Federal Bureau of Prisons Medical Care Act of 2026

This bill, titled the Federal Bureau of Prisons Medical Care Act of 2026, significantly amends title 18 of the United States Code to restrict the assessment of fees for health care services provided to prisoners. Its primary purpose is to limit the circumstances under which the Federal Bureau of Prisons can charge inmates for medical treatment, aiming to reduce the financial burden on incarcerated individuals. Specifically, the legislation revises subsection (b) of Section 4048 to permit the collection of fees only for health care visits resulting from an injury inflicted on a prisoner by another prisoner . In such cases, the fee would be assessed and collected from the account of the prisoner who inflicted the injury, as determined by the Director of the Bureau of Prisons. Furthermore, the bill strikes an entire subsection (c) and amends subsection (e) by removing language related to prisoner exclusions from fees. These changes collectively narrow the scope of chargeable services, ensuring that most health care services for prisoners will be provided without direct charge to the patient, except in specific instances of inter-prisoner violence.