H.R. 4612: PALS Act

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H.R. 4612: PALS Act

117th Congress · introduced 2021-07-21 · Health · Latest: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.

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Official title

PALS Act

Plain summary

Protecting Access to Lifesaving Screenings Act of 2021 or the PALS Act This bill makes a series of changes relating to health insurance coverage of screening mammography. Specifically, the bill requires that any provision of law referring to current recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) with respect to breast cancer screening mammography be administered as if (1) the provision referred to USPSTF recommendations last issued before 2009; and (2) those recommendations applied to any screening mammography modality, including any digital modality of such a procedure. This requirement shall also apply to the Veterans Health Administration's policy on mammography screening for veterans. In addition, the bill preserves Medicare coverage for screening mammography, without a requirement for coinsurance, and expands the definition of screening mammography to include any digital modality of such a procedure. Further, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services may not decrease the frequency with which screening mammography may be paid by Medicare for a woman over 39 years of age. In 2009, the USPSTF updated its guidelines to recommend against routine screening mammography for women between 40 to 49 years of age and to recommend biennial, instead of annual, screening mammography for most women between 50 to 74 years of age. In 2015, through the appropriations process, a three-year moratorium was placed on implementing the guidelines; the moratorium was subsequently renewed until January 1, 2023.

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

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Needs sources: no published alternatives yet (for example a different bill, a law instead of an amendment, or keeping current law). We only show items backed by a published source. Suggest one.

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Officials and money

Sponsor: Rep. Wasserman Schultz, Debbie [D-FL-23] · 36 cosponsors

Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.

Cosponsors on this site

Gwen Moore (D-WI), Jefferson Van Drew (R-NJ), Brian K. Fitzpatrick (R-PA), J. French Hill (R-AR), Jahana Hayes (D-CT), Sean Casten (D-IL), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Judy Chu (D-CA), Sylvia R. Garcia (D-TX), Lois Frankel (D-FL), Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY), Melanie A. Stansbury (D-NM), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA), Don Bacon (R-NE), Kathy Castor (D-FL), André Carson (D-IN), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Stephen F. Lynch (D-MA), Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY), Deborah K. Ross (D-NC)

Sponsor's campaign money: Rep. Wasserman Schultz, Debbie [D-FL-23] reported raising $3.7 million (2025–2026). Details. Shown for context only; it does not mean any donor supported this bill.

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Sources

• Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House)
• Congress.gov
• Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-117hr4612.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/117/hr>

Record fed-us-cong117-hr4612 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong117 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong117