I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2744
To amend part B of title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide
for a special enrollment period under Medicare for individuals enrolled
in COBRA continuation coverage, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL8, 2025
Mr. S
MUCKER(for himself, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mrs. HOUCHIN, Mr. THOMPSON
of California, Ms. C
RAIG, and Mr. NORCROSS) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and
in addition to the Committees on Education and Workforce, and Ways
and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker,
in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris-
diction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend part B of title XVIII of the Social Security
Act to provide for a special enrollment period under
Medicare for individuals enrolled in COBRA continuation
coverage, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Medicare Enrollment 4
Protection Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. TREATMENT UNDER MEDICARE OF INDIVIDUALS 1
TRANSITIONING FROM COBRA CONTINU-2
ATION COVERAGE. 3
(a) S
PECIALENROLLMENT PERIOD FORINDIVID-4
UALSENROLLED IN COBRA CONTINUATION COV-5
ERAGE.—Section 1837(i) of the Social Security Act (42 6
U.S.C. 1395p(i)) is amended by adding at the end the fol-7
lowing new paragraph: 8
‘‘(5)(A) In the case of an individual who— 9
‘‘(i) at the time the individual first satisfies 10
paragraph (1) or (2) of section 1836(a), is enrolled 11
in COBRA continuation coverage (as defined in sub-12
paragraph (D)); or 13
‘‘(ii) is enrolled in COBRA continuation cov-14
erage and immediately prior to such enrollment was 15
an individual described in paragraph (1) or (2) of 16
this subsection, 17
there shall be a special enrollment period described 18
in subparagraph (B). 19
‘‘(B) The special enrollment period referred to in sub-20
paragraph (A) is the period that includes— 21
‘‘(i) each month during any part of which the 22
individual is enrolled in COBRA continuation cov-23
erage; and 24
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‘‘(ii) the 3-month period beginning with the 1
first month following the last month during any part 2
of which such individual is so enrolled. 3
‘‘(C) An individual may only enroll during the special 4
enrollment period provided under subparagraph (A) one 5
time during the individual’s lifetime. 6
‘‘(D) For purposes of this paragraph, the term 7
‘COBRA continuation coverage’ means continuation cov-8
erage beginning on or after January 1, 2026— 9
‘‘(i) under a COBRA continuation provision (as 10
defined in section 2791(d)(4) of the Public Health 11
Service Act); 12
‘‘(ii) pursuant to section 8905a of title 5, 13
United States Code; or 14
‘‘(iii) under a similar State law that provides 15
comparable continuation of group health plan cov-16
erage.’’. 17
(b) C
OVERAGEPERIOD FORCERTAINELIGIBLEIN-18
DIVIDUALS.—Section 1838(e) of the Social Security Act 19
(42 U.S.C. 1395q(e)) is amended— 20
(1) by striking ‘‘pursuant to section 1837(i)(3) 21
or 1837(i)(4)(B)’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘pur-22
suant to— 23
‘‘(1) section 1837(i)(3) or 1837(i)(4)(B)—’’; 24
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(2) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as 1
subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively, and mov-2
ing the indentation of each such subparagraph 2 3
ems to the right; 4
(3) by striking the period at the end of sub-5
paragraph (B), as so redesignated, and inserting ‘‘; 6
or’’; and 7
(4) by adding at the end the following new 8
paragraph: 9
‘‘(2) section 1837(i)(5), the coverage period 10
shall begin on the first day of the month following 11
the month in which the individual so enrolls.’’. 12
(c) N
OINCREASE INPREMIUM.—Section 1839(b) of 13
such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395r(b)) is amended— 14
(1) in the first sentence, by inserting ‘‘, (i)(5)’’ 15
after ‘‘subsection (i)(4)’’; 16
(2) in the second sentence, by inserting before 17
the period at the end the following: ‘‘or months for 18
which the individual can demonstrate that the indi-19
vidual was enrolled in COBRA continuation coverage 20
(as such term is defined in section 1837(i)(5)(D))’’. 21
(d) C
OORDINATION OFBENEFITS.— 22
(1) ERISA.—Section 607 of the Employee Re-23
tirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 24
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1167) is amended by adding at the end the following 1
new paragraph: 2
‘‘(6) C
OORDINATION OF BENEFITS .—Notwith-3
standing any other provision of law, in the case that 4
an individual is enrolled in COBRA continuation 5
coverage (as defined in section 1837(i)(5)(D) of the 6
Social Security Act) and the individual is eligible for 7
but not enrolled in coverage under part B of title 8
XVIII of the Social Security Act, such COBRA con-9
tinuation coverage shall not reduce or terminate ben-10
efits under such COBRA continuation coverage with 11
respect to the individual on the basis that the indi-12
vidual is eligible for coverage under such part B or 13
otherwise take into account such eligibility. Such 14
benefits under such COBRA continuation coverage 15
shall be provided to such an individual as if such in-16
dividual were not so eligible for coverage under such 17
part B. Nothing in the preceding two sentences shall 18
require the provision of such COBRA continuation 19
coverage to an individual enrolled in coverage under 20
such part B or prohibit the termination of such con-21
tinuation coverage or reduction of benefits under 22
such continuation coverage in the case of an indi-23
vidual who enrolls under such part B.’’. 24
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(2) PHSA.—Section 2208 of the Public Health 1
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300bb–8) is amended— 2
(A) by striking ‘‘
DEFINITIONS’’ and in-3
serting ‘‘
DEFINITIONS AND SPECIAL 4
RULES’’; and 5
(B) by adding at the end the following new 6
paragraph: 7
‘‘(5) S
PECIAL RULE FOR COORDINATION OF 8
BENEFITS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of 9
law, in the case that an individual is enrolled in 10
COBRA continuation coverage (as defined in section 11
1837(i)(5)(D) of the Social Security Act) and the in-12
dividual is eligible for but not enrolled in coverage 13
under part B of title XVIII of the Social Security 14
Act, such COBRA continuation coverage shall not 15
reduce or terminate benefits under such COBRA 16
continuation coverage with respect to the individual 17
on the basis that the individual is eligible for cov-18
erage under such part B or otherwise take into ac-19
count such eligibility. Such benefits under such 20
COBRA continuation coverage shall be provided to 21
such an individual as if such individual were not so 22
eligible for coverage under such part B. Nothing in 23
the preceding two sentences shall require the provi-24
sion of such COBRA continuation coverage to an in-25
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dividual enrolled in coverage under such part B or 1
prohibit the termination of such continuation cov-2
erage or reduction of benefits under such continu-3
ation coverage in the case of an individual who en-4
rolls under such part B.’’. 5
(3) IRC.—Section 4980B(g) of the Internal 6
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended— 7
(A) by striking ‘‘D
EFINITIONS’’ and insert-8
ing ‘‘D
EFINITIONS ANDSPECIALRULES’’; and 9
(B) by adding at the end the following new 10
paragraph: 11
‘‘(5) S
PECIAL RULE FOR COORDINATION OF 12
BENEFITS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of 13
law, in the case that an individual is enrolled in 14
COBRA continuation coverage (as defined in section 15
1837(i)(5)(D) of the Social Security Act) and the in-16
dividual is eligible for but not enrolled in coverage 17
under part B of title XVIII of the Social Security 18
Act, such COBRA continuation coverage shall not 19
reduce or terminate benefits under such COBRA 20
continuation coverage with respect to the individual 21
on the basis that the individual is eligible for cov-22
erage under such part B or otherwise take into ac-23
count such eligibility. Such benefits under such 24
COBRA continuation coverage shall be provided to 25
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such an individual as if such individual were not so 1
eligible for coverage under such part B. Nothing in 2
the preceding two sentences shall require the provi-3
sion of such COBRA continuation coverage to an in-4
dividual enrolled in coverage under such part B or 5
prohibit the termination of such continuation cov-6
erage or reduction of benefits under such continu-7
ation coverage in the case of an individual who en-8
rolls under such part B.’’. 9
(e) U
PDATINGCOBRA CONTINUATIONCOVERAGE 10
N
OTIFICATIONS.—Not later than January 1, 2026, the 11
Secretary of Labor, in consultation with the Secretary of 12
Health and Human Services, shall update the written no-13
tices required under section 606 of the Employee Retire-14
ment Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1166) to 15
include an explanation of the full scope of the Medicare 16
secondary payer rules under section 1862(b) of the Social 17
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395y(b)), including how such 18
rules apply with respect to COBRA continuation coverage 19
(as defined in section 1837(i)(5)(D) of the Social Security 20
Act (42 U.S.C. 1395p(i)(5)(D))). 21
Æ
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