HEALTH Act of 2025

Summary#

This bill creates a new tax deduction for physicians who provide certain unpaid medical services to people enrolled in Medicaid (title XIX) or the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP, title XXI). The deduction equals the unpaid Medicare-based value of those services, using the Medicare physician fee schedule. The bill also says doctors who give this charity care are generally protected from civil lawsuits for harms caused while providing that care, unless the act was intentional, knowing, reckless, or grossly negligent. The bill excludes from the deduction services that are barred by certain 2024 funding rules and excludes sex reassignment surgeries and hormone treatments for the purpose of gender alteration. The tax change is available to physicians who do not itemize deductions. The rules would apply to charity care furnished after December 31, 2025.

What it means for you#

• For physicians: The bill would let doctors claim a tax deduction for unpaid care given to Medicaid or CHIP enrollees and could limit civil liability for harm that occurs while providing that unpaid care, except for serious misconduct.
• For patients: The bill text does not describe any direct changes to patient benefits or access. No publicly available information on how this bill would change patient care is provided in the bill text.

Expenses#

No publicly available information on the bill's cost, budgetary effects, or estimated revenue impact is included in the bill text or metadata.

Proponents' View#

No publicly available information on supporters' arguments or stated benefits is included in the bill text.

Opponents' View#

No publicly available information on opponents' arguments or concerns is included in the bill text.