S. 1227: ABC Act

Alleviating Barriers for Caregivers Act or the ABC Act

This bill requires federal agencies to review and modify the administrative processes related to Medicare, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Social Security programs in order to streamline these processes for family caregivers.

Specifically, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) must review processes related to eligibility determinations, applications, forms, and communications for these programs and identify ways to simplify and streamline these processes for family caregivers (e.g., reducing the need for family caregivers to submit the same information for multiple programs). The CMS and SSA must solicit input from family caregivers and state and regional organizations, implement any identified improvements, and report on these efforts to Congress.

In addition, the CMS must issue a letter to state Medicaid and CHIP programs that encourages states to conduct a similar review and that provides potential improvements.