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Save Struggling Hospitals Act

To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to codify the Medicare low-wage index hospital policy.

Introduced Mar 26, 2026

Latest action (Mar 26, 2026) Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Referred to
Finance Committee
Policy area
Health
Issues
Healthcare

Summary
  • Codifies into law a Medicare policy that adjusts hospital payment rates for hospitals in low-wage geographic areas.
  • For hospitals with area wage levels below the 25th percentile, increases their Medicare payment rates by half the difference between their rate and the 25th percentile rate.
  • Applies the wage index adjustment to discharges occurring on or after October 1, 2019.
  • Requires the wage index adjustment to be applied in a budget-neutral manner, meaning payment increases to some hospitals are offset by decreases elsewhere.
  • Prevents any hospital's Medicare payment rate from declining by more than 5 percent from the previous fiscal year.
  • Prohibits reductions to the wage index rates of hospitals below the 75th percentile wage level when applying budget-neutral adjustments.

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)
6 cosponsors

Money behind the sponsor

Top reported contributors to Mark R. Warner’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.

  • CAPITAL GROUP $50,000
  • THE BOEING COMPANY $40,000
  • BLACKROCK $32,400
  • APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT $24,700
  • C3 AI $18,300

Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Mark R. Warner → · Outside spending →

Actions (2)
  1. Mar 26, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. · senate
  2. Mar 26, 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.

  • HR 8109 — Save Struggling Hospitals Act · Introduced Mar 26, 2026 · Cong. 119 92%
  • S 5085 — A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to apply inflation adjustments to the additional hospital insurance tax on high income taxpayers. · Introduced Jul 22, 2026 · Cong. 119 76%
  • HR 9709 — Medicare Premiums Reduction Act of 2026 · Introduced Jul 15, 2026 · Cong. 119 70%
  • HR 7520 — Efficiency Adjustment Delay Act · Introduced Feb 12, 2026 · Cong. 119 70%
  • S 3688 — RURAL Rate Act · Introduced Jan 15, 2026 · Cong. 119 66%
  • HR 8163 — Provider Reimbursement Stability Act of 2026 · Introduced May 21, 2026 · Cong. 119 65%

Full text

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

March 26, 2026

Mr. Warner (for himself, Mrs. Blackburn, Mrs. Hyde-Smith, and Mr. Tuberville) 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 codify the Medicare low-wage index hospital policy.

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 “Save Struggling Hospitals Act”.

SEC. 2. CODIFICATION OF THE MEDICARE LOW-WAGE INDEX HOSPITAL POLICY.

Section 1886(d)(3)(E) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(d)(3)(E)) is amended—

(1) in clause (i), in the first sentence, by striking “or

(iv)” and inserting “, (iv), or (v)”; and

(2) by adding at the end the following new clause:

“(v) Area wage index adjustment for low- wage hospitals.—

“(I) In general.—For discharges occurring on or after October 1, 2019, the area wage index applicable under this subparagraph for a fiscal year to a hospital with an area wage index (determined without regard to this clause) below the 25th percentile area wage index shall be increased by \1/2\ of the difference between the otherwise applicable final area wage index for such fiscal year for such hospital and the 25th percentile area wage index for such fiscal year across all hospitals.

“(II) Budget neutrality.— Pursuant to the fourth sentence of clause (i), this clause shall be applied in a budget neutral manner. Any adjustments made for the purposes of such application of budget neutrality may not— “(aa) decrease the area wage index applicable under this subparagraph to a hospital with an area wage index (determined without regard to this clause) below the 75th percentile area wage index for the fiscal year; or “(bb) result in an area wage index applicable under this subparagraph to a hospital for such fiscal year that is less than 95 percent of the area wage index applicable under this subparagraph to such hospital for the preceding fiscal year.”. <all>

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