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H.R. 6494119th CongressIn committeeLatest action Dec 5, 2025Decoded by AI · checked against the record
Official title: Territories Health Equity Act of 2025
Introduced:
Read the official bill on Congress.govThe plain-language version leads. The official text is always the reference.
Starting in 2026, this bill would remove Medicaid funding caps for U.S. territories and expand Medicare benefits there.
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This bill would eliminate fixed Medicaid funding caps and matching-rate limits for U.S. territories starting in 2026, letting them qualify for extra hospital payments (DSH) like states do. It also adjusts Medicare hospital payments, removes some Part B late-enrollment penalties in Puerto Rico, changes Medicare Advantage rates there, and expands automatic drug-cost help for low-income residents. It requires new spending reports and a study on territories' exclusion from ACA exchanges, and creates a way for residents without local exchange options to buy insurance through the D.C. exchange.
The bill mainly affects residents of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa, particularly low-income individuals, Medicare enrollees, and hospitals serving many low-income patients.
The changes would shift territories' Medicaid and Medicare funding structures closer to how states are treated, likely increasing federal health spending directed to these areas.
AI-drafted summary. Verify it against the official text before you act on it. Read the official bill on Congress.gov
Right now: a House committee is reviewing it. If the Senate changes it, it goes back to the House before reaching the President.
Latest action: — Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.