H.R. 8650: Medicaid Outreach and Assistance for Communities Act of 2026

This bill, titled the Medicaid Outreach and Assistance for Communities Act of 2026, aims to enhance outreach and enrollment efforts for the Medicaid program. The key components of the bill are as follows:

Findings

The bill emphasizes several important findings on health insurance:

• Access to health insurance reduces financial strain, encourages the use of preventive and primary healthcare services, and improves the management of chronic health conditions.
• Medicaid coverage provides significant health and financial benefits, especially for vulnerable populations.
• Legislation passed in 2025 introduced barriers to Medicaid access, including work requirements and more frequent eligibility checks, which have complicated the enrollment process.
• Data indicates that administrative complexities lead to eligible individuals not enrolling or losing coverage at renewal periods, even when they comply with requirements.
• Effective outreach can help eligible individuals better navigate the system, thereby increasing enrollment and retention rates.
• States currently have systems to assist individuals with Medicaid enrollment but need more support to handle the new requirements imposed by recent legislation.
• Without additional support, many eligible individuals could lose insurance coverage, negatively affecting families, children, and older adults.

Increased Payments to States

The bill proposes to amend the Social Security Act to increase payments to states for their outreach and enrollment efforts. Specifically, the following changes are included:

• Redesignation of a current paragraph in the law to allow for new provisions related to increased payments.
• The introduction of a new provision that stipulates that states will receive reimbursement of 100% for expenses incurred during outreach activities aimed at enrolling individuals eligible for Medicaid or child health services.

Effective Date

The proposed amendments will take effect for calendar quarters beginning after the legislation is enacted, meaning that states can begin to receive these increased payments once the bill is signed into law.

Relevant Companies

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