H.R. 9877

Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026

Sponsor: Raul Ruiz

26 cosponsors
Follow this bill

Official summary

No official summary yet.

Text of the bill

Expand all

I Data collection and reporting

II Culturally and linguistically appropriate health and health care

III Health workforce diversity

A Diversifying the health care workplace

B Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Behavioral and Mental Health Workforce

C ACCESS in Mental Health Act

D Developing the Community Health Workforce Act

IV Improving Health Care Access and Quality

A Reducing Barriers to Accessing Care

B Improvement of Coverage

C Expansion of Access

1 General Provisions

2 Rural

3 Indian Communities

4 Providers

5 Dental

D Advancing Health Equity Through Payment and Delivery Reform

E Health Empowerment Zones

F Equitable Health Care for All

G Investing in Equity

H Miscellaneous

I Territories Health Equity

1 Medicare

A Part A

B Part B

C Medicare Advantage (Part C)

D Part D

2 Miscellaneous

V Improving health outcomes for women, gender-diverse people, children, and families

A Underserved communities

B Pregnancy screening

C Pregnancy-Related care

D Federal agency coordination on maternal health

E Reproductive and Sexual Health

F Children’s Health

G Elder Care

H Miscellaneous provisions

VI Mental health and substance use disorders

A Access to care and funding streams

B Interprofessional care

C Workforce development

D Children’s mental health

E Community-Based care

F Reports

G Miscellaneous provisions

VII Addressing high-impact minority diseases

A Cancer

B Viral hepatitis and liver cancer control and prevention

C Acquired bone marrow failure diseases

D Cardiovascular disease, chronic disease, obesity, and other disease issues

E HIV/AIDS

F Diabetes

G Lung disease

H Tuberculosis

I Osteoarthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases

J Sleep and circadian rhythm disorders

K Kidney disease research, surveillance, prevention, and treatment

L Diversity in clinical trials

M Additional provisions addressing high-impact minority diseases

N Health Equity and Rare Disease Act

O Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness, Injury, and Fatality Prevention

P New Era of Preventing End-Stage Kidney Disease

VIII Health Information Technology

A Reducing Health Disparities Through Health IT

B Modifications To Achieve Parity in Existing Programs

C Additional Research and Studies

D Closing Gaps in Funding To Adopt Certified EHRs

E Expanding Access to Telehealth Services

IX Accountability and Evaluation

X Addressing Social Determinants and Improving Environmental Justice

A In General

Sec. 10001. Definitions

In this title:

(1) Administrator. The term Administrator means the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

(2) Agency. The term Agency means the Environmental Protection Agency.

(3) Built environment. The term built environment means the components of the environment, and the location of those components in a geographically defined space, that are created or modified by individuals to form the physical and social characteristics of a community or enhance quality of human life, including—

(A) homes, schools, and places of work and worship;

(B) parks, recreation areas, and greenways;

(C) transportation systems;

(D) business, industry, and agriculture; and

(E) land-use plans, projects, and policies that impact the physical or social characteristics of a community, including access to services and amenities.

(4) Determinants of health. The term determinants of health—

(A) means the range of nonclinical factors inclusive of personal, social, economic, and environmental factors that directly influence health status; and

(B) includes social determinants of health.

(5) Economic determinants of health. The term economic determinants of health means income and social status.

(6) Environmental determinants of health. The term environmental determinants of health means the broad physical (including manmade and natural), psychological, social, spiritual, cultural, and aesthetic environment.

(7) Personal determinants of health. The term personal determinants of health means an individual’s behavior, biology, and genetics.

(8) Secretary. The term Secretary means the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

(9) Social determinants of health. The term social determinants of health—

(A) means a subset of determinants of the health of individuals and environments (such as communities, neighborhoods, and societies) that describe an individual’s or group of people’s social identity, describe the social and economic resources to which such individual or group has access, and describe the conditions in which an individual or group of people works, lives, and plays; and

(B) are sometimes referred to as social and economic determinants of health, socioeconomic determinants of health, environmental determinants of health, social drivers of inequality, or personal determinants of health.

B Gun Violence

C Nutrition for women, children, families

1 Senior hunger prevention

2 Closing the meal gap

D Universal school meals

1 School breakfast program

2 School lunch program

3 Elementary and secondary education data

4 Amendments to other programs and laws

XI Protections to combat regulatory harm to health equity