# Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026 Summary
The Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026 (S. 5066) is a comprehensive bill designed to eliminate health disparities affecting racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, and other underserved populations through expanded data collection, culturally appropriate services, workforce diversity, and healthcare access improvements. The bill establishes federal requirements for health programs to collect detailed demographic data (race, ethnicity, language, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status), provide interpretation and translation services, and report health outcomes disaggregated by demographic characteristics to identify and address disparities. It significantly expands healthcare coverage—including removing citizenship barriers to Medicaid and CHIP for immigrant children and pregnant persons, extending dental and vision coverage under Medicare and Medicaid, making menstrual products free to students and incarcerated individuals, and providing free emergency contraception at hospitals—while investing over $1.5 billion annually through 2031 in workforce diversity programs, maternal and child health initiatives (including doula services, midwife expansion, and programs addressing maternal mortality), community health worker training, and targeted disease prevention efforts in underserved communities. The bill also includes major provisions on environmental justice, addressing social determinants of health through community grants, protecting immigrant access to healthcare, reducing discrimination in healthcare settings through new enforcement mechanisms, and restoring federal health equity offices and programs that were previously eliminated.