Congress moves to guarantee hazard pay for health care workers in emergencies
S. 4357 — Hazard Pay for Health Care Heroes Act · Filed by Ed Markey (D-MA) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Apr 21, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill creates a federal grant program allowing the Department of Health and Human Services to fund hazard pay for essential health care workers during declared emergencies or disasters. Eligible workers—including nurses, doctors, technicians, janitors, and other on-site health care staff—can receive up to $13/hour in additional compensation (capped at $25,000/year) for hazardous work, plus funding for safety equipment and alternative transportation.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is direct hazard-pay grants to health care workers during emergencies. It is a straightforward worker-protection measure with defined eligibility, compensation limits, and safety provisions.
What the text implies
- The definition of 'essential health care worker' includes a catch-all clause ('any other professional role that Sec. determines is essential'), giving HHS Secretary broad discretion to expand eligibility beyond listed categories without legislative amendment.
- Hazard-pay eligibility depends on Secretary determination that work 'is hazardous' — a subjective standard that could create inconsistent application across regions or emergency types.
- The bill does not specify funding levels or total appropriation caps, leaving budget exposure open-ended ('such sums as may be necessary').
- No explicit requirement for state or facility cost-sharing; federal grants may displace existing employer hazard-pay obligations, reducing private-sector accountability.
Who it affects
Health care workers performing dangerous work during emergencies gain direct financial protection and safety resources. The program is narrowly targeted to those who cannot work remotely and face documented hazards, with transparent compensation caps. No apparent cost-shifting to patients or taxpayers beyond standard appropriations.
Who stands to gain
- health care facilities (public and private nonprofit)
- home health agencies
- health care workers (direct wage benefit)
Named in the bill
Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service Act, Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, National Emergencies Act, health care facilities, home health agencies, essential health care workers
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Apr 21, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Apr 21, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $410,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 166 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Ed Markey, the sponsor, reported $658,450 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- American Federation of Teachers — $410,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the full bill text on Jun 8, 2026; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 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.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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