Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2495 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 2495
5	5	To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide coverage of
6	6	medical nutrition therapy services for individuals with eating disorders
7	7	under the Medicare program.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	MARCH31, 2025
10	10	Ms. C
11	11	HU(for herself, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. TONKO, and Mr. BACON) intro-
12	12	duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy
13	13	and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means,
14	14	for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case
15	15	for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the
16	16	committee concerned
17	17	A BILL
18	18	To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide
19	19	coverage of medical nutrition therapy services for individ-
20	20	uals with eating disorders under the Medicare program.
21	21	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
22	22	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
23	23	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
24	24	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nutrition Counseling 4
25	25	Aiding Recovery for Eating Disorders Act of 2025’’ or the 5
26	26	‘‘Nutrition CARE Act of 2025’’. 6
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29	29	•HR 2495 IH
30	30	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1
31	31	Congress finds the following: 2
32	32	(1) 28,800,000 individuals in the United Sates, 3
33	33	or 9 percent of the national population, will have an 4
34	34	eating disorder in their lifetime. It is estimated that 5
35	35	1,619,300 to 2,080,600 individuals on Medicare part 6
36	36	B are affected by an eating disorder, including 7
37	37	420,500 to 560,700 beneficiaries who identify as 8
38	38	Black, Indigenous, or People of Color. 9
39	39	(2) 10,200 deaths per year in the United States 10
40	40	occur as a direct result of an eating disorder, equat-11
41	41	ing to 1 death every 52 minutes. Eating disorders 12
42	42	have one of the highest mortality rates of all mental 13
43	43	illness due to serious medical comorbidities such as 14
44	44	stroke, diabetes, and gastric rupture, in addition to 15
45	45	the fact that longitudinal studies have found that 16
46	46	the suicide risk for those with an eating disorder is 17
47	47	23 times the expected risk. 18
48	48	(3) Eating disorders can be successfully treated 19
49	49	with care encompassing the 4 pillars of successful 20
50	50	treatment: medical, psychiatric, therapy, and medical 21
51	51	nutrition therapy. In general, Medicare provides 22
52	52	some, but not all, care necessary for eating disorders 23
53	53	treatment. It doesn’t cover medical nutrition therapy 24
54	54	at the outpatient level and provides no coverage at 25
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57	57	•HR 2495 IH
58	58	the intensive outpatient or residential treatment lev-1
59	59	els. 2
60	60	(4) Eating disorders are expensive. The yearly 3
61	61	economic cost of eating disorders is 4
62	62	$64,700,000,000, with families and individuals expe-5
63	63	riencing an economic loss of $23,500,000,000 per 6
64	64	year. Each year, eating disorders are directly re-7
65	65	sponsible for 23,560 inpatient hospitalizations cost-8
66	66	ing $209,700,000 and 53,918 emergency room visits 9
67	67	costing $29,300,000. 10
68	68	(5) Eating disorders in the elderly are particu-11
69	69	larly serious because chronic disorders or diseases 12
70	70	may already compromise a patient’s health and 13
71	71	make a patient more prone to serious comorbidities 14
72	72	associated with eating disorders, including cardiac, 15
73	73	metabolic, gastric, and bone conditions. Early diag-16
74	74	nosis and proper treatment of this population is es-17
75	75	sential. 18
76	76	SEC. 3. PROVIDING COVERAGE OF MEDICAL NUTRITION 19
77	77	THERAPY SERVICES FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH 20
78	78	EATING DISORDERS UNDER THE MEDICARE 21
79	79	PROGRAM. 22
80	80	Section 1861 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 23
81	81	1395x) is amended— 24
82	82	(1) in subsection (s)(2)(V)— 25
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85	85	•HR 2495 IH
86	86	(A) by redesignating clauses (i) through 1
87	87	(iii) as subclauses (I) through (III), respec-2
88	88	tively, and adjusting the margins accordingly; 3
89	89	(B) in subclause (III), as so redesignated, 4
90	90	by striking the semicolon at the end and insert-5
91	91	ing ‘‘; or’’; 6
92	92	(C) by striking ‘‘beneficiary with diabetes’’ 7
93	93	and inserting the following: ‘‘beneficiary— 8
94	94	‘‘(i) with diabetes’’; and 9
95	95	(D) by adding at the end the following new 10
96	96	clause: 11
97	97	‘‘(ii) beginning January 1, 2026, with an 12
98	98	eating disorder (as defined by the Secretary in 13
99	99	accordance with most recent edition of the Di-14
100	100	agnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Dis-15
101	101	orders published by the American Psychiatric 16
102	102	Association);’’; and 17
103	103	(2) in subsection (vv)— 18
104	104	(A) in paragraph (1)— 19
105	105	(i) by inserting ‘‘(including manage-20
106	106	ment of an eating disorder (as defined for 21
107	107	purposes of subsection (s)(2)(V)(ii)))’’ 22
108	108	after ‘‘disease management’’; and 23
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111	111	•HR 2495 IH
112	112	(ii) by striking ‘‘which are furnished 1
113	113	by’’ and all that follows through the period 2
114	114	and inserting ‘‘which are furnished— 3
115	115	‘‘(A) by a registered dietitian or nutrition 4
116	116	professional (as defined in paragraph (2)); 5
117	117	‘‘(B) pursuant to a referral by— 6
118	118	‘‘(i) a physician (as defined in sub-7
119	119	section (r)(1)); or 8
120	120	‘‘(ii) a psychologist (or other mental 9
121	121	health professional to the extent authorized 10
122	122	under State law); and 11
123	123	‘‘(C) in the case of such services furnished 12
124	124	to an individual for the purpose of management 13
125	125	of such an eating disorder, at the times speci-14
126	126	fied in paragraph (4).’’; and 15
127	127	(B) by adding at the end the following new 16
128	128	paragraph: 17
129	129	‘‘(4)(A) For purposes of paragraph (1)(C), the times 18
130	130	specified in this paragraph are, with respect to medical 19
131	131	nutrition therapy services furnished to an individual for 20
132	132	purposes of management of an eating disorder, at least 21
133	133	the following: 22
134	134	‘‘(i) 13 hours (including a 1-hour initial assess-23
135	135	ment and 12 hours of reassessment and interven-24
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138	138	•HR 2495 IH
139	139	tion) during the 1-year period beginning on the date 1
140	140	such individual is first furnished such services. 2
141	141	‘‘(ii) Subject to subparagraph (B), 4 hours dur-3
142	142	ing each subsequent 1-year period. 4
143	143	‘‘(B) The Secretary may apply such other reasonable 5
144	144	limitations with respect to the furnishing of medical nutri-6
145	145	tion therapy services for purposes of management of an 7
146	146	eating disorder during a period described in subparagraph 8
147	147	(A)(ii) as the Secretary determines appropriate.’’. 9
148	148	Æ
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