Equal Health Care for All Act

Say you got worse care because of race, sex, disability, age, or religion. You could take the provider to state or federal court. The judge could award damages, including damages meant to punish, plus orders to change.

Complaints go to a new HHS office head, the Director for Civil Rights and Health Equity. The office would notify the provider within 30 days. It would aim to finish its review in 180 days.

The judge may order the losing side to pay the winner's lawyer and court costs. That works both ways. A patient who loses could be told to pay the provider's costs.

Medicare already ties part of a hospital's pay to quality scores. From fiscal year 2026, new scores would be added. They would ask if care quality varies by race, sex, disability, or age.

HHS would award these grants within 180 days of the law taking effect. Hospitals could spend the money on interpreters, bias training, recruiting a diverse staff, and tracking care data. Those serving many low-income patients would come first.

HHS could bar a provider found to give unequal care from Medicare and Medicaid. But it may not do so if that would make care harder to get. Poor areas and ones already short on care are protected.

HHS would give each patient a written notice of their rights under the new equal-care rule. The bill does not say how or when that notice must reach you.

Care counts as unequal if it falls short of a quality standard. It must also be discriminatory in intent or effect. Effect alone can be enough, so you would not have to show the provider meant to do it.

Sign a settlement through the HHS office and you give up the right to sue over that care. You could still sue if the provider broke the deal.

Today's main federal rules apply mostly where federal money flows. Title VI and the Affordable Care Act's section 1557 are the big ones. The new rule would reach any provider, and those older laws would stay in place.

While looking into a complaint, the office could ask for other patients' records. Those patients need not have complained. The office would use the records to show whether unequal care is a pattern.

The new Federal Health Equity Commission could order people to testify. It could also demand records, papers, and recordings. A federal court could hold someone in contempt for refusing.

Within a year, and every year after, the office head would post a public tally. It would list complaints filed, what they alleged, and how each one ended.

Providers already send health outcome data to HHS. They would have to break those numbers down. The splits would cover race, where you were born, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and age. HHS would post the data so no patient can be named.

At the end of every investigation, the office would send the results to the state board that licenses the provider. That happens whether or not the provider was found at fault.

The commission would have eight voting members with six-year terms. No more than four could come from one party. Non-voting HHS officials would join them. The President could remove a member only for neglect of duty or wrongdoing in office.

Most federal advisory bodies shut down after two years unless they are renewed. The bill exempts this commission. It would keep going until Congress ends it.

The commission could accept gifts or donations of property or services. The bill sets no limit on the size or source of those gifts.

When scoring hospitals or judging a complaint, officials must weigh social determinants of health. That means things like housing, income, and schooling. A hospital would not be marked down for poor results it did not cause.

Federal law already lets HHS bar providers from Medicare and Medicaid for things like fraud. A pattern of unequal care would be added to that list.

In a Justice Department suit, a judge could order penalties up to $500,000 for a first violation. Later ones could cost up to $1 million. Patients who sue on their own could win damages too, with no cap set.