Federal

Ending Discrimination in COVID–19 Treatments Act

Source: Congress.gov · 319 words in original text

What This Bill Does

This bill would prevent the federal government from letting states, local governments and private organizations use certain personal characteristics to decide who can receive COVID-19 treatments and vaccines. The bill is called the "Ending Discrimination in COVID-19 Treatments Act."

Who It Affects

States, local governmental entities (government groups organized at the city or county level) and private entities (businesses and organizations not run by the government) that receive COVID-19 treatments, vaccines, funding or other items from the federal government.

Key Provisions

* The Secretary of Health and Human Services must require organizations to not consider a patient's race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, vaccination status, veteran status (whether someone served in the military) or political ideology (beliefs about government) or speech when deciding if that patient can get COVID-19 treatments or vaccines. (Sec. 2)

What Changes

If this bill becomes law, states, local governments and private organizations cannot use a person's race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, vaccination status, veteran status or political ideology or speech to determine whether that person is eligible to receive COVID-19 treatments or vaccines that come from the federal government.

Important Definitions

None defined in bill text.

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 171 To prohibit the consideration of patients’ race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, vaccination status, veteran status, or political ide- ology or speech in determining eligibility for COVID–19 treatments and vaccines distributed by the Federal Government. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 31, 2023 Mr. CRUZ introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To prohibit the consideration of patients’ race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, vaccination status, veteran status, or political ideology or speech in deter- mining eligibility for COVID–19 treatments and vaccines distributed by the Federal Government. 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 ‘‘Ending Discrimination 4 in COVID–19 Treatments Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Feb 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S171.IS S171 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 171 IS SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY TO RECEIVE COVID–19 TREATMENTS 1 AND VACCINES. 2 The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 3 require States, local governmental entities, and private en- 4 tities, as a condition for receipt from the Federal Govern- 5 ment of any COVID–19 treatment or vaccine, or any 6 funding or other items related to any such treatment or 7 vaccine, to ensure that determinations of patient eligibility 8 for such treatment or vaccine do not take into consider- 9 ation the race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, dis- 10 ability, vaccination status, veteran status, or political ide- 11 ology or speech of a patient. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Feb 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S171.IS S171 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB

Important: This plain English summary was generated by AI and is provided for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice. Always consult the official bill text on Congress.gov or a qualified attorney for legal matters.