Protecting Free Vaccines Act of 2025
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill requires comprehensive operative provision amending PHSA, ERISA, IRC, Medicare Part D, Medicaid, CHIP, and ACA to require continued coverage without cost-sharing of all ACIP-recommended immunizations as of October 25, adds new Section 2799A-11 to the PHSA requiring group health plans and health insurance issuers to cover ACIP-recommended immunizations as of October 25, 2024, without cost-sharing, through January 1, 2030, and adds new Section 726 to ERISA requiring group health plans and insurers to cover ACIP-recommended immunizations as of October 25, 2024, without cost-sharing, through January 1, 2030. It relies on compliance mandates and product standards. The main policy areas are Healthcare and Finance.
Who Benefits and How
Vaccine manufacturers could gain revenue opportunities, Patients and families could see lower costs, and Patients with private insurance could see lower costs.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Private health insurers (group and individual) could face higher costs, Private health insurers (group and individual market) could face higher costs, and Employer-sponsored group health plans (ERISA plans) could face higher costs.
Key Provisions
- Requires comprehensive operative provision amending PHSA, ERISA, IRC, Medicare Part D, Medicaid, CHIP, and ACA to require continued coverage without cost-sharing of all ACIP-recommended immunizations as of October 25...
- Adds new Section 2799A-11 to the PHSA requiring group health plans and health insurance issuers to cover ACIP-recommended immunizations as of October 25, 2024, without cost-sharing, through January 1, 2030.
- Adds new Section 726 to ERISA requiring group health plans and insurers to cover ACIP-recommended immunizations as of October 25, 2024, without cost-sharing, through January 1, 2030.
- Adds new Section 9826 to the IRC requiring group health plans to cover ACIP-recommended immunizations as of October 25, 2024, without cost-sharing, through January 1, 2030.
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
The bill requires comprehensive operative provision amending PHSA, ERISA, IRC, Medicare Part D, Medicaid, CHIP, and ACA to require continued coverage without cost-sharing of all ACIP-recommended immunizations as of October 25, adds new Section 2799A-11 to the PHSA requiring group health plans and health insurance issuers to cover ACIP-recommended immunizations as of October 25, 2024, without cost-sharing, through January 1, 2030, and adds new Section 726 to ERISA requiring group health plans and insurers to cover ACIP-recommended immunizations as of October 25, 2024, without cost-sharing, through January 1, 2030.
Key Policy Areas
Healthcare, Finance
Primary Purpose
The bill requires comprehensive operative provision amending PHSA, ERISA, IRC, Medicare Part D, Medicaid, CHIP, and ACA to require continued coverage without cost-sharing of all ACIP-recommended immunizations as of October 25, adds new Section 2799A-11 to the PHSA requiring group health plans and health insurance issuers to cover ACIP-recommended immunizations as of October 25, 2024, without cost-sharing, through January 1, 2030, and adds new Section 726 to ERISA requiring group health plans and insurers to cover ACIP-recommended immunizations as of October 25, 2024, without cost-sharing, through January 1, 2030.
Policy Domains
Immunization coverage lock-in across all insurance types
Identified Gains
- Vaccine manufacturers
- Patients and families
- Patients with private insurance
- Participants in IRC-governed group health plans
- Employees and dependents under ERISA plans
Identified Costs
- Private health insurers (group and individual)
- Private health insurers (group and individual market)
- Employer-sponsored group health plans (ERISA plans)
- State Medicaid programs
- Group health plans (IRC-governed)
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Wyden (for himself and Mr. Sanders) introduced the following …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, …
Introduced in Senate
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Employer-sponsored group health plans, Employer-sponsored group health plans (ERISA plans), Group health plans (IRC-governed)
Employees and dependents under ERISA plans, Participants in IRC-governed group health plans, Patients and families
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Health and Human Services
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
From date of enactment through January 1, 2030
October 25, 2024 -- the date as of which immunization recommendations are locked in for coverage purposes
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