S. 5536Senate119th Congress (2025-2027)In Committee

No Surprise Bills for Seniors Act

A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide flexibility in the treatment of nonpayment of Medicare prescription drug plan premiums.

AI-Generated Summary

Updated October 3, 2026 at 4:21 AM UTC

The bill changes the Social Security Act to give the Health and Human Services Secretary the ability to define, through rulemaking, situations where a Medicare prescription drug plan (Part D) loss of coverage caused by nonpayment of premiums is treated as involuntary. This adds flexibility in how nonpayment is handled and could affect seniors who rely on these drug plans.

Key Provisions

Amends Section 1860D-1(b)(3)(A)(iii) to insert language allowing the Secretary to specify, via rulemaking, circumstances under which termination of coverage for nonpayment is considered involuntary.

Legislative Activity

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1 earlier action

SenateIntro Referral Latest Action

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Finance Committee

September 24, 2026

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SenateIntro Referral

Introduced in Senate

September 24, 2026

SenateIntro Referral

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Finance Committee

September 24, 2026

Bill Text

Latest available legislative text

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Introduced in SenateIssued September 24, 2026

119th CONGRESS

2d Session

S. 5536

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

September 24, 2026

Ms. Blunt Rochester 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 provide flexibility in the treatment of nonpayment of Medicare prescription drug plan premiums.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the No Surprise Bills for Seniors Act.

Providing flexibility in treatment of nonpayment of Medicare prescription drug plan premiums

Section 1860D–1(b)(3)(A)(iii) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w–101(b)(3)(A)(iii)) is amended by inserting before the period the following: , except that the Secretary may specify through rulemaking circumstances under which a loss of coverage resulting from termination for such a failure to pay shall be treated as involuntary.