To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to require States to verify certain eligibility criteria for individuals enrolled for medical assistance quarterly, and for other purposes.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Bilirakis (for himself and Ms. Craig) introduced the following …
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill requires states to check if people enrolled in Medicaid are still alive by reviewing a list called the Death Master File every three months. The goal is to prevent payments from going to deceased individuals, which can save money and ensure that resources go to those who need them.
Who Benefits and How
The federal government and taxpayers benefit because this measure helps reduce waste by preventing payments to deceased beneficiaries. Medicaid recipients who are mistakenly flagged as dead will also benefit since the bill requires states to re-enroll these individuals immediately if they were wrongly identified as deceased.
Who Bears the Burden and How
States will face new administrative costs and requirements for checking the Death Master File every quarter. This could mean additional work for state agencies, potentially leading to higher expenses in terms of staff time and technology upgrades needed to comply with the new rules.
Key Provisions
- States must review the Death Master File at least once every three months starting January 1, 2027.
- If a person is found to be deceased, states must disenroll them from Medicaid and stop payments immediately.
- If an error occurs and someone is wrongly identified as dead, they must be re-enrolled retroactively.
- States can use other electronic data sources in addition to the Death Master File but still need to meet the quarterly review requirement.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
This bill aims to improve the accuracy of Medicaid beneficiary rolls by requiring states to verify certain eligibility criteria quarterly using the Death Master File.
Policy Domains
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_state"
- → Each of the 50 States and the District of Columbia
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A database maintained by the Social Security Administration that records deaths reported to it.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology