H.R. 9877

Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026

Sponsor: Raul Ruiz

26 cosponsors
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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

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

Sec. 10327. Child and adult care food program

Section 17 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1766) is amended—

(1) in subsection (a)(2), by striking subparagraph (B) and inserting the following:

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(B) any other private organization providing nonresidential child care or day care outside school hours for school children;

(2) by striking subsection (c) and inserting the following:

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(c) Free meals. Notwithstanding any other provision of law—

(1) all meals and supplements served under the program authorized under this section shall be provided for free to participants of the program; and

(2) an institution that serves those meals and supplements shall be reimbursed—

(A) in the case of breakfast, at the rate established for free breakfast under section 4(b)(1)(B)(i) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773(b)(1)(B)(i));

(B) in the case of lunch, at the rate established for free lunch under section 4(b)(2)(A); and

(C) in the case of a supplemental meal, $1.20, adjusted for inflation in accordance with section 4(b)(2)(C).

(3) in subsection (f)—

(A) in paragraph (2), by striking subparagraph (B) and inserting the following:

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(B) Limitation to reimbursements. An institution may claim reimbursement under this paragraph for not more than 3 meals and 1 supplement per day per child.

(B) by striking paragraph (3); and

(C) by redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph (3);

(4) in subsection (o)—

(A) by striking paragraph (4); and

(B) by redesignating paragraphs (5) and (6) as paragraphs (4) and (5), respectively; and

(5) in subsection (r)—

(A) in the subsection heading, by striking Program for at-risk school children and inserting Afterschool meal and snack program;

(B) by striking at-risk school each place it appears and inserting eligible;

(C) in paragraph (1)—

(i) in the paragraph heading, by striking at-risk school and inserting eligible; and

(ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking operated and all that follows through the period at the end and inserting a period; and

(D) in paragraph (4)(A), by striking only for and all that follows through the period at the end and inserting the following:

Text this section adds to the law

for—

(i) not more than 1 meal and 1 supplement per child per day served on a regular school day; and

(ii) not more than 3 meals and 1 supplement per child per day served on any day other than a regular school day.

3 Elementary and secondary education data

4 Amendments to other programs and laws

XI Protections to combat regulatory harm to health equity