ms. DUCKWORTH) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide health equity for people with disabilities. 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 ‘‘Health Equity for Peo- 4 ple with Disabilities Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. HEALTH EQUITY FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 330 of the Public Health 7 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b) is amended— 8 (1) in subsection (a)(1)— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:45 Apr 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1219.IS S1219 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1219 IS (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 1 (A), by inserting ‘‘including people with disabil- 2 ities within these populations;’’ after ‘‘public 3 housing,’’; and 4 (B) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘in- 5 cluding accessible healthcare services’’ before 6 the semicolon; 7 (2) in subsection (b)— 8 (A) in paragraph (1)(A)— 9 (i) in clause (i), in the matter pre- 10 ceding subclause (I), by inserting ‘‘, includ- 11 ing accessible healthcare services’’ after 12 ‘‘health services’’; 13 (ii) in clause (iv), by inserting ‘‘, in- 14 cluding people with disabilities,’’ after ‘‘en- 15 able individuals’’; and 16 (iii) in clause (v), by inserting ‘‘, in- 17 cluding people with disabilities,’’ after 18 ‘‘health center’’; and 19 (B) by adding at the end the following: 20 ‘‘(4) DISABILITY.—The term ‘disability’ has the 21 meaning given such term in the Americans with Dis- 22 abilities Act of 1990.’’; 23 (3) in subsection (c)(1)— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:45 Apr 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1219.IS S1219 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1219 IS (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 1 (A)— 2 (i) by inserting ‘‘, including people 3 with disabilities within these medically un- 4 derserved populations’’ before the first pe- 5 riod; and 6 (ii) by inserting ‘‘accessible’’ after 7 ‘‘lease of’’; and 8 (B) in subparagraph (E), by inserting 9 ‘‘non-profit health and wellness agencies,’’ after 10 ‘‘local hospitals,’’; 11 (4) in subsection (d)— 12 (A) in paragraph (1)(A), by inserting ‘‘or 13 with disabilities’’ before the semicolon; and 14 (B) in paragraph (3), by inserting ‘‘or for 15 addressing barriers to care affecting people with 16 disabilities in their communities’’ before the pe- 17 riod; 18 (5) in subsection (e)(6)(A)(ii), insert ‘‘, or will 19 serve a significant population of people with disabil- 20 ities’’ after ‘‘other applicants’’; 21 (6) in subsection (f)(1)(B), by inserting ‘‘, in- 22 cluding people with disabilities,’’ after ‘‘women and 23 children’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:45 Apr 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1219.IS S1219 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1219 IS (7) in subsection (g)(1)(A), by inserting ‘‘, in- 1 cluding people with disabilities’’ before the semi- 2 colon; 3 (8) in subsection (h)(1), by striking ‘‘and vet- 4 erans at risk of homelessness’’ and inserting ‘‘vet- 5 erans at risk of homelessness, and people with dis- 6 abilities who are homeless or at risk of homeless- 7 ness’’; 8 (9) in subsection (i)(1), by inserting ‘‘, inclusive 9 of people with disabilities in these communities’’ be- 10 fore the period; and 11 (10) in subsection (j)(4)— 12 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking 13 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 14 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the 15 period and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 16 (C) by adding at the end the following: 17 ‘‘(C) provide communication devices, aids, 18 or services to meet disability accessibility re- 19 quirements.’’. 20 (b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in the 21 amendments made by subsection (a) shall be construed to 22 modify the manner in which funding is provided to tar- 23 geted populations on the date of enactment of this Act 24 or to otherwise shift the focus of programming for such 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:45 Apr 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1219.IS S1219 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1219 IS populations. Such amendments are intended to ensure 1 that members of targeted populations with disabilities are 2 included in such programming, have access to care, and 3 are served under programs under section 330 of the Public 4 Health Service Act (as amended by this section). 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:45 Apr 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1219.IS S1219 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS