This bill amends the Social Security Act to establish new eligibility verification requirements for state Medicaid programs, effective January 1, 2027. It mandates that the 50 States and the District of Columbia quarterly review the Death Master File to identify individuals enrolled for medical assistance who are deceased. The primary purpose is to enhance program integrity by ensuring that Medicaid benefits are not provided to deceased beneficiaries. Upon confirming an individual's death through the Death Master File, states are required to disenroll them from Medicaid and discontinue all associated medical assistance payments, except for services rendered prior to death. The bill also includes a crucial safeguard, stipulating that if an individual is erroneously disenrolled due to misidentification as deceased, the state must immediately reenroll them, with coverage retroactive to the date of incorrect disenrollment. States retain the flexibility to utilize additional electronic data sources for identifying potentially deceased beneficiaries, provided they also adhere to these new quarterly verification mandates.
Health care coverage and accessMedicaidState and local government operations
LIVE Beneficiaries Act
USA119th CongressS-678| Senate
| Updated: 2/20/2025
This bill amends the Social Security Act to establish new eligibility verification requirements for state Medicaid programs, effective January 1, 2027. It mandates that the 50 States and the District of Columbia quarterly review the Death Master File to identify individuals enrolled for medical assistance who are deceased. The primary purpose is to enhance program integrity by ensuring that Medicaid benefits are not provided to deceased beneficiaries. Upon confirming an individual's death through the Death Master File, states are required to disenroll them from Medicaid and discontinue all associated medical assistance payments, except for services rendered prior to death. The bill also includes a crucial safeguard, stipulating that if an individual is erroneously disenrolled due to misidentification as deceased, the state must immediately reenroll them, with coverage retroactive to the date of incorrect disenrollment. States retain the flexibility to utilize additional electronic data sources for identifying potentially deceased beneficiaries, provided they also adhere to these new quarterly verification mandates.