Six government health plans must pay for STI tests free
H.R. 9946 — Equity in STI Testing Act · Filed by Nikema Williams (D-GA) · 11 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 23, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill requires six government health plans to pay for STI tests. The tests check for five diseases: HIV, gonorrhea, syphilis, trichomoniasis, and chlamydia. Patients pay nothing. The plans are Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, CHIP, TRICARE, VA, and Indian Health Service. Private health plans already follow this same rule.
Who it affects
People in these six government health plans can get STI tests free. Early tests stop serious health problems. States have one year to make Medicaid and CHIP follow the new rule.
One thing to notice
The bill ties government plan rules to private plan rules. If private plan rules change, government plan rules may change too. The bill does not add new money. Programs must pay for tests from money they already have.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
11 cosponsors: 11 Democrats.
- Jul 23, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 23, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources and House Committee on Armed Services · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- Medicare Advantage — A private health plan for people over 65 instead of regular Medicare.
- Medicaid — A government health plan for people with low pay.
- CHIP — A government health plan for kids in families that earn too much for Medicaid.
- TRICARE — Health plan for military members, retirees, and their families.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (12,397 characters) on Sep 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,522 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-22.
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