S3486-119

In Committee

Expand the Behavioral Health Workforce Now Act

119th Congress Introduced Dec 16, 2025

Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.

Summary

What This Bill Does

This bill directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue guidance to States on how Medicaid and CHIP can be used to strengthen the behavioral health workforce.

Who Benefits and How

Behavioral health providers and underserved communities could benefit indirectly if States use Medicaid and CHIP tools to improve training, recruitment, and retention.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Department of Health and Human Services would have to develop and issue the guidance.

Key Provisions

  • Requires non-mandatory federal guidance to States within 12 months.
  • Focuses on provider education, training, recruitment, and retention.
  • Highlights use of section 1115 waivers and existing Medicaid and CHIP authorities.

Evidence Chain:

This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.

At a Glance

What This Bill Does

This bill directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue guidance to States on how Medicaid and CHIP can be used to strengthen the behavioral health workforce.

Key Policy Areas

Healthcare

Primary Purpose

This bill directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue guidance to States on how Medicaid and CHIP can be used to strengthen the behavioral health workforce.

Policy Domains

Healthcare

Main Provisions

Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
  • Mental health and substance use disorder care providers
  • Patients in rural and underserved communities
Model: codex-gpt-5 | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: is

Contextual inference, no direct clause citation

Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
  • Department of Health and Human Services
Model: codex-gpt-5 | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: is

Contextual inference, no direct clause citation

Legislative Progress

In Committee
Introduced Committee Passed
Dec 16, 2025

Mr. Daines (for himself and Mr. Peters) introduced the following …

Dec 16, 2025

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Dec 16, 2025

Introduced in Senate

Stakeholder Effects

cui bono?

How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.

Government
1 mention across 1 clause
-1 negative

Department of Health and Human Services

1/2
sections analyzed
Full impact breakdown

Bill Structure & Actor Mappings

Who is "The Secretary" in each section?

Domains
Healthcare
Actor Mappings
"the_secretary"
→ Secretary of Health and Human Services

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