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To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to increase the floor for the practice expense and work geographic indices for certain areas.
Summary
The bill amends Medicare payment rules to establish a minimum floor of 1.67 for practice expense and work geographic indices used to calculate physician payment rates. These indices are applied to services furnished in certain states beginning January 1, 2026. If the calculated practice expense or work geographic index would be less than 1.67, the index will be increased to that minimum level. This ensures that payments to physicians in those areas meet a specified baseline level.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Sullivan, Dan [R-AK] (R-AK)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Dan Sullivan’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Dan Sullivan → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Jan 15, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. · senate
- Jan 15, 2026 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
January 15, 2026
Mr. Sullivan introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
A BILL
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to increase the floor for the practice expense and work geographic indices for certain areas.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Rural Underpayment Remedy through Adjusted Local Rate Act” or the “RURAL Rate Act”.
SEC. 2. INCREASE OF THE FLOOR FOR PRACTICE EXPENSE AND WORK GEOGRAPHIC INDICES FOR CERTAIN AREAS.
Section 1848(e)(1)(G) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w- 4(e)(1)(G)) is amended—
(1) in the second sentence—
(A) by inserting “and before January 1, 2026,” after “January 1, 2009,”; and
(B) by inserting a period at the end; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new sentence: “For purposes of payment for services furnished in the State described in the first sentence on or after January 1, 2026, after calculating the practice expense and work geographic indices in clauses (i) and (iii) of subparagraph (A) and in subparagraph (B), the Secretary shall increase either such index to 1.67 if such index would otherwise be less than 1.67.”. <all>
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