Vaccine Transportation Access Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Vaccine Transportation Access Act addresses missed vaccine appointments caused by transportation barriers. It directs the Secretary to award grants to qualified community organizations for projects that develop, expand, or improve transportation to sites where eligible vaccines are administered. The Secretary must carry out the grant duties through agreements with State health agencies and transfer appropriated funds to those agencies. Applicants must describe the project, identify partners including private for-profit or nonprofit transportation coordinators, and set performance measures to reduce cancellations or missed appointments. Grants must last at least six months and may fund prescheduled rides, on-demand rides, first-mile service, and last-mile service for people from low-income communities, minority communities, or other communities where transportation impedes health care access. The bill also amends Medicaid so the federal medical assistance percentage is 100 percent for nonemergency transportation benefits attributable to eligible vaccine transportation under a State plan.
Who Benefits and How
Low-income communities and minority communities benefit because the bill funds rides to vaccine sites where transportation is a barrier. Medicaid beneficiaries benefit from a full federal match for vaccine-related nonemergency transportation. Qualified community organizations benefit from grant funding for transportation projects and partnerships. State health agencies benefit from federal funds to administer vaccine-access transportation efforts.
Who Bears the Burden and How
State health agencies must enter agreements, distribute funds, and oversee grant performance. Qualified community organizations must prepare applications, identify project partners, track performance measures, and operate transportation access projects for at least six months. Transportation coordinators may need to provide prescheduled, on-demand, first-mile, or last-mile services. Federal taxpayers cover grant funding and the 100 percent Medicaid match for eligible vaccine transportation.
Key Provisions
- Establishes grants for community organizations to remove transportation barriers to eligible vaccines.
- Requires State health agency agreements and fund transfers to administer the grant program.
- Requires applications to identify project partners and performance measures for reducing missed vaccine appointments.
- Authorizes prescheduled, on-demand, first-mile, and last-mile transportation services for vaccine access.
- Provides a 100 percent Medicaid federal match for eligible nonemergency vaccine transportation costs.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Creates vaccine-transportation grants for qualified community organizations serving low-income, minority, and other transportation-barrier communities, routes administration through State health agencies, allows prescheduled, on-demand, first-mile, and last-mile rides to vaccine appointments, and gives Medicaid a 100 percent federal match for nonemergency vaccine transportation costs.
Key Policy Areas
Public Health, Transportation, Medicaid
Primary Purpose
Creates vaccine-transportation grants for qualified community organizations serving low-income, minority, and other transportation-barrier communities, routes administration through State health agencies, allows prescheduled, on-demand, first-mile, and last-mile rides to vaccine appointments, and gives Medicaid a 100 percent federal match for nonemergency vaccine transportation costs.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- Low-income communities
- Minority communities
- Medicaid beneficiaries
- Qualified community organizations
- State health agencies
Identified Costs
- State health agencies
- Qualified community organizations
- Transportation coordinators
- Federal taxpayers
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Introduced in House
Ms. Barragán (for herself, Mr. Carson, Mr. Cohen, Mrs. Dingell, …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
State Medicaid agencies, State health agencies
Positive-direction: State Medicaid agencies
Negative-direction: State health agencies
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
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